Mercs in Remnant
by chief of RAGE
Summary: [ALMOST BACK] After the lovable mercs of TF2 defeat the Classic mercs, they're fired for no longer being relevant to Mann Co. business since all three Mann brothers are dead and Hale has control of the company again. So there go our boys, traveling the dusty desert, until something happens that leaves them in a completely new world.
1. The Arrival

**New Edit in Effect.**

* * *

 **Somewhere in the Badlands**

It was late at night in the arid expanse of desert known as the Badlands. This was a lonely place with seemingly nothing but cactus and rocky outcroppings everywhere. The perfect place for a secret war. As a matter of fact, there was a secret war fought here. Two, actually. One as a Mann Co. civil war between two idiot brothers, and another against unimaginably massive hordes of robots. Smaller conflicts not included.

The wars and battles here had ended a couple days ago when the Team Fortress Classic mercenaries were defeated by RED team in an epic showdown here, and Saxton Hale regained control of Mann Co. from Olivia Mann. RED team was joyous of their victory, and for the first time since they formed in 1968, they legitimately had feelings of being one big family of friends. Granted a family that constantly insult, beat, kill, and assault each other, but a family nonetheless. RED team were hanging around the front of the Mann Co. headquarters, enjoying their victory. Their laughter and cheers rang throughout the night.

"FREEDOM!" *Burp* "HAHA!" Demo placed a bunch of custom made "fireworks" in a huge cluster and threw a stick of lit dynamite into it. The resulting explosion was extremely unsafe, but really pretty if you ignore the fire and smoke. Nobody wanted to curse at Demo though as they were too overjoyed by their victory. If anything, they actually appreciated the explosion. Pyro appeared wearing a fireman's jacket and hat over its usual suit, and got to work, pouring gasoline on the fires.

The whole of RED team was dancing around the fire, Mannrobics, Kozotsky Kick, Conga, you name it. Everyone was drinking Demoman levels of alcohol, and they were loving it. It's all well deserved of course after that Hell of a final battle.

Spy stopped dancing and jumped up a rock, taking out a glass of wine and calling for the other mercs attention.

"Gentlemen! Today will go down as the finest day in our history as a team! We've faced evil wizards, giant eyeballs shooting exploding eyeballs, the Headless Horseless Horsemann, even each other in the past…"

The mercs nodded as they remembered the days when they fought and killed each other before the robot menace forced them all to join RED team to avoid confusion with the robots. That was less than a year ago.

"…but the gravest of them all, the robot war! We the few, the rag tag team of horribly mismatched individuals, the scum of the Badlands, defeated not only millions of robots, but our predecessors as well! Indeed, it was a battle hard fought. But in the end we were victorious!" They cheered as he finished. Spy looked down and chuckled. "… For the past four years we've done nothing but get into mindless acts of violence and sheer stupidity. It was the worst experience of my life." He raised his glass. "It was an honor, my friends." All mercs present cheered.

They all resumed their partying, congratulating each other and such. Spy looked at his team, his family, and smiled. But at the back of his mind he knew they would not stay together for long. Now that all three Mann brothers and the Classic mercenaries were dead, he saw no reason for Saxton Hale to keep them around. He waved the thoughts away and decided to just enjoy the moment. Then Saxton Hale himself walked to the men. All the mercenaries turned to face him.

"Hey! Look who it is! Care to join our little party here, Mistah Hale?" Scout said joyfully.

"You're all fired. Now get off my property! I'm going to build a hunting reserve right in this spot, and you're in the way!"

…

…

Well… This didn't come off as that much of a surprise. They all saw this coming, just not so soon. The mercs stared at Saxton for a bit, and did as he asked, not wanting to fight the strongest man in the world so soon after the fight of their lives. After going into the locker room to collect their backpacks, they walked out of the hidden entrance together, mumbling about their celebration being cut so short.

"Welp, look at the bright side fellas', we're still billionaires from all the money Mann Co. payed us." The Texan said.

"Da. Heavy have enough money to support family for long time."

"What'cha gonna do with it all, Mikhael?" Scout said.

Heavy looked at Scout upon hearing his real name and gave him a smile. Scout may have been a complete, annoying prick to the whole team, but overtime he just felt like the little brother of the team. "Heavy will move entire family to America. Away from bad men."

"Ha! Good choice fellow patriot! The Commie scum won't find them here in the good ole' U, S of A!" Soldier high fived Heavy.

Sniper groaned. "How can you blokes be so happy at a time like this?"

Medic looked at him. "Come now Sniper! Ve beat Grey Mann und the old mercenaries!" He then pulled out some German beer and drinks it. "Oooh! You should be happy!"

"Yeah doc, but did you forget we got fired?"

"Ja, I know zat! Like Engineer said we are still filthy rich!"

"It's just that I don't know where to go from here now we that ain't got a job anymore."

"We'll speak of this later." Spy said. "For now let's get into our vehicles and leave."

The mercs loaded into Sniper's camper van and the Bread truck Mann Co. let them keep. Pyro tied his (it? Her?) favorite shopping cart to the bread truck and hopped into it. They sped off in a little convoy out into the dark night of the lonely desert. There was nothing but the moon lighting the desert. There was no noise except for the trucks, the occasional howl of a coyote in the distance, and the noise of Pyro's cart being pulled from behind the bread truck. After a couple of hours of driving they decided to rest for the night and made camp along the road. Especially since now they were REALLY feeling the effects of all the alcohol, swerving all over the road n' shit.

"Ok, G-gentleman, I dink weeeee shold just rest hea for de night…" Spy passed out.

All the other mercs attempted to lay down something to sleep on or passed out like Spy did. Engie lost most of his common sense and thought the toolbox containing the teleporter was a comfy bed. As he was walking (or dragging himself) while carrying the toolbox, he noticed a strange white crystal on the ground. Not really able to see clearly, he thought it was a dollar bill or something in the light of the moon so he put it in his hard metal "bed". He threw the toolbox down, placed his hardhat on the floor, and flopped onto the toolbox.

It knocked him out, sending him to a world full of equations and theories. Unbeknownst to him though, the crystal was having some kind of weird reaction with the teleporter's inner workings. Soon, powerful bursts of energy caused the teleporter to expand to its built form, blowing up the toolbox and Engineer off of it. An extremely bright white glow came from the teleporter. It was similar to the regular teleporter glow but way brighter, and with greater range. The team was way too hammered to notice it though or even move away from it if they did, and the teleporter ended up consuming them into the void.

* * *

 **The Void**

Everyone woke up floating in mid-air, wondering where the desert went, and then noticed some strange things were going on in this realm. First of all, some kind of force like an invisible river was pulling them along this plain of existence. They saw an obese man sitting on a throne made of video games and money flying all over him. The men could have sworn they heard "Gaben, gaben, gaben…" or something like that coming from him. And they saw an Asian man at a computer desk furiously working on something with "anime" or whatever the Asians called it all over his station. Bright lights and images of things the men did not understand were all over this realm of insanity. Whatever was pulling the mercs around took them into a big cut in reality that was almost like a portal. An intensely bright light engulfed them, and then it went black again.

Suddenly, the mercs were spat out from a ceiling and onto a hard tiled floor.

"Oh merde…" Spy said. The mercenaries were all groaning from their acid trip of an adventure. Heavy stood himself against a wooden crate with his hand on his head, and took in his new surroundings. There were some startled people in the room they were in, all wearing uniform and had… animal features? The closest one to Heavy was a woman with goat horns on her head, and had her jaw hanging. As did the rest of these weird people...

"You, tell Heavy where is this place!" The woman pulled out a SMG of some kind and aimed it at Heavy. The other 12 or so animal people in the room did the same with weapons ranging from swords to guns.

"H-hands on your head, or we will shoot!" She yelled in a shaky tone which was perfectly understandable since it's not every day when nine dudes fall out of a portal in the room you are in. All the mercs jumped up and raised their hands. The hostile people moved forward to check for weapons, weapons still anxiously on the mercenaries.

"Soldier! Now!" Spy yelled. At that moment, the ultimate patriot pulled the pins off of every single grenade on him and threw them in every direction.

"AMMEEEEERRRRRRIIIICAAAAA!" * **BOOM** *

The force of the explosion utterly obliterated the hostiles and collapsed one of the walls. RED team was fine because medic activated an all-encompassing force field around them, the Medi-shield. Smoke covered everything, so logically RED team blindly charged through the broken wall, bumping into each other to the point where Heavy, who was first, tripped, making everyone else fall to.

"Argh! Dammit, lard fat! Watch ya step!" Scout chided him. Heavy bitch-slapped Scout with his massive hands.

"Quiet baby!" The whole team was just a disorganized mess at the moment, yelling at each other with the usual insults. That was until the Demoman bothered to look around.

"Bloody hell…Oy lads! Stop ya ninnies! Look!" He got his team to stop bitching at each other long enough for them to understand the gravity of the situation. They were surrounded (at least from the front) with a lot more of the animal people from earlier, all angry and shocked at their sudden appearance. A man in a fabulous white coat and _bitchin'_ fine bowler hat that made some of the mercs jealous, called out to his army.

"GET THEM!"

The Faunus surged forward with all sorts of weapons again to massacre the RED team. Oh how they were wrong... Over half of the Fang in the room were taken out within 30 seconds of fighting. Some dead, some wounded. Heavy mowed down droves of them with his minigun, Scout ran circles around them with his scattergun, Soldier and Demoman blew them up with bombs and cut them down in melee, Medic healed whoever needed it, Engineer camped on top his sentry, Sniper engaged in close combat with his smg and kukri, and Spy followed Sniper's lead with his knives and revolvers.

Roman got frustrated at how worthless the Fang grunts were, but he was even more shocked at the efficiency and brutality with how the strangers fought. He got so fed up, he joined the fight himself, opening up with a few explosive shots from _Melodic Cudgel_. Soldier got hit by one, but took it like a champ. He turned to see where the shots were coming from when he noticed it came from Roman. Enraged, Soldier rocket jumped towards Roman at ludicrous speed with his ham shank in hand. Now it wasn't that Roman couldn't dodge the Soldier, no, it was more of a case of Roman being so stupefied at the prospect of a man denying the laws of physics and using a _**ROCKET LAUNCHER**_ to _**FLY**_ at him! He heard of people using the recoil of their guns, but nothing like this! Roman was knocked out cold in one critical hit. Soldier was going to continue bashing Roman's skull in when something suddenly kicked him off of Roman from the side.

Soldier tanked the hit, and looked up to see his attacker was a little, itty bitty, petite girl who looked like she was in her teens and had hair colored like Neapolitan ice cream and with an umbrella and outfit that matched her color scheme. He raged at the sight of a little girl here in a battlefield.

"RAGH! WOMEN DO NOT BELONG IN A MAN'S WORLD! ESPECIALLY, NOT LITTLE GIRLS!" Soldier screamed as he charged toward Neo. He gave up his ham for the Disciplinary Action, ready to discipline her in the art of not being here.

"I'LL TEACH YOU WHERE YOU BELONG!" He swung at her, only to hit nothing as Neo spun around behind soldier to deliver a punishing kick to his back. To her surprise, Soldier caught her kick and smashed her into a crate. He had way too much experience with Spy and fighting in general to let something as simple as that happen to him. Grinning, he pulled her out of the crate and stood her up.

"If you want to be in a man's world, little girl, then you got to fight like a man!" He screamed before sending a blow to her face.

He was shocked to see that the girl shattered like a mirror when his fist connected with where her face was, only to see that she teleported a couple of feet away and kicked the Disciplinary Action out of his hand before continuing her assault on him. She ducked a right hook from Soldier and kneed him in the gut, but failed to parry his other fist when he uppercut her. Neo stumbled back and attempted to kick at Soldier's neck, but Soldier slipped the kick, caught her leg, and pulled her in. Right before she got in punching range, she kicked him in the face with her free leg and backflipped away from him. She landed with a smile and was rewarded with a totally unexpected rocket to the face. The girl tumbled backwards, trying to gain her footing after gaining such a hit. Smoke covered the area around her as she looked around for her opponent only to hear something whistle from above.

"SCREAMING EAGLES!"

Soldier landed right on top of her, knocking her right down to the floor. He was going to stomp her head in right before she rolled away and back to her feet. Soldier growled and pulled out TWO rocket launchers, the Direct Hit and the regular Rocket Launcher. Neo panicked and immediately tried to evade the incoming rockets as Soldier was rapid firing rockets at her. Unfortunately for her, the explosive radius of the rockets were too much and she ended up bouncing all over the place whenever she was hit with an explosion, especially if it was from the Direct Hit. Neo thudded on the ground when Soldier ran out of rockets. He was too lazy to reload and moved in to beat her senseless with his shovel. Feeling her aura drop, Neo stood up to face the shovel wielding maniac. Shovel and umbrella locked together as Soldier was forcing Neo into the ground with his superior strength.

"Ha! How's it feel to fight a real man, girly?" She said nothing as she tried to kick Soldier in the balls. Soldier dodged right in time as he felt the tip of her shoes scratch his crotch, but was forced to break away from her. Neo took this chance to unleash a volley of kicks, punches, and umbrella bashes onto him. The old war veteran was able to parry most of it with his shovel, easily keeping pace with the much younger fighter. He stopped Neo's attack by surprising her with a Shotgun blast to the belly and grabbing the umbrella, pulling her in, and headbutting her.

"Tough luck, Sally!" Soldier said as Neo stumbled back, feeling his headbutt now that her aura was low.

"This old soldier has fought in over 4 confirmed wars! In each of which, I have won over 5000 sword fights, 8000 fistfights, 40000 gunfights, and can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that I have personally killed tens of thousands of men in combat!" He said proudly with his shotgun pointed at her. "You can't beat me! Not with what you've shown me!" Neo trembled at his words even if they were questionable.

Nevertheless, she tried to continue the fight, but Soldier knocked her umbrella out of her hand and near Roman with a kick. Neo panicked, and tried to teleport away, but before she could do so, Soldier had latched onto her, riding on her shoulders Jockey style from Left 4 Dead 2. Soldier began laying into her poor head with all sorts of punches and elbows as Neo teleported all over the place in a panic. She got so desperate that she literally ran off a second floor balcony overlooking the main room, back first, in hopes that the fall would get him off of her. Fortunately, it did get him off as Soldier slipped off of her, clutching his back in pain. Neo got up and picked up a sword from a fallen Fang grunt in hopes of finishing him off. When suddenly...

 ***SHINK***

A huge needle was stuck into his eye! Neo was shocked, but sort of relieved, thinking that he was dead. After all, no one can survive that right? **WRONG**. To her utter horror Soldier laughed and pulled the needle out of eye, all his wounds seemed to have disappeared too! At this point Neo was scared of this man with ludicrous stamina and durability. She teleported back to Roman as Soldier was giving the Medic a thanks, and left the scene. The other mercs had finished up the last of the Fang in the room including some of the more veteran ones, and ran outside to pursue the girl. Demo, wanting to give an **F you** to the Fang shot some grenades at some dust crates labled **EXPLOSIVE**. The explosion shook the City of Vale, but most of the complex was still standing. Upon exiting the building, they ran into even more White Fang who came out from the surrounding area to face the men attacking their main base. Just business as usual…

The fighting ended in about three minutes, and police sirens can be heard in the distance. The mercs were meeting at the entrance of the building they were in before, and took in the urban environment they found themselves in.

"Hell, that was easy." Engie said. "Now where the hell are we?"

"I have no clue mate." The Sniper responded "But wherever we are it sure ain't on Earth anymore."

"Why ya say that?" Scout asked.

"Look up."

Everyone looked up, and all their jaws dropped. The moon was shattered.

"Guess that explains how that girl could take all Soldier's hits." Engie said.

No one responded, and they could only look at the moon in disbelief. A little while later, they got themselves sorted out and settled on staying at this place they just destroyed. The police had just arrived, but they were making no move to come and confront the mercs. In an unfamiliar world with strange people, the mercs stared out the various openings of the ruined building, observing the city around them.


	2. RWBY meets RED

**Edit in effect.**

* * *

 **Ozpin's Office**

Ozpin carefully watched the screen with that poker face of his, eyes scanning every detail of these strange men. Goodwitch and Ironwood were at his sides, watching just as carefully as he was, but only with faces of total confusion and disbelief. It was a live feed from the VNN when reports of violence were heard earlier this morning in the Faunus slums. The report may be live, but the screen was currently showing prerecorded footage caught by security cameras and eyewitnesses. It showed nine men, each with their own… unique choice of weaponry and combat style. The only similarities these men had with each other was that they all wore red, were apparently allies, and were RIDICULOUSLY good at fighting. Currently, the screen was showing images of a horde of White Fang attacking the strangers to no avail. The sounds of battle such as gunfire, explosions, and screaming of either terror or joy can be heard from his desk.

"Ozpin?" Ironwood was the first to speak out after nearly five whole minutes of watching these guys fight.

"Yes James?" Ozpin replied.

"We should deploy some units to confront these men. I have a battalion of knights ready as well as two paladins." Ironwood said with a slight hint of urgency. A YEE-HAW can be heard from the screen.

Ozpin took a couple of seconds to ponder the advice. The men weren't doing anything from what he could see. Police units had already surrounded the area, but the strangers made no move to fight them despite utterly destroying the White Fang. "No, I'll send Team RWBY to the scene instead." Ironwood looked at Ozpin as if he was stupid. He knew Ozpin probably knew best, but these men seemed way too much for four first year girls.

"Ozpin, I am very serious here…" Ironwood spat out. "These men look extremely dangerous. I don't care what kind of reputation Team RWBY has built for themselves. They don't have the power to fight these men should it get to that point. That's why we need the military to deal with this one."

" _If_ they get to that point." Ozpin responded. "Nobody said that they will have to fight, I believe Team RWBY is more than capable of not provoking them. Besides, they're already on their way." Ozpin said nonchalantly, lifting his mug to his waiting mouth. Ironwood was about to say something, but then he decided to just sigh in defeat. Goodwitch just face palmed.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Team RWBY was being transported by airship to the slums where the strange men appeared. They just got briefed on the situation, and they didn't know what to make of it. There were nine men, each with a specialty. One was a fat but giant man with a HUGE minigun that could probably challenge Coco's. Another had an eyepatch and had an absolutely ridiculous amount of explosives as well as a bunch of old medieval weapons. One wore a hardhat and built strange machines that helped out his buddies, a wicked looking turret being one of them. One wore a flame suit and wielded a flamethrower. One wore doctor's clothing and had this weird red beam that sucked any wound away. One looked like an old soldier with a rocket launcher and was an ABSOLUTE BEAST in melee combat. One was a finely dressed gentleman with a balaclava on, and he was barely seen at all actually. One had a sniper rifle and seemed to snipe with skill that would put the best of Beacon's marksmen to shame. And the last one was a young but skinny man who seemed to be the speedster of the group.

The girls were talking amongst themselves about these newcomers. Ruby couldn't help but excitedly scream about all the cool weapons these men had.

"DID YOU SEE THAT MINIGUN?! IT WAS HUGE!" Ruby screamed.

"Yeah, we all saw it Rubes. It was kinda hard to miss." Yang said.

"So how do you propose we go about this?" Weiss said, uncertain of how to deal with these guys after hearing about them.

"I think we should be careful. I mean, these guys seem like they could fight really well, and there is nine of them and only four of us." Blake the Cat Faunus mused.

Yang *pfffft* the silly kitty. "Puh-lease! I can take them all by myself! Right Ruby?...Ruby?"

Ruby was busy fantasizing about these men's weapons. You know… she being what is essentially a weapon pervert and all. Yang gave a gentle smack to her head and told her to snap out of it.

"Uh! What!? What?"

"What should we do when we meet these guys, oh glorious leader?" Yang teasingly said to her younger sister.

"Oh! Uh…" she trailed off. "Maybe we should try talking to them?" Ruby innocently said.

"What!? Are you crazy!? Did you not see how dangerous those men were in the briefing?!" Weiss screamed.

"Uhhhhhhh…well…you never know! Maybe they're nice people?" Ruby reasoned. "Just because they fight good doesn't mean they're bad, right?"

"Approaching destination." The airship pilot called out from the cockpit, stopping all conversation. The ship touched down right beside the police line, and our girls promptly exited out.

Once they were out of the ship they saw maybe ten whole squads of white fang grunts lying about the streets. The signs of battle were everywhere. The pavement was torn up and the already crappy houses of the slums were made even worse. The VPD had blocked off the streets and people crowded around to see what was up despite the police urging them to stay back in case things got violent.

The four girls saw their targets in a destroyed building at the center of the police cordon. Surprisingly, the men didn't seem to mind the police presence and the destruction they had caused. They were… relaxing? Yes, that's it. Relaxing, chilling out on whatever furniture was left. Didn't mind a thing at all even as they were surrounded.

"Those guys did all of this?" Blake said with her eyes wide, all the destruction they had evidently caused.

"It didn't seem that bad in the briefing…" Weiss said, just as shocked as Blake was.

She then took a look at the men over at the ruined building. Upon further inspection, the nine guys didn't seem nearly as fierce or threatening as their appearance would suggest. Their clothing was pretty straightforward. Nothing that made them stand out other than some were light body armor and had visible ordnance on them. If the girls weren't shown the footage of them fighting earlier, they never would've guessed these guys were elite fighters instead of common thugs.

"There they are... I suggest we approach with caution should they-" Weiss began before Ruby zoomed ahead.

"OK! Let's do this!" Ruby yelled whilst running up to the men. Her sister following closely behind.

"Hey!" Blake and Weiss yelled in unison, but it was already too late. Ruby and Yang were already at the entrance. They could hear the man with the sniper rifle calling out their approach to his allies.

Ruby and Yang approached the front door, or rather where it should be, and were met by the large man with the minigun. His weapon was on the ground and he didn't seem to be worried about the two girls approaching him. He was eating a sandwich. As soon as she saw how huge he was, Ruby began having serious doubts about just running up to say hello to them, but now it was too late, and she was forced to speak first.

"Hi there!" Ruby beamed with a big friendly smile, trying not to shake.

"Zdravstvuyte." The man said with a bit of warmness in his voice.

"Um…what?" The sisters said in confusion. Did this man not speak their language? If so then it would get really awkward.

"Hello." the man said in an accent the girls never heard before, but the girls were relieved. He can speak their language.

"Hi! I'm Ruby, and this is my sister Yang. We're huntresses in training from Beacon Academy." Ruby introduced themselves to the man. The man stood up to a staggering 8 feet in height, and extended his giant, meaty hands to the girls. Ruby got a little scared and took a small step back when he reached his full height.

"Heavy Weapons Guy." The girls took his hand and shook it, or rather tried to.

"Heavy weapons guy?" Yang gave him a questioning look.

"Heavy Weapons Guy." Heavy said again with a nod. "Real name is classified, but you can call me Heavy." The giant explained.

"Why is it classified?" The red riding hood lookalike asked. Heavy simply said "Classified" in that strange accent of his again.

"Oh, okay. Soooo… who are you guys? And why did you wreck this place?" Yang questioned further.

"Heavy and team are mercenaries for Mann Co., and we destroy place because tiny baby men attacked Heavy and friends." Heavy picked a Fang grunt off the ground to emphasize his point. Surprisingly, he wasn't killed. Then he unceremoniously dropped him back down. The Fang let out a grunt as he hit the floor.

"Right..." The girls said.

"Can we meet your friends?" Ruby asked. Heavy stood their for a second, thinking if he should or not. Eventually, he decided that if they tried anything funny with him and his coworkers, they can simply rekt them like these White Fang goons here. Like, no joke. Besides, these girls proved to be rather nice and friendly so far.

The whole time Weiss and Blake stood back a bit in case the men suddenly exploded into hostilities, but seeing Yang and Ruby greet the giant man at the door and suddenly be friendly to each other calmed their suspicions. They followed after them when the man led them into the building.

"Oh right! Heavy these are our other friends. Weiss and Blake." Ruby explained who these other two were to him.

"Greetings." Weiss curtsied.

"Hi." Blake said, wary of these men after what they did to the Fang.

Heavy gave a simple nod and shook their hands. Then he led them inside. Once inside, the girls saw the other eight men in what was once a break room. They kept their guard, but the men still seemed rather non-hostile to them. One of them, the skinny one, got up and greeted them.

"H-hey! Heavy! Buddy! I see you brought some girls to the party…" He began.

"We're under 18." All the girls said, annoyed at the scrawny man as they immediately realized where he was going with this.

"…and I'm out." He went back to his spot in annoyed disappointment.

The mercenaries had all stood up when the girls entered the room, and were giving them questionable looks while the girls tensed up from being in their presence. The looks were mainly directed at Heavy as he just let some kids in here.

"Heavy... why did you bring these girls in here?" A tall man in a mask asked Heavy. His accent was also strange, but distinct from Heavy's.

"They want to meet us." Heavy replied in a simple tone. "Say they came to find out why we destroy place."

"Ha! What does a bunch of sissy little girls like you want with us!?" The man with rocket launcher rudely asked. He had a helmet that covered his eyes, though the girls saw he had blue eyes whenever it shook on his head and revealed his face. Now that they think of it, all these guys had blue eyes, except for the black guy. His eyes were brown.

"Settle down, Soldier..." The man in the hardhat asked his friend in a strange but soothing accent to the girls. "These little ladies just want to know why we're here." The man wore goggles, though Team RWBY can tell by his smile that he wore a friendly expression towards them.

"Howdy, gals. Name's Engineer." He tipped his construction helmet at them. "Now fellas it's only right if y'all introduced yourselves as well." With that, the rest of the mercs began introducing themselves.

"Hey ladies! I'm the Scout, and for your information, I'm a pretty big deal." Scout confidently said to the girls with a smile. The girls could only roll their eyes at him.

"Mphmh-hamph!" The rubber suited guy in the corner waved with a rubber ducky. Engineer told them his name was Pyro.

"I'm te Demoman!" The black guy with the eyepatch said proudly. "Explosions and bombs is what I'm good at!"

" _Nora would love this guy..._ " Yang whispered to Ruby. The man in the military helmet from earlier straightened himself up and stood his rocket launcher at his side, then he gave a salute.

"Soldier reporting for duty!" He held the rigid stance and salute, to which the girls saluted back.

"Dismissed, soldier boy!" Yang joked, to which Soldier took seriously and stepped back to do whatever he was doing before.

"Guten tag, I am ze Medic. If you are ever in any pain, zen you know who to call! Hahaha..." The man in a labcoat and strange backpack kindly said with a laugh. Ruby shivered a little, mostly because she was never fond of trips to the doctor. Oh she has no idea...

"The name's Sniper." The man with the sniper rifle said with a tip of his hat.

"Spy." The tall masked figure said through a puff of smoke from his cigarette. The girls then introduced themselves back to them as he was the last merc to introduce himself.

"It's nice to meet you all!" Ruby beamed.

"Oui, a pleasure to meet you girls as well." Spy said as he flicked his cigarette away. "Now, why are you here?" His eyes then shifted toward Myretnaster on Weiss' hip. "...and with weapons no less." Team RWBY took a quick moment to look at each other before answering him.

"We're here because our headmaster sent us to bring you to Beacon." Blake stated.

"Headmaster? I suppose you are... schoolgirls then?" Spy asked with a brow raised.

"That's right, mister! We're training to be huntresses!" Ruby said proudly. She gave Yang a fist bump with a little explosion noise. Her mood died when the mercenaries gave them blank looks.

"What the bloody Hell is a huntress?" Demo questioned.

"It's a female hunter, dimwit." Sniper said over his shoulder.

"Huntress? Well I heard of young gals going out with their fathers hunting before, but a whole damn school about it?" The Texan man questioned while his team had their full attention on the girls.

"Oh no, it's not a school for hunting animals!" Ruby waved her hands. "It's a school where we train to be protectors of peace and justice!" She said proudly. "Slaying Grimm and beating bad guys is what we do best!" The mercenaries still didn't seem to understand.

"So whatever this place is it gives weapons to teenagers to go out and kill things." Spy face palmed. "I've seen some outlandish things before, but this is by far one of the most idiotic." He's seen some pretty strange and stupid things, especially with his mercenary buddies.

"Hey!" Yang growled, but she was held back by Blake.

"Well... I'm sorry you think that way, but it's true. I'm surprised you didn't know that... Everybody in Remnant knows that, don't you?" The silver eyed girl tilted her head in questioning cuteness.

"Remnant..." Spy looked back to his teammates. "We have a name for where we are now..." This confused the girls. It seemed like these men hadn't a clue of where they were at all.

"Girl, Ruby, I believe that's what your name was?" The girl in question nodded her head. "Right, you say this headmaster of... Beacon, wanted you to take us to your school?"

"Yep!"

Spy looked at her for a moment, mind thinking about why a school would send in students instead of the government sending police to take them in. "Will you excuse us one moment? I must have a word with my coworkers." Ruby nodded and the mercs quickly got to business. After a minute of whispering to each other, with a few blows and insults traded every now and then, they broke up, and Spy faced the girls again.

"Well, Ruby, it seems like we're going with you then."

"YES!" Ruby fist pumped. "Mission accomplished!"

"Hehe, it ain't over until we take them back to Beacon, dummy!" Yang ruffled her sister's hair, much to the younger girl's annoyance.

"At least you guys agreed to come peacefully." Weiss said. "Usually when we're sent on mission like this, the people we're sent to get try to kill us."

"Whatever you say mate..." Sniper said as they all walked out the door together. This is where Weiss noticed something was wrong...

"Wait... how are we supposed to all fit in one airship!?"


	3. Beacon

**Beacon Cliffside Docks**

Ozpin and Glynda were waiting patiently for Team RWBY to return with their "guests" at the air docks. While they waited, Ozpin noticed Glynda seemed a little off about something.

"Is there something wrong Glynda?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing headmaster." Glynda responded

"Are you worried about our guests?"

"Oh no…" she trailed off a bit, "…I'm more worried about the absolutely ridiculous…display, James brought with him."

*zoom out*

Ironwood had deployed 3 platoons of Atlas soldiers, a full battalion of Atlesian Knights, 2 Atlesian Paladins, a flight of Atlas gunships, and an Atlas cruiser for good measure. All standing at attention. Someone can be heard slowly saying "What the fuck" at Ironwood's bullshit.

"…You think he's compensating for something?" questioned Glynda. Ozpin did not respond as the bullhead containing Team RWBY and their guests had arrived. The bullhead touched down on the landing pad, and everyone was waiting for the people inside to get out. Small rumbling and knocking sounds can be heard from within.

…

…

…

"What is taking-"

Then the airship door popped open. I mean like fell off its hinges and just fell forward popped out. Team RWBY and the nine men ungracefully fell out with it, piling on top of each other. All groaning and grunting.

"Owiee…" Ruby whined.

"Argh! That's why you should've brought anotha- WHOA!' Scout said, upon realizing that an army had them surrounded them. Heavy lifted up everyone as he was on the bottom of the pile, threw them off of him, and got ready for battle despite the unlikelihood of them winning this fight. His team doing the same. The Atlesian army immediately leveled their weapons toward the one bullhead.

"WAIT!" cried Ruby as she and her team ran between the mercenaries and Ironwood's Fuckhuege army. "They're with us!"

"James tell your men to stand down." Ozpin calmly said to Ironwood who had walked up to his side. Ironwood did so, but he did not order his men to leave. The three of them, Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood, walked towards the girls and the mercenaries. Ozpin greeted Ruby and walked toward Spy, as he was the closest and most professional looking.

"Hello Gentlemen." Ozpin began. "I welcome you to Beacon Academy." Spy lowered his weapons, straightened his tie and dusted off his suit, and motioned for his team to lower their weapons. They all complied, except for soldier who hesitated because he's always eager to "KILL COMMIE SCUM" as he would have put it. He only backed down when Medic told him these people were definitively not Communist in any way.

"Bonjour." Spy greeted Ozpin in a language he never heard before. "Who are you?"

"I am Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. It's a pleasure meeting you and your associates. What is your name, Mr…?"

"Spy." He finished for Ozpin. "Our true names are classified." Ozpin raised a brow at this, but decided to go along with it. "Now I hope you don't mind me asking, but is this how you normally welcome visitors to your school?" Spy gave a casual look towards Ironwood's military. Ironwood stepped up.

"They're here to ensure _you_ don't step out of line while you're here. But anyways, I am General James Ironwood. Headmaster of Atlas Academy and commander of the Atlesian forces stationed in Vale for the Vytal Festival Tournament." He then gave a military salute.

"Alright gentleman, I think it's best if we went up to my office and continue this conversation." Ozpin said upon realizing that students had begun forming around the soldiers to see what all the fuss was about. Ironwood ordered all personnel present to withdraw and resume their previous duties, and Ozpin and his associates led RED team to his office. Team RWBY was also dismissed, and they watched RED Team go away with their headmaster as the Atlas army broke up to resume their previous duties.

* * *

 **Team RWBY's Dorm**

Team RWBY walked into their room and proceeded to unwind and review the day's events. All scared out of their wits for a moment when the mercs actually looked like they **wanted** to fight like half of the Atlas army.

"Wow that was intense!" Ruby said as she plopped onto her bed face first.

"Yeah, for a second there I thought we were gonna be blown to pieces!" Blake said, wincing at the thought of getting caught in a hilariously one-sided fight.

"Those men must be completely insane if they thought they could take on Ironwood's forces then and there! They must have a death wish or something." Weiss the ice queen said.

"That was crazy even for me, not like I'm trying to say _I_ wouldn't fight them, but still." The brawler of the crew said.

Ruby had her head buried under her pillow while her team were talking about the newcomers. She was thinking about the men too when she remembered their totes awesome cool weapons. After a few moments of _moaning_ in delight of the thought at the men's weaponry, it finally hit her that these men didn't seem like they were from around here, or from anywhere in Remnant at all. She thought about it for a bit before raising her head to add to the other team members' conversation.

"Hey guys…did you notice these strangers are pretty weird?"

"Duh, Ruby. That's what we've been talking about it" Her big sister said. She threw a pillow at Ruby's face, but she hit it out of the air before it got to her face.

"Yeah…but think about it. They just appeared in the slums from out of nowhere, fought off the local White Fang there and _**won**_ , and they have these weird weapons no one's seen before. AND some of them talk in weird accents." More pillows hit her face.

"We said all that already you dunce." Weiss said. "Maybe you should have been listening instead of moaning about instruments of death." Yang laughed and Blake gave a quiet chuckle. Ruby's face turned a bright crimson upon realizing she was moaning out loud, and responded to her team's reaction appropriately. In a flurry of rose petals, she had gathered all the pillows in the room and constructed a pillow fort on her bed to hide herself from her team.

"Oh come on sis, we were just having fun." Yang said before a pillow was thrown at her face hard enough to knock her to the floor. Blake laughed before getting hit to, letting off a quiet meow. Weiss was shocked and turned to face Ruby's fortress of death before getting the same treatment as the brawler and kitty did. All hell broke loose soon after.

Some of their neighbors came out into the hallway to see what was happening. To them it sounded like the battle scenes from the Great War clips they would watch sometimes in Oobleck's class. Among them was Team JNPR, and since they were right across Team RWBY's dorm, they dared to open the gates of hell first.

*door opens*

"Hey guys, what's-" He didn't get to finish, as Jaune was hit with a pillow so hard it exploded like an artillery shell, covering the hall with an unlikely amount of feathers from a single pillow. As you can imagine, Nora being the eccentric little goddess of mayhem she is, immediately joined the carnage of battle, pulling the rest of her team with her. The ensuing battle would be so great, that the rest of the wing RWBY and JNPR lived in would get caught in it.

* * *

 **Some Warehouse near the Docks**

Roman was having a bad day. He was over at the table where maps of the city of Vale and the surrounding countryside with his hand covering his face. Earlier today, he was at the White Fang garrison in the slums overseeing the recruitment of the downtrodden Faunus there. He was giving a speech to the newly initiated members when a weird white glow radiated out from one of the back rooms. He ignored it as he was in the middle of a speech, thinking one of the mangy animals was messing with some of the dust stored there. That's when he heard shouting and gunshots.

"Ugghh… Someone check on those idiots!" A few of the armed members moved to do as he asked. They didn't even took a step when the wall blew open. Some Faunus were sent flying into the crowd with debris from the explosion. Nine men tumbled out of the hole, yelling and berating each other over something Roman couldn't hear, but he did not care and he ordered everyone to attack these men. As you can imagine this went _swimmingly_ for Roman. Next thing he knew, he was being rushed away from the scene with a severe concussion to his head, before blacking out. He came too at the warehouse he is at now, and when he asked Neo what happened she said in sign language "A man with a rocket launcher flew at you and hit you with a ham."

"What happened to the base?" he asked.

Neo spread her arms apart and made a _boooooom_ sound.

And that's where we are now.

 _How am I going to explain this to Cinder?_

"Roman…" A chilling voice asked from behind him. He didn't need to look behind him to know who it was. The clicking of her heels, the iciness of her sultry voice...

 _Oh Fuck_

"Oh, Cinder! Lovely seeing you here! Wha-"

" _What happened,_ Roman?" Cinder asked.

Roman was thinking of something clever to say before admitting he had no idea.

"Honestly, I have no clue." She glared at him. "Hey, don't get mad at me! I literally got a ham to the dome! Ask someone else."

She raised a brow at Roman's excuse. "There is no one else. No one made it out of there except for Neo." Neo popped up at Cinder's side and got a pat on the head.

"She only said some strange men destroyed the whole base by _themselves."_ Roman gulped as she put emphasis on that last word and fire flared in her eyes a bit.

"No matter. Those lost recruits weren't going to matter much today anyway..." She turned away from Roman to see trucks come in with stolen Atlesian paladins on them. "These machines are worth far more than a simple recruiting base."

"What about those men?" Roman asked, trying to keep sweat from running down his face and keep his cool. Cinder lazily turned her head to look at him, and then back to the trucks.

"What about them?" She said. "They're only men. They can be beaten like anyone else..."


	4. Fights and Work

**Ozpin's Office**

"So let me get this straight. You're telling me you men are from a different world called 'Earth'?" Ironwood said, rubbing his temples after the mercenaries told them where they came from.

"That's right." Engie said.

"…and, you were all mercenaries hired by one company to fight each other, an evil wizard, undead abominations, and millions of robots?"

"Correct." Spy said

Ironwood stood there for a bit, contemplating the nonsense the mercenaries had told them. Ozpin and Glynda stood by quietly, taking in the info at their own pace. Ozpin spoke up. "Well, that's all interesting gentlemen, but if you're jobs are classified then why tell us?"

"Ve figured there vas no point in keeping it secret anymore since ve are no longer in our own vorld." Medic answered."

"Yes, there is no trace of Mann Co. anywhere on this world, and we were fired from those jobs anyway…" Spy added.

"Well then, care to tell us your names then since you've told us everything else?"

The mercs looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Engineer took off his hardhat and spoke.

"Uh, well you see Mr. Ozpin…"

"Professor Ozpin, please."

"Right, sorry. Professor Ozpin, over the years we got used to calling each other by our job names." Ozpin and his associates looked at Engie with a little confusion.

"Oh? Care to explain further?"

"Well, we do know our real names, but we ain't used to calling each other by them. We prefer calling each other by our job titles cause it was easier to do in battle."

"So you won't tell us your real names then?"

"Yep. Least till we know we can trust ya."

"Interesting…" Ozpin looked to Ironwood and Glynda. "Will you excuse us gentlemen? I would like a word with my associates. He led Ironwood and Goodwitch to a back room.

"Please, take your time." Spy said, as Ozpin closed the door. He then opened it again.

"Oh, and Mr. Spy? Please make sure your men do not destroy my office while I'm away."

"Will do."

He shut the door again. It was the same room he talked to Blake in a couple of weeks ago. The room was absolutely sound proof so he was sure the mercenaries couldn't hear their conversation.

"What do you think of our guests?" Ozpin asked.

"I think they're just a group of delusional maniacs. No one can travel between worlds, and the thought of some global company hiring mercenaries to kill each other is just ridiculous!" Ironwood said.

"Not to mention fighting evil wizards, undead creatures, aliens, bread monsters, and millions of robots that look like them." Glynda added. "I have to agree with James on this one Ozpin."

Ozpin took in his companions words. "Yes, the evidence presented sounds like it came from deranged lunatics so maybe they are just escaped mental patients. Then there's the off chance they are telling the truth."

"Which is really unlikely..." Glynda said.

"Yes, but regardless, these men have much combat experience. That is undeniable." The other two people in the room nodded in agreement, thinking back to the live footage they watched earlier. "That is why I have decided to keep them here at Beacon." Glynda's jaw dropped in disbelief, and Ironwood face palmed.

"Oz come on…" Ironwood began. "These men belong in the mental ward of a maximum security prison. They don't belong here. It's too dangerous! As director of security for the Vytal Festival, I think it is best if you let me take them to an asylum in Atlas."

"While James' suggestion sounds a little extreme, I do agree that these men are too dangerous to be anywhere near the students! Even if everyone here is either a huntsman or huntsman in training, the risk of a student getting injured is too high!" Glynda said.

"Yes, yes, I understand all of your concerns. But I see these men as welcome help against our enemy. Besides, it's better than having them join the enemy against us." Ozpin said. His companions took this in, but they were still skeptical. Sure, he had a point that having such excellent fighters on their side was way better than the other way around, but do the benefits outweigh the risks? We'll see.

"Fine Ozpin. These men can stay here as long as you keep them close. But the moment they step out of line, I will personally see to them." Ironwood said very seriously as he just about ran out of patience for Ozpin.

"Then it is settled. These men will stay here at Beacon. Now, let's tell our guests the good news." They exited the room to see Ozpin's office to be largely intact, except for Pyro burning one of his decorative plants. The mercenaries were trading hats they got from somewhere.

"Did the Headmaster not say to don't destroy anything!?" Glynda yelled at the bunch.

"Madame, trust me. You do not extinguish a fire the Pyro is interested in."

Glynda glared at Pyro who was sitting crisscrossed in front of the flame. IT stared backed at her, and Glynda gazed back. She kept on staring deep into the Pyro's eyeholes until all of a sudden she got really uncomfortable. She didn't know what was happening, but it got really hot, as in like temperature hot. Soon, she started hallucinating as she saw flames engulf the entire office, the smoke forcing her to hold her breath. Horns and an evil grin appeared on the little monster and she swore she heard screams of agony from multiple voices come from somewhere.

"-fessor Goodwitch? Glynda?" Ozpin said. She snapped out of the nightmarish hallucination to see nothing had happened to the office and the Pyro was still its normal self. Everyone was staring at her, but the mercenaries seemed to have understood what just happened to her.

"Are you alright?"

"Ummm, yes headmaster. I just…zoned out there." She shuddered.

"…right. So anyways, gentlemen, my colleagues and I have talked about it, and we have come to the conclusion that you will all stay here in Beacon academy." This got mixed reactions from the mercenaries and a grumble from Ironwood. Something about a _damn fool_. Glynda was reeling from her nightmare. Spy spoke up.

"This is all so very sudden, and _convenient_ …" he trailed off. "How do we know you won't have us arrested while we're here?"

"I would be talking to you in jail right now if I wanted you arrested."

"Good point." Spy said.

Ozpin sat at his desk and pulled some paper documents for the mercenaries.

"Now…" he said while getting up and walking to each of them. "I can't keep you here as mere guests for long periods of time as that would be illegal unless you were huntsmen. If I am to hold you here, you would all need to be employed here." He passed the papers to the mercenaries. The papers were job applications. They all looked at Ozpin and back at the papers. Spy then signaled for them to huddle together in a corner. Ozpin patiently waited for them to un-huddle. He could hear something about being dirt poor in this world because their money was worthless here and how easy this job could be compared to their last one.

"Professor Ozpin, I only have one question." The Frenchman said.

"Ask away."

"Why do the job forms say nothing on what our occupations will be?"

"That is because I have yet to decide on what you shall be doing here in Beacon."

"Please remember we are mercenaries. Our trade is one of fighting... and general violence."

"I'll keep that in mind Mr. Spy."

Spy nodded his head and straightened up. "As de facto leader of RED team, I…"

"SHUT YOUR FACE YOU FRENCH BASTARD! I'M THE REAL LEADER HERE! WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO CALL YOURSELF OUR LEADER!?" Soldier screamed in objection.

"Maybe it's because I've been doing most of the talking for us, and I am the most sane and intelligent of the group." Spy said annoyed.

Those words meant nothing to Soldier, and before he yelled again Spy expertly threw a butterfly knife at his throat where his vocal cords were. Effectively stopping his outbursts and sending him struggling for life on the floor. This obviously shocking the non-mercenaries in the room.

"You killed your own friend!" Glynda yelled in shock.

Ironwood was going to pull out his revolver, when medic pulled out his medigun to miraculously heal soldier before death, pulling the knife out of course. To their surprise, soldier got right back up with the wound gone!

"Now Soldier, are you going to yell again?"

"I always yell at you, you baguette loving coward! And why was I yelling at you again?"

Spy face palmed and went back to business. The non-Earthlings said nothing.

"Yes, please excuse what just happened there. I can only take so much before I break, with being fired, being teleported to a new world, and getting attacked by a terrorist organization of 'Faunus'…" The three people of Remnant nodded slowly upon realizing that at least some of the things the mercenaries said were true.

"OK then. As leader of RED team, we agree to your terms. Gentlemen please give the good headmaster your papers." They all gave Ozpin their papers and he seemed to wave off the incident as he was looking through them. He noticed that some of the papers were written in the same handwriting.

"Some of us can't read so I filled it out for them." Spy said.

"Okay…" Ozpin said, Glynda having a sort of worried look on her face at knowing grown men who can't read. He gave the papers to Glynda so that she can get them registered into the school's database later. Then he faced the nine men to welcome them as new staff members.

"Gentlemen, welcome to Beacon Academy." He shook all of their hands. "Professor Goodwitch will show you to your rooms now if-"He was cut off as his desk alarm rang. It was the student alarm by the way. He answered it.

"Hello, this is Headmaster Ozpin, how may I help you?"

"PROFESSOR OZPIN PLEASE! YOU GOT TO SEND SOMEONE DOWN HERE AND HELP US!" A voice Ozpin recognized as Russel Thrush of Team CRDL.

"Calm down Mr. Thrush, and tell me what's happening?" Ozpin said calmly, though he was a little panicked in the inside because he thought the enemy had made their move on the school already.

"IT'S TEAM RWBY AND TEAM JNPR! THEY STARTED A HUGE PILLOW FIGHT DOWN HERE! PLEASE HELP BEFORE-" He stopped screaming long enough to hear a bubbly red head say **TIME TO BREAK SOME LEGS!** "NO! PLEASE NO! I- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The transmission cut off.

An explosion was heard outside and everyone present gathered near the window to see where it came from. They saw it came from the dormitory where Team RWBY stayed and it looked like Hell there. If Hell was covered in feathers and screaming students beating each other. It's worth mentioning pillows seemed to be making the explosions somehow too.

Glynda groaned. "I'll deal with this Professor…"

"No. Our new staff will deal with this. Just please don't kill anyone Mr. Spy." Ozpin calmly said somehow.

"Do not worry Headmaster, I will send Heavy to diffuse the mess as a sign of our good will." Spy said as he turned to Heavy. "Go on Russian, you're new friends need you."

"Da." Heavy started walking back the direction to the elevator, but then Soldier decided to be a bro and "help" Heavy get down faster. He pushed him out the fucking window, breaking the class.

"I have cut your travel time in half, courtesy of America! HA!"

Ironwood was dumbfounded, so was Glynda. He _got pushed_ out of a window that was 500 feet high! Ozpin said nothing.

Spy face palmed. "Damn simpleton, Soldier you moron … Oh, don't worry about Heavy, he'll be fine…and we'll pay for any damages later." Spy said as he motioned to Medic. Medic threw something out of the window after Heavy.

* * *

 **Beacon Courtyard**

Heavy was halfway down to the ground when he realized the landing would most likely kill him, and he started screaming. He landed with a sickening crunch, shocking all of the students nearby (Imagine one of those Gmod animations). They ran to help him, but then all of a sudden a strange, rectangular object crashed right on to his head, covering the ground with blood. The students closed their eyes in disgust and sorrow for the total stranger who met such a bloody end when the object opened up. A hologram appeared over the reanimator that resembles Heavy's body, and his body was reformed into the hologram. The reanimator blew up, but he was all better!

"Ohhh…" Heavy groaned as he rubbed his head, making a mental note to kick Soldier's ass when he sees him again.

Then he looked at the reanimator that brought him back to life and smiled. "Thank you Doctor!" he yelled up in hopes the Medic could hear him. This new model of reanimtor was courtesy of Engineer and the Medic, who decided that it was really tedious for Medic to have to use his medigun on one every time to bring his coworkers back to life. Especially when they're all dead, and considering that this is the Mann Co. Mercenaries, that happens a lot. So they decided to screw that noise and make a model that had the power to bring back the dead by itself, but the power it generates usually destroys it right after.

A student walked up to Heavy a bit cautiously after witnessing what just happened.

"Hey mister… are you okay?" Asked he.

"Wait." Heavy pulled out a sandvich and ate it with very loud 'nom' sounds. *gulp* "Ahhh…Da, Heavy is good!" He then screamed a mighty battle cry and ran towards Team RWBY's dormitory, leaving the students around his bloody crash site stupefied.

Heavy approached the dormitory where the pillow riot was. It took him like 10 minutes to get there cause he was fat, but at least he got there. He walked up to the entrance of the dorm, but it had a scanner thing that registered Beacon personnel scrolls. Heavy had no such thing, but he wouldn't know how to use it even if he did have one so he resolved to rip the door open with his bare hands. The doors were ripped straight from their hinges and Heavy threw them practically out into the stratosphere. He noticed that there was a female student with bunny ears who was just about to open the doors before he ripped them out, and she let out a yelp when he did so because it scared her. Heavy nodded his head and said an apology before picking up Velvet with both of his huge hands and delicately placed her on the side and dusted some dust off of her head. Velvet squeaked out a thank you and Heavy continued his glorious charge down the hallway.

He got to Team RWBY's hallway to see the pillow fight had devolved into an actual fight. There he saw Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL brawling in the hallway without their weapons with random students watching out from their doors. Heavy noticed a young man was unconscious on the floor with his legs bending and pointing in directions they shouldn't be, and his scroll in his hands. He slung Russel over his shoulder and walked up to the fighters. Then he pulled out his shotgun and shot it once at the ceiling with one hand, getting everyone's attention.

"Babies! Stop now!" He yelled at them. Cardin looked at Heavy carefully for a couple of seconds before it hit him who he was. "Hey! He's one of the guys from the slums earlier! What's he doing here?!"

"I am Heavy Weapons-" He was cut off by Dove.

"He must have escaped Beacon security! *sees Russel unconscious over him and his shotgun* …and he's holding Russel hostage!"

"Let's get him!" Sky yelled as Team CRDL charged the Russian.

Team JNPR ran after them but were stopped by Team RWBY. Heavy sighed and equipped the Holiday Punch, unslung Russel, and threw him boomerang style at his own team. They all dodged the makeshift projectile, but they could not dodge what happened next. Heavy charged right down at them Charger style from Left 4 Dead. All 3 of the standing boys were pinned onto his right shoulder, and then punched up into the ceiling when he abruptly stopped running. They slammed into the ceiling and landed back down with another slam.

All watching thought they would be in pain even with their auras. They heard noises coming from the boys on the ground. At first, they thought Team CRDL was crying, but instead they were… laughing? Da fuq? Yes they were laughing! They didn't understand why there were laughing and Team CRDL probably didn't know why either, but the boys continued their attack on the Russian anyway. Their attacks meant little too Heavy as the laughing sensation forced them to not do anything effective. Sky tried to flank Heavy as Heavy was wrestling Cardin into the ground with Dove pinned under his weight, all laughing their asses off.

Sky managed to jump onto Heavy's back and tried to choke him out, but the laughing sensation numbed all of Sky's movements so he couldn't grab tightly. Heavy backhanded him, which caused him to laugh even more. At this point, Cardin managed to slip out of the Heavy's grip, slowly ceased to laugh and pulled back to catch his breath. He didn't understand why he was laughing, but he did understand that those mittens were made of pure joy and cheer! Unfortunately for Cardin, Heavy gave him no time to rest as he kicked Dove up from under him and punched him straight into Cardin, causing even more lulz. As Team CRDL except for the R were having the time of their lives, JNPR was asking RWBY about Heavy.

"Why'd ya stop us?!" Nora whined. "That looks like so much fun!" She said while jumping up and down at the 'fun' CRDL seemed to be having.

"We stopped you because he's our friend!" Ruby said.

"Really?" Pyrrha asked, not sure how Team RWBY became friends with someone like _that_.

"Um, sort of…" Ruby trailed off.

"We brought him in and his friends from the slums earlier." Blake said. "You know, the guys who utterly destroyed the Fang there." She shuddered after remembering the site of her fellow Faunus littering the streets, dead or unconscious. Hmmm… mostly dead.

"Yeah, at first we were a little skeptical about them, obviously them being trained in combat and all, but they were surprisingly lax about it." Weiss said.

"Huh." Jaune said in understanding, but not really.

"They let us take them in with no trouble at all. Other than that confrontation with the Atlas Military when they got here of course."

The fight was nearly over at this point, with Cardin the only one standing. Dove and Sky were unconscious on the floor with maniacal smiles plastered onto their faces. Cardin managed to stop laughing as Heavy was walking up to him to finish him.

"Hey, wait! Cardin said to the giant right before he launched a mittened, mittened? Mitten-ed? Mitten covered fist at him.

"Come on! That's not fair! You can't just make us laugh to put us off of our guard! Fight me like a man!" Cardin said with all his non-existent bravery. Heavy lowered his face to Cardin's and stood really close, staring at him with angry eyes. He didn't have to lower himself much though cause Cardin is like 7 feet something. Cardin stared back, trying really hard to not look like a total pussy.

"Very well!" The mittens had disappeared, leaving his fists in their place. He punched his fists together and motioned for Cardin to come at him. "Fight me coward!"

Cardin flung himself at Heavy, confident that the mittens that apparently made him laugh were gone. He threw a right at Heavy's head, but Heavy managed to swing his head to the side and countered with a left hook to Cardin's stomach. Now that Cardin wasn't dying from laughter the fight was much fairer. His aura, though drained, took the hit and he threw a haymaker at Heavy. It hit home and Heavy stumbled into the wall as he didn't have aura to take impacts like that. Cardin pressed his advantage and sent a powerful right to Heavy's gut. Heavy managed to stop the fist before it hit him, and locked his hands with Cardin in a pushing match. The boy was amazingly strong, but it was clear that the Heavy had the strength advantage here when Cardin felt his back arching over. He broke away from the Heavy and went back at it in a match of fists.

Heavy was ready this time and he easily blocked five punches from Cardin with his huge arms, and slipped the last punch to backhand Cardin. Cardin was dazed, so Heavy decided to punch him a bunch to further break this 'aura' Ozpin told them about in his office. It seemed to work too as Cardin visibly weakened. Cardin wouldn't back down so in a last ditch attempt to beat Heavy he tackled him into a wall and punched him hard in the gut. Heavy got the air knocked out of him, as well as his spare sandvich from his pocket. He fell to the floor gasping for breath, and his sandvich. He reached for the sandvich as a dying man would for a photo of his family, but Cardin stepped on it. Smug look on his face and all, thinking he won.

What happened next can only be described as a solid kick to the balls. Now, normally for a male to kick another in the groin is a highly dishonorable action even in modern times, but this was a special case you see. Cardin fucked with Heavy's sandvich. As a matter of fact, _solid_ does not describe the event properly in the slightest. A proper description would be that Heavy delivered the hardest crotch shot to any character Roosterteeth (Plz don't sue) has ever conceived, including a yellow armored slacker some of us should be familiar with. The hit to the jammies was so solid, it made Cardin crash into the ceiling with half of his body stuck up there. Jaune and Ren doubled over the instant they felt the mini shockwave, with the girls cringing at the **CRACK** noise. Heavy gathered up his sandvich and cried, manly tears of course. Team RWBY and JNPR walked up to Heavy. The students who were watching out of their rooms had recorded the event on their scrolls, eager to post it online later.

"Heavy? Why are you crying? You won!" Ruby said, looking back at Team CRDL's broken forms. Heavy said nothing and presented his ruined sandvich for all to see, letting off a manly tear.

"You're in pieces over a simple sandwich?" Weiss said unamused. Heavy got up to her face, and yelled **SANDVICH** at her, and sat right back down, shaking back in forth in fetal position.

"Oh…It's OK big guy! We'll make you another sandwich later!" Yang said as she patted him on the back to comfort him. That got him out of it as he stood up to his full height of 8 foot, face emotionless but no longer shedding manly tears.

"Yes, yellow hair is right…"

"It's Yang." She added, but Heavy continued without any confirmation of any acknowledgement.

"…Heavy will get more sandviches in future." He placed the destroyed sandvich in his pocket. Somehow it fit. He turned to the two Teams after taking a moment of further mourning.

"You are all in much trouble!" Heavy said, the standing teams

"What?! But they started it!" Jaune said while pointing at Team CRDL.

"Yeah Heavy! They're the ones who started fighting for real!" Ruby yelled. "We were only brawling with pillows before they showed up!"

"Ah! Students admit to start fight first!" The Russian said.

"Ahh, what!? But Heavy, we- ughhhhhh….." Ruby despaired.

"Now, you all go to Professor Ozpin's office."

The teens groaned and followed him out of the building with all of CRDL slung over his shoulders, two on each. It took them 20 mins to walk across the courtyard, and travel up to Ozpin's office. Heavy did not go up with them, but he trusted the kids will follow his orders. He passed CRDL over to them, and waited with them until they all went up there, because they needed to take two trips in the elevator with the 12 of them. Team RWBY went up first with Cardin and Russel who were just coming to. The other 6 students on the ground with Heavy killed time by talking to him, except for Dove and Sky who were afraid of him and still feeling squeamish. Jaune talked first.

"So…Heavy, right?" Jaune said slyly.

"I am Heavy Weapons Guy." He shook Jaune's hand, his Russian hand completely covering Jaune's hand. "You can call me Heavy."

"Okay. I'm Jaune Arc. Leader of Team JNPR."

"Why is your name Heavy?" Pyrhha asked. "Surely you would have a proper name."

"Is job title. Name is classified."

Nora popped in to have a word too. Ecstatic as usual.

"How did you make Cardin and his goons laugh like that in a fight? That looked fun!"

Mittens suddenly appeared on Heavy's hands, and I'm not talking appeared with particle effects or fancy transformation, but appeared as in it wasn't there a nanosecond before. He took the Holiday Punch off and gave it to Nora, who eagerly put it on. She noticed that the mittens surged with warmth and joy, just like her!

"These things did it? But you were hitting so hard!" Heavy took one of Nora's arms in his hands and guided her over to Ren. He then moved his hand an inch forward, moving Nora's hand in the process. She gently touched Ren's chest when he gave a highly uncharacteristic chuckle all of a sudden.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh!" Nora said in realization. "The mittens transfer joy into the victim!" Nora said with high enthusiasm. She gave light punches to each of her teammates to see they all laughed suddenly. She was going to do much worse until the elevator opened and she had to give the Holiday Punch back to Heavy. Team JNPR said their goodbyes as the elevator closed. Professor Goodwitch had just walked in to take Heavy to his quarters with the rest of RED team.

"Good evening, Mr. Heavy. I am here to take you to your room."

"Da."

"Excuse you?" Glynda said annoyed. Thinking he said "duh."

"Heavy is sorry, is how we say yes in my language." She nodded and started walking to the staff buildings with Heavy behind her.

The walk there was uneventful, and Heavy said his thanks to Goodwitch before entering the medium-sized building the mercs had all to themselves. His team was mostly sleeping, trading hats, or inspecting their weapons. Heavy stepped into his room and rested for the night. Meanwhile, Scout was downstairs talking with some of the others.

"So a whole other world huh?" He said, can't help but looking at the shattered moon out the window.

"Seems to be the case, lad." Demo took a swig. "Sounds awfully strange, but our moon sure as Hell doesn't look like _that."_

"Agreed, mate." Sniper said. "The Hell are we going to do now? We're not exactly academy material..."

"Sniper's right, Spy." Engie said. "We're out of our comfort zones here."

"It's better than going to jail or being homeless here, but yes, I do agree." The Frenchman said. "Well we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there." In the next room, Soldier can be heard screaming as Heavy remembered he owed him an ass whooping for what he did to him earlier.


	5. Where we're from

**Beacon Cafeteria, Morning**

The talk in Ozpin's office last night wasn't that bad. It just took a _looong_ time. Team RWBY was sitting at their usual table with Team JNPR as well. All burnt out from sleep deprivation.

"Ughh… Why did Ozpin keep us there for so long…" Yang groaned, before she slammed her face on the table with her arms hanging down.

"Who drags out a talk to five hours…" Weiss said, while struggling to hold an apple to her mouth. She looked over to where Cardin and his boys sat and saw they had their faces in their food, all fast asleep. Cardin was sitting in a wheelchair and had a cast and icepack for his balls, and Russell was also in a wheelchair with casts for his legs. Blake was the most OK out of all of them, being a kitty and all. She rubbed her eyes and remembered that Heavy was there in the hallway. Ruby got up to go get some cookies to revive herself.

"Hey guys…" Blake said to her friends. "Why was Heavy there in the first place?"

" _Who cares…_ " Yang groaned, voice muffled from not moving her face off the table. " _Let me sleep…"_

"Maybe he did break out of Beacon security." Ren suggested.

"I don't think so…" Pyrrha said. "If that were true then the Atlas soldiers would have recaptured him by then." Ruby was coming back with an obscenely large amount of cookies. Except that she wasn't carrying it herself. She was actually sitting on top of a 4 foot pile of cookies with someone they couldn't see carrying them. Someone large.

"Hey guys! Look what I got!" She said proudly, with a smile that just told you that these cookies won't last the next few minutes. Whoever was carrying the cookies had reached their table, and set the cookies down with a loud crashing noise. Ruby tumbled off the pile and hit the floor.

"Oww… Heavy!" Heavy came from behind the cookie mountain.

"Sorry Ruby." Heavy said as he lifted her to her feet. "Heavy will be more careful next time." They both took a seat. Heavy made the bench look comically small with his large Russian stature. He pulled out multiple sandviches. Everyone said their hellos to Heavy, and he did likewise.

"Hey Heavy…" Blake began. "Why were you out in our dorm yesterday? Come to think of it, why are you even here now?"

"Heavy is here because this school is new workplace…and I make more sandvich." The teens jaws dropped.

"Wait, so Ozpin let you guys _work here_?" Weiss said, eyes wide open, but still clearly tired.

"That's right!" Ruby chimed in, renewed by the cookies which were already a quarter of a way gone. "*munch* Heavy and his friends work here now!"

" _Cool…_ " Yang said groggily as she raised her head. " _What do you guys do now_?"

"Heavy…Oh! Wait!"

"What's wrong?" Ruby said, mid-bite before getting hushed by Heavy.

"Shhh! Look!" he pointed at Team CRDL. "I have plan for them." He made his fingers into a gun shape and jammed a turkey onto them. He winked at the teens and gave a slightly menacing chuckle. The teens had no idea what was going on, but they were eager to see what he was going to do with the turkey finger gun. He "aimed" the turkey at Team CRDL. "POW! HAHA!"

The turkey shot off at a ridiculous speed and smashed into Team CRDL's table, making the boys fly a couple of feet into the air. Heavy was heartily laughing at the boys' expense while Team RWBY and JNPR just stared in confusion. Some of them snickered at CRDL's expense too.

"Hey babies!" Team CRDL looked at Heavy. Heavy took out the ruined sandvich from yesterday and raised it high for all to see.

"Never! Touch my sandvich!" The boys ran away, except for Cardin and Russel of course. They were carried by their teammates.

"Ha! Good one Heavy!" Nora said.

"Hohoho! That slaps me on the knee! Now, to answer question…"

Before Heavy could finish, he got a call from this really blocky phone that was really outdated by Remenant's standards. Heavy got up and said he had to be somewhere right then and said his goodbyes. A lot of students were watching the Russian as he walked out of the cafeteria, some remembering he was in the news report from yesterday.

"Well that was certainly something…" Weiss said. "…do you think that's his semblance or something?" No one answered that question.

"Where did you think he went off to?" Blake said.

"Maybe he went to go see Professor Ozpin." Pyrrha said.

"So what do you know about Heavy and his friends?"

"Ummmm… nothing, actually." Blake responded. "Other than what we told you yesterday, we don't know anything about them, except some of them have strange accents."

"Like Heavy?"

"Yeah, but only Heavy sounds like that." Ruby was done with the cookies when she joined the conversation.

"Maybe we should ask where he's from later?" Everyone nodded.

Suddenly, the school's announcement system activated and Professor Goodwitch's voice can be heard.

"Attention all students, please go to the auditorium for an immediate assembly."

* * *

 **Beacon Auditorium**

Obeying Goodwitch's orders, all students, including the ones from the other academies, came to the auditorium at once. Some were grumbling because they were in the middle of doing something while others were whispering to each other about what this assembly could be. Team JNPR and RWBY stuck together, and they took their seats in the middle of the front row, closest to the stage. They waited for a few moments before Ozpin, Goodwitch, and Ironwood walked on stage from the side. Some Atlesian Knights and soldiers were present on the sides of the hall. Ozpin tapped the mic, making the distinctive sound of a microphone echo, before beginning.

"Thank you all for coming here today." Ozpin began. "I apologize if this surprise interrupted your daily activities, but this is I can assure you is worth your time." Ozpin looked to the left of the stage and made a hand gesture for whoever was on the side to come up there. RED team walked up on the stage and lined up behind Ozpin. Murmurs and some gasps came up from the assembled students as they all recognized them as the guys who tore up the slums yesterday. Ozpin quietly observed the students conversing with each other before continuing.

"Now, now, I know this may be a huge surprise to all of you. But please mind your manners around our new Beacon staff." Everyone lost their shit at hearing these words. Student's everywhere were asking yelling out questions. Team RWBY had to cover their ears. Goodwitch then took the mic to reestablish some order here.

"SILENCE!"

All the noises in the world stopped at that moment.

"Whoever speaks out again will have to deal with me!" She slammed her riding crop into her free hand, making a fearsome *CRACK* noise.

…

"Thank you." She let Ozpin take the mic back.

"Thank you Professor Goodwitch. As I was saying, before being so rudely interrupted, these men are new members to Beacon staff, and I expect them to be treated as such. Also, I am well aware of the stir they caused yesterday. There is no need for concerns about them." He stepped to the side and motioned for Spy to come take the mic. Spy cleared his throat and straightened his tie before speaking before the assembled students.

"Hello everyone. It's a pleasure to come work here in the prestigious Beacon academy for Hunstman. I hope my colleagues and I will make Beacon our new home, provided that you will allow us of course. That is all." Spy stepped back in line with RED team and then the rest of the mercenaries introduced themselves.

"I am Heavy Weapons Guy."

"Soldier reporting for duty!"

"Sniper."

"MPmgyro"

" _That's Pyro."_ Sniper whispered into the mic.

"I am ze Medic!"

"Demoman here!"

"I'm the Engineer." Then, it was Scout's turn...

"Hey there, kids! What's up? I'm the Scout, and I don't know if you know it yet, but that feeling you got inside of you all is my awesomeness- WOAH!" Scout's introduction was cut short when Spy yanked him by the collar back in line with the rest. Ozpin then went to take the mic.

"Thank you Mr. Spy, and that concludes our assembly. Please resume whatever you were doing before, and have a good day. Oh, and our new staff's initiation begins tomorrow." Well, the students were quite surprised with how short the introductions were, but they hardly cared as long as they got out of there, am I right?

The students filed out of the auditorium in a somewhat orderly fashion, talking about the new instructors or how short the assembly was. Team JNPR left for their room while Team RWBY waited outside of the auditorium hall to meet Team RED. They saw the mercenaries come out from one of the side entrances and were now walking towards their staff house.

"Hey guys!" Ruby ran to intercept them while the rest of her team followed.

"Hello ladies." Spy said in a gentlemanly manner. "Did you enjoy the assembly?"

"Meh. It was short at least." Weiss said. "Why didn't you say anything else?"

"We like to keep things simple." Spy responded. "Our years of experience find it's the best way to handle any situation." He then paused as he thought back through the past five years. " _Most of the time..._ "

"Heh, sure you ain't scared of a bunch a kids, Spy?" Scout remarked before getting pistol whipped by Spy's revolver. Scout was knocked to the floor.

"Argh! That hurt you stupid French bastard!" The Boston kid rubbed the spot on his face where he was hit as he angrily glared at Spy.

"You must never interrupt a gentleman when he speaks, Scout. Especially one who can fight." Weiss spoke up after Spy told Scout that.

"Okay, it's about time we addressed this. What is a 'French' and how do you guys just pull stuff out of nowhere?" Her teammates nodded their heads in agreement. It's quite shocking to see people who can quite literally pull items out of nowhere.

"Yeah, how do you guys do that?" Yang asked. Spy looked at his team. He was visibly concerned about something, and his team didn't know what to tell him. He looked at Heavy, as he spent the most time with Team RWBY. Admittedly not a lot though.

"Dolzhny li my skazat' im? (Should we tell them?)" Spy asked Heavy in his native tongue while the girls and the mercs who didn't understand Russian looked at him weird. Heavy thought about it.

"Da, no my dolzhny idti na chastnoy territorii v pervuyu ochered' (Yes, but we should go to a private area first). Heavy responded, while Team RWBY, and the rest of the mercenaries for that matter, tried to make sense of what they were saying.

"What are they saying?" Ruby asked Yang.

"No clue, sis." Spy turned around in the direction of the girls.

"You want answers? Then follow us." The girls hesitated. It was strange for nine men to ask four teen aged girls to follow them. A highly questionable action...

"Do not worry, we will not harm you. We're only taking you to our quarters so we can talk." That didn't sound any better. The girls looked towards their leader for what they should do while Spy looked like he was getting annoyed.

"Well…It's not like they would try to hurt us. I mean Heavy is pretty nice, and Spy is pretty gentleman-like too." Ruby turned to Spy. "Okay! We'll go with you."

They followed RED team to their staff house.

"Ay, Spy." Demoman started. "Why do we 'ave to tell them anythin'?"

"It's because on the ride here to Beacon, we were all stuffed into one airship with no way to comfortably talk about anything." Weiss said in a very annoyed manner. She punched Demoman in the back. "That's for stinking up the air with your alcohol scented breath!" Spy tried to high five Weiss for doing his job, but Weiss waved him away. He looked really sad for some reason. No one ever wants to slap that hand...

"Heh. Your friend's a feisty little Sheila, ain't she?" Sniper whispered to Blake who has no idea what a 'Sheila' is. She figured it was some kind of derogatory term for women and punched him in the side.

"Argh! What was that for?" The Australian demanded.

"Don't call my friend that!" Sniper looked at her funny before realizing she probably has never heard of that word.

"It just means 'girl', mate."

"Oh…sorry." Blake said guiltily.

"So where are you guys from?" Ruby asked the mercenaries.

"Ms. Rose, please wait until we are inside to talk about such things." Spy said as they neared their door.

He unlocked it and they filed in one at a time. The mercs' personal building was pretty decent. It had a garage, five rooms (four of them slept in the living room), a big kitchen, and three bathrooms. The mercs led them into the living room and they took their seats. All four members of Team RWBY sat on the big couch while the mercs were about the room. There were various TF2 related items everywhere. Engie, Demo, and Heavy went into the kitchen to eat or drink, Soldier stood at attention by the door, Scout and Medic and Sniper sat on another couch to trade hats, Pyro was off doing whatever it does, and Spy stood before the girls.

"Okay…" Spy said as he lit a cigarette. "What do you girls think about us so far?"

"Um, excuse you, but we were supposed to be asking the questions." Weiss said.

Spy removed the cigarette from his lips. "We invited you into our home. It is only polite if you respect the wishes of your host."

"Well… we know you guys are pretty good fighters, and you have these awesome gadgets and weapons." Ruby said. "We think you guys are cool, but also a little weird..."

"Care to explain?"

"As a matter of fact, I do care to explain." Weiss began. "You nine men randomly destroy a White Fang base for seemingly no reason, you have no idea what huntsmen were, and now the headmaster has decided to make you guys staff members at Beacon even though nobody knows who you are."

"I think you're nice too..." Ruby added. That last little blurb made Spy chuckle a little.

"Cool? Yes. Nice? Hmmm, that varies between the nine of us." Spy crossed his legs and held his hands together. "Now, you may ask your questions. Though I think I know what they are already."

"Whereareyouguysfromwheredidyougettheosewierdweaponscanihaveacookie?" Yang punched her sister's side.

"One at a time sis, no one can understand you." From the side, Pyro muffled something out and threw a cookie for Ruby, which the girl happily munched down.

"Where are you guys from?" Weiss asked. "I've never heard accents like yours before, and I have certainly never heard of a 'French' before." Spy puffed out a cloud of smoke.

"'French' is not a thing. It is a people and their culture. The place most of them live is called France, and I am one of them. "

"Where is that?" Yang asked. "Is it in Vacuo or something?"

"It's from this terrible place known as Europe! Where the people do nothing but drink tea, or eat fancy food, or drive fancy cars, or do fancy dances…" The list went on and on. "It is the complete opposite of the manly and mighty America!" Soldier rudely added in. Spy sighed and dealt with Soldier through the time honored gentlemanly tradition of knocking him the fuck out with a chop to the back of the head. The girls were startled, but Spy waved their gasps away and pulled out a map and laid it on the table in front of them. It was a map of Earth, dated 1969 (at least the Earth of TF2). The girls carefully studied the map to find that they did not recognize any of the countries or geographic details. It was nothing like the maps of Remnant they have seen throughout their lives.

"What kind of a map is this?!" Weiss said loudly. "These are not what the continents look like at all!"

"Zat's because it is not a map of Remenant, young Weiß…" Weiss noticed Medic said her name in a weird way. "Zat, is a map of the Earth." Spy pointed at France. "This is where I'm from." Spy inhaled from his cigarette. "Viva la France." All the mercenaries walked up to the table to point out where they were from.

"New Zealand, then Australia. It's a long story... but as far as you're all concerned, I'm a tough as nails Aussie, right and proper!"

"Boston, America. Ain't no other place like it!"

"Siberia, Russia. Is cold place."

"Ullapool, Scotland. Some of the finest brew you'll ever see can be found here!"

"Rottenburg, Germany. It's a pleasant little town."

"Bee Cave, America. Born and raised on the family ranch."

"America…" Soldier said groggily.

Pyro didn't say anything.

"Wait, whaaa…?" Ruby asked confused.

Spy sighed. "We are not from this world! I thought you girls would understand that immediately!"

"But that's impossible! People can't travel between worlds!" Weiss said. Her team nodded furiously. "You guys must be insane if you think you can pull this cheap trick over us! Now where are you guys really from?"

Spy sighed. "I figured you won't believe anything we say. The headmaster didn't believe us either. I could sense it." Spy's statement surprised the girls. _They actually told Professor Ozpin this? And he let them work here?_ Spy pulled out a projector from out of nowhere and placed it on the table. Sniper and Scout cleared the wall for the projector to show its goods.

"I am going to show you a compilation of clips I've put together up until the middle of the Robot Wars." Spy was putting a film roll into the projector. The film flicked to life on screen with that countdown of 3, 2, 1. The first videos were all the meet the team videos in order from Scout to Pyro. Once it was finished, it cycled through images of the mercenaries fighting each other in the early years of Mann Co. service.

"As you can see here, this was taken when we were all first hired by our employers. Redmond and Blutarch Mann." The projector flashed to show images of the Mann bros before continuing the footage of battles across 2fort, Dustbowl, and Gravel Pit among other locations. "They hired us to… in basic terms, kill each other so that one or the other would be eventually killed in the fighting and inherit Mann Co to himself." The girls were stunned by what was happening in the video clips. They saw all nine of the mercenaries just brutalizing each other in convoluted and gory ways and seemingly on random sides of the war.

"Ha! I knew these were fake! If you guys were constantly killed then how are you all still alive?" Weiss said.

"Yeah! Ice Queen's right!" Yang said while Weiss gave her a glare. Spy didn't say anything as he looked at Medic and nodded. Medic nodded back and pulled out a rectangular device.

"Can you withstand the sight of blood?" Spy asked calmly.

"Um…Why are you asking us that?" Ruby said.

"I'll take that as a yes." He pointed his revolver at Scout's head and fired once. Blood covered the room as Scout's body crumpled to the ground. The mercenaries didn't even flinch while the girls practically jumped in terror. Ruby screamed.

"W-why did he do that!?" Ruby was practically in tears as she ran to see if she could help him. The mercenaries were all laughing at her, and Medic pushed her aside as he threw the device near Scout and a holographic image of him appeared above it. He medigunned Scout's body until he was alive and breathing again!

"Ohhhhh… Dammit! I hate dying!…" Scout said as he rubbed the place where Spy had shot himself. The girls' eyes were as wide as plates. "Screw you Spy! Did I give you permission to shoot this handsome face of mine!?"

"No." Spy replied in a simple tone.

"Ugh! Come 'ere you! I'm gonna knock your light-" **BANG** Scout was dropped with another round to the head, shocking the girls again. Medic sighed and revived Scout once more.

"You see now?" Spy said to the girls as Scout was being resurrected. "Judging by your reactions, there is nothing like this device in Remnant." Scout was finished being resurrected, and he gave Spy an angry look. "Oh, so you think-" Before he can yap off his famous trash talk, Spy aimed the gun at his head again, making Scout go quiet.

"Fine, I get it. But this ain't over dummy!" Scout then stomped off to his room.

"Wha-but, how!?" Yang stuttered out after the girls had remained silent this whole time.

"Zat is ze power of medical engineering!" Medic yelled aloud as he high fived Engineer. "Courtesy of Mann Co."

"S-so you guys can just…like, revive yourselves back from the dead?" Ruby asked, still shaken but interested.

"Yes, but this is only the field version when we _**really**_ have to be out there to fight. Normally when we die and are not revived we just respawn through one of Mann Co.'s respawn machines at our bases." Spy said. "These are limited to however much we can make by ourselves." He pointed to the reanimator. "Now, please take your seats and I'll finish this up as quickly as I can. You're all lucky this is a weekend, otherwise you would be missing class right now." The girls did as he asked and he continued. Sniper, Heavy, and Engineer were wiping up the blood.

"So they hired us to repeatedly kill each other over the most ridiculous and worthless 'strategic' positions Mann Co. had in facilities all over the world. The pictures showed everything from some Egyptian ruins, a granary, a train yard, several places where the bases were literally in the same building, and 2fort. "This went on for three whole years."

"Then this devilish fiend showed up." A picture of Gray Mann appeared. "He was a super genius, apparent master strategist, and our employer's long lost third brother." The projector flashed to show Redmond and Blutarch Mann's bodies when they were found by Mann Co. personnel. "He killed his idiotic brothers to take Mann Co. for themselves. However, the CEO of Mann Co., and our main supplier of equipment, Saxton Hale refused to let him take Mann Co. without a fight." The projector showed an image of a shirtless, muscular man with strange shaped chest hair, fighting a wicked looking beowolf-like creature. He was smiling while the creature was clearly in agony.

"He's Australian, like me." Sniper said. "He likes to fight the world's most dangerous creatures with his bare hands for fun." Ruby raised her hand.

"He likes to fight the most dangerous creatures in the world? But what about the Grimm?" Ruby asked innocently. Her sister nudged her side. "They're from a different world, remember? There's probably no Grimm there."

"Your sister's right Ms. Rose. There are none of these 'Grimm' Ozpin has told us about in our world. Though do not mistake our world for a paradise, ladies." Spy said menacingly. "In the absence of such a threat as the Grimm, Humankind's biggest problem is itself." Spy's words made a chill go down their spine. Sure, Remenant's kingdoms weren't always in peace with each other, but the thought of conflict in a world where people have no aura was horrifying, and the way Spy put it made it sound like there was conflict all the time somewhere in their world. Spy cleared his throat and continued his presentation.

"Right then, so the robot war lasted six months but it was the hardest fight of our entire careers as mercenaries. And I said robot war because we were fighting these metal monstrosities…" The projector showed a lineup of the robotic versions of each mercenary, and then it showed various battles of the war where the nine men faced off impossibly huge hordes of robots.

"Yes, Gray Mann decided that hiring another team of nine mercenaries to fight us was repeating the same idiocy of his two brothers. So he decided to build countless hundreds of thousands of robots that look like us for some reason to conquer Mann Co. through war. Obviously, it didn't work since we're still here and breathing, and he found that even with thousands of robots against our nine, the idiocy of his brothers was still being repeated." The presentation ended. "And that is all you really have to know about our world for now. Any questions?" All of the girl's hands shot upwards to get a question in. Spy pointed at Yang.

"How'd you guys get here then?"

"We have absolutely no idea. We were camping out in the desert when we suddenly appeared in the secret White Fang base you met us at." Spy pointed at Blake next.

"Besides the wars you guys fought for your bosses, is your world in a time of peace like ours?" The mercenaries laughed their collective asses off. Some of them weren't even in the room anymore as they left to do other things than stand around and say nothing. Spy wiped a tear from his eye and snorted a couple more times before answering Blake's question. "Unfortunately, our world as a whole has never experienced peace between every single nation. There is always some war being waged somewhere in the world over things like freedom, religion, and race." Blake winced when he said race, thinking about the Faunus War around thirty years ago. Weiss was next.

"Why tell us all this? Why can't you tell this to everyone at once?"

Spy sighed. "For one, you were going to question us eventually so we decided to dump all of this onto you now. And two, not everyone will believe us unless we have absolutely solid evidence we are from another world. I wish I had this ready to go when we were talking to the headmaster. Maybe he would've believed us. Oh, and it's not like we really care if people know we're from another world, we only brought you here because it was more convenient."

Ruby was the last one with her hand raised.

"Can you show me your weapons?" Ruby said innocently and hints of puppy eyes.

"Some other time Ruby. We don't have access to any of the facilities yet until our initiation tomorrow." Spy clapped his hands and rolled his sleeve to look at his watch. "Well, that took about an hour, I'd say that was pretty educational, right?" The girls nodded their heads. "You ought to leave now before people wonder where you've been." Spy saw them out the door. The girls clearly had a lot to think about.

* * *

 **Somewhere in Beacon, Cinder's room**

"Are you absolutely sure that those were the men who attacked you and Roman?" Cinder was sitting on her bed with Neo standing before her in her student disguise. Mercury and Emerald were elsewhere, leaving just the two of them. Neo nodded her head up and down furiously, remembering the total stranger who took a giant needle to the eye and shrugged it off like it was nothing. Cinder sat there, thinking about it for minute.

"I wonder what Ozpin hopes to gain by hiring them..." Cinder mused. "They seem rather unremarkable, and I don't recognize them from any huntsman list I've seen." She pulled out her scroll and an ice cream bar she got earlier for Neo. The petite girl nommed her treat. Cinder was scrolling through her scroll (leel) to see if there was anything she can find about these strangers. She gave up after a few minutes of web surfing as absolutely nothing other than the news reports of them attacking the White Fang base yesterday popped up. It was as if these men literally appeared from thin air. She sighed while Neo was waiting patiently on the floor, sitting criss-crossed.

"If these men could destroy a minor Fang base, then I suppose they are a threat. But don't worry your little head." She patted Neo on the head. "I'm sure their presence will matter little for what we have planned."


	6. Initiations and Australians

**Before you read this, there are a couple of things you should know first.**

 **I took a few liberties with what the mercenaries can do.**

 **A kriegsmesser is a badass German sword from Renaissance times. I just felt like Medic should have one for some reason.**

 **Soldier's shovel can cut stuff because entrenching shovels like his have sharp edges so that they could be used for melee weaponry.**

 **I let Engie build up to three sentries at a time.**

 **Mercenaries can pull out any weapon as long as they ammo for it. (Unless it's melee)**

 **This version of the mercenaries are like the greatest TF2 players' skills put into the actual characters. Seriously have you seen the rape they put out in public servers?**

 **A demi-griffon is an unofficial Grimm of my creation. It is literally just a flightless griffon.**

 **I gave Spy a rapier because his knife taunt implies he knows fencing. I let him have it mostly because his knives won't do the trick in direct fights.**

 **Chapter Revised. Added more fight scenes.**

* * *

 **Beacon Auditorium**

Every single student and staff of Beacon met in the hall to watch the mercenaries initiation live. Since they were already in a team and refused to break up into the regular groups of four, Ozpin decided to have them fight the creatures of Grimm arena style in the Emerald forest. This was mostly because a large contingent of Grimm was detected uncomfortably close to the school, but instead of having teams of huntsmen and Ironwood's forces go out and engage the Grimm, he'll take this as the perfect chance to test out the initiates. He knew just the place too. There was this section of the forest in the hills, right before where the ancient ruins were, where these rocky outcropping formed a rough but circular ring. This is where the mercenaries will prove themselves to the people of Remnant.

"Check your weapons, gentlemen. We're nearly there." Spy said to his team.

The nine of them were riding in an Atlesian dropship instead of the usual Bullheads because the dropship could fit way more passengers. There were only five other people in the dropship with them, the normal Atlesian Knight compliment absent to fit the mercs of course. One being the pilot, and the others were elite Atlesian soldiers marked out with full body armor instead of the usual chest plate and helmet of regular soldiers, and equipped with a heavier version of the regular Atlas rifle and an actual sword. They looked more like knights than the Atlesian Knights do. None of them said a thing to the mercenaries as they were only there to insure they don't hijack the dropship.

"Approaching destination." The pilot, who was female, yelled from the cockpit. She opened up the back ramp for the mercenaries to exit out once they've touched the ground.

"Alright boys, your destination is straight ahead." The pilot said as the mercenaries were exiting the ship. "We'll hover above until you get in the natural ring. And when you do, we're gonna attract the Grimm to your location. General's orders."

"Many thanks." Spy said as he was the last one to get out.

The ship rose from the ground and hovered 20 feet above the ground, and traveled a little in front of the mercenaries as they walked over into the natural arena.

* * *

 **Back at Beacon…**

Team RWBY was sitting together with Teams JNPR, SSSN, and CFVY. Along with everyone else in the auditorium, their eyes were focused on the live feed of the event being recorded from Ozpin's surveillance system. Ruby leaned over to Weiss.

"I'm worried about them…" She said worriedly. "…if they're from another world, then they probably don't have an aura!"

"Please Ruby, everything with a soul has an aura." Weiss said confidently.

"Yeah, but don't you remember what happened yesterday? You know when Mr. Spy…" She went as if to point a finger gun at her head, then Jaune leaned over.

"What'cha guys talking about?" He got shushed by Nora.

"Shut up! The fun's about to begin!"

The mercenaries had made it to the designated location and were now waiting for the Grimm horde to come. The dropship that had dropped them off gained altitude, and fired a couple of missiles at the horde of Grimm that wasn't too far off away. The aircraft flew away in the opposite direction, where the mercs were at. The horde was on the move. All in the forest could hear the ground shake as Grimm flooded into the ring in hopes of catching the dropship only to encounter the nine men who were waiting for them. To everyone's surprise the Grimm stopped just before a hundred feet of the mercenaries. They seemed to be confused about something…

The creatures were confused. These Humans, the enemy, were missing an aura. No matter how hard they tried, their senses couldn't detect any form of semblance or aura on them. They could only see that they had a soul and nothing else. But that hardly mattered. If these Humans were unprotected by aura, it only made it easier to water the ground with their blood …

After a few seconds of standing there, the Grimm surged forward in a tidal wave of claws, fangs, and hatred. The mercenaries immediately jumped to action. Engineer did his thing and set up a pre-built Level 3 Sentry and Dispenser. He wrangled it to his control and opened up on the Grimm with as many .50 caliber bullets and rockets he can throw at them while he still had the range to do so. Everyone else, except Sniper, had charged forward in a mighty battle cry to meet the foul creatures head on. This made the creatures tremble as there was absolutely no sign of fear or hatred coming from these Humans, only the desire to fight them just because they can. Sniper climbed up a tall tree and started getting some tasty headshots off as his team had clashed directly with the Grimm. Just before they did though, Medic activated his medigun shield so that they pushed right through the wave, like a wave breaking on a…shield. This is where the chaos begins. The 7 mercs at the front broke up and fought the creatures tooth and nail with everything they got. Soldier leaped into a group of beowolves and landed on a young one. He stomped its head in and punched another trying to charge him so hard, it cracked its faceplate. Another tried to pounce him, but he stepped aside to dodge the claws and grab it midflight and spun around with it, using it to knock away the Grimm surrounding him. After a couple of spins, he slammed the beowolf into the dead one he was standing on, gutted it with his shovel, and threw a bunch of his pineapple grenades into its open chest cavity. He then threw the dying creature into the mouth of a veteran ursa that tried to chomp down on him, causing the creature to blow up in a confetti of Grimm flesh and boneplates. The boneplates causing even more Grimm deaths as they were like shrapnel from artillery. Once the beast blew up, he took out his rocket launcher and rocket jumped upwards, killing any Grimm too close to him when he did so, and started raining down the fury of the United States on these communist bastards with CRIT RAWKETS!

Demoman was currently being harassed by a pack of beowolves led by a minor veteran. The creatures kept on circling him, sometimes closing in on him only to get sliced up by the Eyelander. With a wicked smile, he shot sticky bombs all around him. The creatures didn't understand these things blew up, so they got the surprise of their lives when the ground beneath erupted into flame and shrapnel. However, Demo wasn't safe yet as various creatures closed in around him through the smoke. Sort of regretting the smoke he made, he equipped his chargin' targe and Eyelander for melee. He had an Ullapool Caber just in case they all swarmed him at once. A boarbatusk rushed forward with its tusks to gore Demo, but he sidestepped and sliced the creature right in half horizontally, using its own forward momentum to do more damage. The minor veteran beowolf, who survived the sticky bombs, pounced on him, knocking him down. The creature was going to smash its claws into his head before he brought his sword up to stab the creature's hand. The creature howled in pain before Demo forced the sword into its head with the hand still stabbed through it. He threw the creature off of him only for it to be knocked back at him by an advancing King Taijitu. He sliced the corpse in half before facing the giant snake. The white head roared at him only to get some grenade pills in its mouth, blowing its head to pieces. The black head roared in pain and lunged straight at Demo. He had no time to react as he felt the creature swallow him alive. That would have been the end of Demoman, if he didn't stab his sword right through the creature's throat from the inside, sliced all around, and decapitated it. He was struggling to get out of the throat as more Grimm closed in on him. A beowolf got a gash in on his arm before getting brained by the chragin' targe, while another got a slash on his back. Demo whipped out his caber as the Grimm started swarming right on top of him, and slammed it into an ursa's head. The explosion killed everything close to him, but thankfully he was hit with a Crusader Crossbow bolt before doing the act. If it hadn't he surely would have died. Demo got up and continued fighting the Grimm in melee

Scout was expertly weaving in and out of any attacking Grimm, narrowly dodging claws and fangs as he landed direct hits with his scatterguns. The pellets tore through Grimm flesh, but he used his bat on the more heavily armored ones. A beowolf came in on his flank and swiped at him only to get its arm broken when Scout swung his bat to stop its attack, then proceeded to smash its skull in. An ursa reared over him, but right before the creature brought its massive paws down, Scout destroyed its balls with the reverse end of his bat. As the creature fell over, Scout pulled out his three-rune blade and stabbed right into its belly then slashed the top head of its head off. Scout was then tackled by a flightless demi-griffon, in which he unloaded his pistol into its neck, making the creature fall on top of him. Scout struggled under the weight as a beowolf was right on top of him. Scout couldn't bring any of his weapons up, and screamed like a girl. Then the beowolf fell backwards with Spy standing behind it.

"Are you going to lay there all day?" Scout threw the demi griffon off.

"Go screw yourself Spy!" Scout said after knocking a beowolf's teeth out with the Sandman. He hit a ball towards an ursa, stunning it, and then taking this chance to blow its brains out with the Force-A-Nature. He ran off to go fight some more Grimm with Spy still standing at the dead demi-griffon.

"That's my boy..." Spy said a little warmly after watching Scout leave.

He snapped out of that sappy shit and saw six beowolves coming at him. Bad move. Spy did that thing that cowboys do where the revolver has a hand over the hammer and a finger on the trigger to pull off excellent rapid fire into targets. Spy did just that, and placed six well placed shots from the ambassador square in the Grimm's heads. He silently thanked Engineer for teaching him this, and pulled out his rapier with his butterfly knife as his parrying dagger. He lunged straight into the face of a beowolf, the straight blade easily piercing threw the flesh and bone. He swiftly pulled it out to deflect a veteran beowolf's attacks on him. After expertly parrying the creature's claws, he slipped forward with his rapier locking the creature's hands away from him, and stabbed the butterfly knife into its face. After the creature dropped, Spy ran over to Scout to help him out. Father and son.

Pyro was all by itself with way more Grimm focusing on him than on the other mercenaries, but that was easily rectified with Pyro's flamethrower. The Pyro suddenly discared its flamethrower in favor of the lollichop and was bashing and beating around Grimm with a psychotic mentality and brutality that only it knows. It threw the lollichop at a deathstalker, only for it to get lodged in one of its eyes, but then Pyro jumped in to pull out the lollichop and smash in the creature's other eyes. The evil scorpion lashed out in any direction, trying to hit Pyro. It only ended up killing several Grimm in its blind rampage, failing to notice Pyro on its back. Pyro was currently breaking into the creature's hard shell with the homewrecker. After it made a nasty hole in its armor with Grimm blood pouring out of it, it pulled off an incendiary grenade and threw it into the fleshy insides of the deathstalker, and jumped off. A flash was scene when the incendiary grenade blew up, but the creature was not killed outright. No, it was suffering a fate worse than death at the moment. The grenade set fire to the creature from the inside out. Jets of fire can be seen spewing out of its destroyed eyes, its mouth, and the unarmored cracks of its body before it blew up in a bloody mess when its flammable poison blew up. The explosion blew Pyro into a Beowolf where it promptly popped its head open with a shotgun before unleashing the next five shells on other targets.

Close by, Heavy was mowing down dozens at a time with his minigun while Medic was sawing through a griffon that tried to get the jump on them by landing right on top of them. The creature managed to get a nasty gash across his chest, but since Medic automatically heals himself, he shrugged it off, pulled out his kriegsmesser, and dual wielded sword and saw against the creatures as his syringe guns didn't have the raw power to take them out. Heavy heard his gun click empty, and started using it as a huge ass club to smash the creatures into a pulp. Three medium sized ursai came at him. He literally knocked one's head off with his minigun, but ended up losing his most prized weapon when the other one smacked him aside. The only thing Heavy could think of is that he just lost Sasha, his one true love. Heavy got up, and instead of pulling out his other miniguns, he roared at the remaining two ursai."In homeland, real bears are much stronger than you, tiny, weak, babies!" The Russian charged forward on all fours like a bear at the two ursai. He tackled one so hard, he knocked it on its back with him on its belly. The ursa's mate launched a downward smash on Heavy, but it was stopped with only one hand from the Russian. Heavy pulled the attacking ursa in and punched it in its face so hard, the head was crushed and it was sent flying into a bunch of beowolves and creeps, crushing them as well. As for the ursa he was hugging, he jumped up into the air, cupped his fists into a ball, and smashed down on the evil bear's head, sending pieces of it everywhere. The Russian stood up and was about to face a small goliath when giant black feathers rained like arrows from above. One stabbed through his leg, and he was incapacitated. He bit his lips in pain, but did not scream, and was forced to use the dead ursa behind him as a shield, but the creature was already fading as more feathers rained down on his location. Luckily, Medic got to him and healed him up, and they ran from the storm of feathers.

"Sniper!" Heavy called out with all the might of his lungs.

The Australian actually heard him, and stopped his 40+ kill spree to look at Heavy. Heavy pointed up and Sniper and saw the threats in the sky. Sniper raised his rifle at the nevermores in the sky and they started dropping like a flock of ducks in hunting season. The Nevermores noticed this and turned their attention to Sniper.

 _Ah piss…_ Sniper thought as the nevermores were closing in on him _…least we got 'em off of their backs_. Sniper jumped down from the tree he was in as black feathers turned the tree into sawdust. He didn't stop shooting at them though as the minute he touched the ground he continued laying into them with his rifle, gaining a kill on each round loaded into the chamber. Some griffons arrived to help out the nevermores and they rushed Sniper, most of them landing to fight him on the ground. Sniper ducked as a feather passed through where his head was and stabbed a griffon in the leg. He pulled his kukri out of it and stabbed it again in the face then he pulled out his smg to pour led into the remaining ones. He concentrated fire into their heads to make up for the SMG's lack of damage and ammo capacity. Sniper retreated to the Engineer's position just as the other mercs were pulling back as well.

Demoman was holding the front with Soldier in close combat with the creatures as they both ran out of ammo and had no time to go back to the dispenser to replenish it. That was okay though, melee is far manlier anyway. **RIP AND TEAR.** Heavy was on top of the dispenser to act like a living sentry, his brass beast out to deal extra damage to the Grimm as the dispenser fed him ammo. Medic was doing his thing and healing whoever needed it, sometimes activating the medi-shield when a barrage of feathers came at them. Sniper was stuck in close combat at the right side with Pyro using the last of its gas to scorch some Grimm into embers, then unleashing its own version of rape on the Grimm in melee as well. Engineer is doing exactly what you would expect him to do, running around making sure his shit is intact while getting a few shots in here and there. Scout was bobbing and weaving through the Grimm that got passed Soldier and Demoman, smashing their limbs or skulls in with his bat or blasting them to bits with his Scatterguns. Spy was honestly the least helpful here. He specialized in sneaking around, but with all of these creatures around that just wasn't in option. Still, he pulled his weight around and helped whoever he could.

* * *

 **Beacon**

The crowd was absolutely hysterical. Everyone was marveling at how well they were doing against the horde, as even the most veteran of huntsman teams here would find it hard to deal with this large a group. But then again there were nine of them instead of four, but, eh, who cares. Everyone was also shocked to see that these men's auras didn't do shit to protect them, as any hit they got damaged them. It was only the constant aid from their healer with his strange healing gun that kept them going, and their sheer ferocity in battle.

"Wow! Look at them go!" Ruby yelled. "They're kicking their butts!"

"Yeah! These guys are awesome!" Nora fist pumped.

"They are doing rather well." Pyrrha smiled, Jaune just silently watching with his jaw hanging.

"Do they really have to be so violent though?" Weiss said as the screen showed Soldier grappling a griffon to break off one of its bone spikes and use it to slit its throat. Demoman can be seen in the back slicing Grimm to bits with the Eyelander.

Not too far behind them Cinder Fall and her group were watching quietly. Emerald and Mercury stared at the screen, faces not really saying anything about their thoughts, but Neo looked really scared. She was probably thinking about what that man would have done to her if she didn't get the fuck out of dodge when she did with Roman the night she first met the men. Cinder was taking everything about how the men fought in right now. It's always good to know the enemy you're facing, especially if they could face down a horde comprised of an estimated 300 Grimm of various types and survive.

* * *

 **Battleground**

The mercenaries had finished up the Grimm with a few closing arrows from Sniper's huntsman on the last ursa, the arrows covering the creatures head like a pin cushion. The mercenaries gathered around the dispenser to heal up, restock their ammo, and drink some booze in celebration. Grimm corpses fading away all around them.

"Heh, these wankas ain't so hard!" Sniper said as he kicked a _very dead_ beowolf. The creature had an undetonated rocket lodged deeply in its face, which Soldier promptly picked up to reuse it. Engineer gave a hardy Texan laugh.

"Shoot, boys, these things ain't much harder than the robots we fought not too long ago." Everyone agreed. The Grimm may have been unnatural hell spawn that looked like animals or mythological creatures, but the vast majority of them are fucking pushovers. The robots were also total pushovers, but at least they gave the mercenaries a much harder time with the fact that they had most of their abilities and there was a metric fuckton of them.

"Well Gentlemen," Spy said while puffing out a cloud of smoke from a fresh cigarette. "The headmaster should be sending a ship here to pick us up." He sat down on a dead beowolf only to slowly fall closer to the ground as the creature kept fading. "All we have to do now is wait."

"Could ya believe the people of this world?" Scout said while trying to down one of Demo's rum bottles. "They think these things are the most dangerous things on the planet!"

"That's right son!" The ultimate patriot said. "These things are no match for Uncle Sam and his warriors of freedom and democracy! The president ought to give me a reward." Soldier said proudly.

Little did the mercenaries know, that was only the pussy round.

From the direction the horde came from, the mercs heard a cacophony of roars belonging to the rest of the Grimm horde that had fallen behind this first wave. You see, the first time the Grimm came into this ring they flooded in from the only way to get in on their side. There was only two ways to safely get in this natural arena by the way. But this time, flooding does not describe what the Grimm were doing right now, as flooding implies they were steadily coming in. This can only be called a tsunami, or rather, a wave so big, it could swallow a yacht if it was made of water and not black fur and hatred. There were so many Grimm, they couldn't fit them all into the pass. Worse yet, more veteran and elder Grimm were in this wave, and they were actually organizing the lesser Grimm into crude formations. The apparent leader of this 1000+ strong army was an elder beowolf the size of an ursa, clad in so many plates of bone that it looked like a knight, especially since it was on top of a goliath as if it was a fucking horse. It barked out commands to the goliaths, and they lined up with all of the smaller Grimm in between them. The stronger ones were at the front while the weaker varieties stayed in the back. There were no more flying Grimm as their flight allowed them to catch up with the first wave that fought the mercenaries.

The men said nothing as they watched this Return of the King bullshit unfold before them (get the reference?). They got up and prepared for battle once more, all refreshed from the healing effects of the dispenser and the medigun.

* * *

 **Beacon**

Everyone was shocked and losing their collective shit again at the horde that appeared on screen. Ozpin too, seemed visibly worried as General Ironwood was issuing orders to scramble all available units to save the mercenaries. Clearly the reports he got had _severely_ underestimated the size and strength of the Grimm contingent. Team RWBY and their friends were really scared for the mercenaries as Cinder Fall smiled.

 _Maybe we don't have to deal with them at all._ She thought. They still weren't necessarily seen as a threat, but it was just one more issue she didn't have to worry about.

* * *

 **Battleground**

The mercenaries retreated back to the entrance of the arena where they came from, but dared not leave it as they feared breaking up and getting overwhelmed as they ran out into the forest. No, they will face the Grimm here and now because at least from this position they only had to worry about the front. Engineer set up 3 sentries, the pre-built level 3 from earlier, a new level 3 he built during the first fight, and a mini sentry just because they need all the firepower they can get. Demoman covered the field with sticky bombs while Soldier prepared his rocket launchers. Sniper perched himself in the one tree right in the middle of where the entrance was, and readied his jarate jars. Heavy grabbed a bunch of big rocks and logs, and laid them down to form a crude line of battlements, of which his team immediately took their positions. Cleary, the mercs were playing this one smart and defensively instead of the usual charging into battle and fucking shit up, as it was clear if they were to do so in this case, they would be the ones who would be fucked up.

Their time in the robot wars thought them how to play defensively as that's all they did in those days. The elder beowolf gave a glass shattering roar, and the Grimm army steadily moved forward, the smaller ones keeping step with the goliaths. Engineer and Sniper took this chance to do as much damage as they can to the horde before it reaches them. Engie wrangled all 3 sentries and focused them on the goliaths, while Sniper picked off some of the lesser elder Grimm with shots through the eyes to destroy the brain. Soldier opened up with rockets as well, and Spy picked some off at range with his ambassador. Medic checked the 4 auto-reanimators he had and hoped that they wouldn't have to use them up. The rest of them simply waited until the Grimm could get in range, hoping that Ozpin would send help soon. If it didn't come, and Ozpin left them to die…then oh well, it least it would be one hell of a fight.

* * *

 **The Void**

"Hi, this is Gaben, and I'm Gaben. Welcome to Gaben." The fat figure on the video game throne said for the thousandth time.

"Mate you aren't making any sense…" A thick, manly Australian accent said. "…I'm looking for nine idiots that work for me," he pulled out a group picture of the nine mercenaries. "Have you seen them?" Gaben didn't move a muscle, but his eyes looked at the picture.

"My favorite class is the Spy."

"Wha-Spy! Yes! Did you see them come through here by any chance?"

"Welcome to Team Fortress 2. After nine years of development, hopefully it would be worth the wait… Gaben droned on. Saxton sighed and turned towards the Asian guy behind him.

"What about you, chap? Have you seen them?"

"See, I asked Burnie if I could work on this project of mine, and he said as long as I finish Red VS Blue season 10 then I could do whatever I want…" Hale sighed again and floated away from the voidmen who have been completely unhelpful in his quest to find the mercenaries. "..I can be reached at GABEN at VALVE's official website. " He heard a voice come from behind him. He looked back to see the fat guy on the video game throne and the Asian man at the computer desk were following him. He frowned and continued wandering this realm. Saxton thought back to why he was even here in the first place…

* * *

 _ **Yesterday**_

"Bidwell! I need you for a moment! Come over here!" Hale yelled out to Mr. Bidwell who promptly came running into his office.

"Yes, Mr. Hale?" Mr. Bidwell said.

"Where in the name of the bloody outback did all of our workers go?"

"Olivia Mann fired most of them when she took control, sir." He answered.

"Well then rehire them!"

"We can't sir, she also spent a lot of the money on dolls and mansions that look like doll houses."

Saxton slumped down his chair as steak can be heard sizzling on his grill/desk. "Oh, hot sauce. Least I still got me trophies!" Hale perked up. Bidwell looked really nervous as he pulled at his collar. Hale noticed.

"Bidwell?"

"Um, s-she… Well, Mr. Hale, uh…" Bidwell stuttered. Hale slapped some sense into him.

"Snap out of it, chap, and finish your damn sentence!"

"S-she t-turned them into, to…" Bidwell's face scrunched up.

"SHE TURNED THEM INTO DOLLS SIR!"

"WHAT?!" Saxton raved as he knocked Bidwell aside and ran to the closet she stuffed his trophies in. He ripped it open to see his trophies tumble out of the closet. Hale fell to his knees with a face of despair as he surveyed the damage. The animals he has fought and rightfully earned as trophies over the years were covered in all sorts of girly, unmanly shit like makeup and dresses!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Hale gave an Earth shaking scream of despair. After crying for approximately 30 minutes in front of Mr. Bidwell, he reminded himself he was Australian and knocked some manliness back into him. Literally, he went over to his desk and drank some stomach melting alcohol and fought his emergency kangaroo. He felt way better after that as he sat down in his chair.

"Ohhhh… How am I going to pay for my hunting reserve now?" Hale said as he looked out the window to see the land designated for his personal hunting reserve below. "Have we any mercenaries left Mr. Bidwell?"

"No, sir. You fired the last of them last night, and Olivia fired everyone else."

"Damn, I was hoping I could make them do jobs and scam 'em of most of the money." Then Hale got an excellent idea. "Oh! All I have to do is rehire those idiots we hired to keep the Mann brothers busy! Bidwell, where are they?"

"We don't know sir. They were last seen travelling southward towards Teufort last night."

"Looks like I'll have to find them myself then." Hale said, right before jumping out of his like 50th floor office window.

"SAXTON, HAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEE!"

…

* * *

 **The Void**

And that's how Saxton Hale got to this realm in the first place. It was simple really, he just followed the tire tracks that swerved all over the road to find their camp site. There was only the teleporter that took the men to Remnant in the first place. And the rest you can figure out for yourself. The voidmen trailing behind him were really annoying him, but all his attempts to make them leave him alone were useless as the men didn't seem to be actual physical beings.

"When Roosterteeth saw that I made Haloid and the Dead Fantasy series, they knew they had to hire me. And that's how I joined the Red VS. Blue team."

"This is what I get for working at Microsoft."

"Oh, would you two shut it already?!" Hale yelled at the two voidmen. He was going to keep yelling at them when he heard a familiar voice. **CRY SOME MORE!**

He snapped his neck in the direction of the noise and saw it came from one of the many portal like image things strewn about this realm. What he saw made his jaw drop. He saw the nine men he was looking for! And better yet, they were fighting some of the nastiest, fiercest looking creatures he's ever seen! A huge smile appeared on his face, but then he frowned upon realizing he wasn't getting any of that action. "Think you can fight a bunch of animals without good ole' Saxton Hale, eh? We'll see about that!" Hale floated backwards into Gaben's throne, and kicked off of it with all of his might to shoot straight into the portal, sending Gaben tumbling into the Asian guy's desk.

"This isn't working."

* * *

 **Battleground**

The mercs were down to their last reanimator. Soldier was killed when one of the goliaths trampled him, but he showed it what for when he shoved rockets into its trunk when he was revived. Heavy died when he failed to dodge the stinger of a deathstalker and was impaled. Sniper was killed when he got jumped by a bunch of beowolves. The Grimm had managed to destroy the sentries and Engineer was now doing a last stand on his dispenser with all of his friends forming a defensive circle around him. Medic was using the quick fix to desperately keep them alive. If it makes you feel any better, over half of the Grimm army was gone, but the Alpha beowolf hanged back on its goliath mount to watch the fighting unfold. The Grimm seemed to have grown stronger once the mercenaries finally started feeling the negative emotions they crave so much, emotions of fear and despair. Then all of a sudden a huge ass portal opened up in the sky, everything stopped fighting to look up at the anomaly. ***BOOM*** A sonic boom was heard as something came flying out of the portal at speeds Ruby can only dream of. A thunderous roar that must have come from the gods themselves was heard.

 **SAAAAAXXXXTTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOONNNNNNN HAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEE!**

The object crashed right down the center of the Grimm army, and caused a shockwave that knocked down every single tree, boulder, random ruin, and anything else that was standing nearby. Once the smoke cleared, the object was revealed to be a man, a _very_ manly man. He was only wearing shorts, outback books, and that famous Australian hat with fangs stuck in it. He also had fuck awesome chest hair shaped like Australia, but the inhabitants of Remnant wouldn't have known that. The man ran up to the mercenaries, pushing aside the stupefied Grimm trying to grasp what just happened.

"Hey chaps! I see you thought you could get into a fight without your boss, eh?" He flashed them a smile.

"Mister Hale!? How'd you even get here?" Scout said. The mercenaries were staring at him at complete disbelief.

"Does that really matter son? I just saw you boys get into a fight with a bunch of animals." He raised a finger at them. "I'm here to show you how it's really done!" Some of the Grimm snapped out of it, and cautiously moved towards the Earth dwellers. This one didn't have an aura too, but they felt a primal passion and instinct in this man that resembled that of regular wild animals. One of the younger beowolves tried to get the jump on him as he was talking to the mercs.

"You see boys, your technique is all- hmmm?" Hale said as the beowolf snapped its jaw on his arm. He raised his arm up to look at the creature and laughed a hearty laugh.

"Is that all you got mate?" He grabbed the beowolf by the face and threw it into the next solar system. Hale punched his fists together. "Come on chaps! Let's show these beasts what for!" He charged forward with all of his Australian might with a battle cry that belongs to him alone.

"SAXTON HALE!"

Seeing this, the mercenaries shrugged, and were inspired to follow his lead. All negative emotions gone and replaced with the desire to fight once more. What happened next can be only described as complete and utter rape. Hale smashed into the Grimm wave like another wave, but only way bigger and manlier, and was cleaning house with them as the mercs lagged behind. A deathstalker tried to swing its claws at him, but Hale dodged and grappled the creature's face to perform a FUCKING SUPLEX on it. A flightless demi-griffon and boarbatusk tried to sandwich him in between their charges, but were stopped when Hale halted both of them in their tracks, knocked them together, and punched right through both of them in one hit. The alpha beowolf sent its goliath mount forth to stomp him into the ground. Saxton heard the beast coming long before it reached him, and he smiled maniacally when he saw it.

"Bloody hell, I want to fight that one!" He squeezed the neck of the beowolf he was strangling so hard, its head popped off, and leaped high in the air. "BRAVE JUMP!" He descended back down with the force of a 1000 pound dynamite bomb and slammed into the goliath. The shockwave killed anything weaker than a medium ursa within 50 feet of his landing zone. The goliath was still standing and managed to grab him with its trunk and throw him off. However, Hale was holding onto its trunk when it tried to throw him so he spun around and used the creature's momentum against it, making it fly into the walls of the natural arena face first, dead. Hale laughed. "Come now, you mangy abominations! That all you got?" As soon as he finished his question, the Alpha beowolf ordered all the lesser Grimm to focus the mercenaries, who were also cleaning house but still far behind Hale, and challenged him. The alpha made some growling noises at him. Hale has been out in the wild long enough to understand the basics of wild 'speech'.

The alpha basically said _Who the fuck are you?!_

"The name's Saxton Hale! CEO of Mann Co.! And the man who's gonna make you into a fine hunting trophy!" The Alpha roared and charged at Saxton. It swiped at him, but Saxton dodged it and tried to kick its legs. The Alpha moved its leg out of the way and head-butted him. Hale was knocked down, and the Alpha was laying into him with his claws. Hale put his arms up to block the attacks until he thrust his pelvis up to knock the Alpha off of him (This is an actual move!). The Alpha fell forward and rolled to its feet. Hale did the same and rushed the Alpha. He took hold of the creature's neck and bulldogged his furry ass. Then he rolled over and started smashing his elbow into its face while still holding onto the neck. The Alpha started snapping at his face and Saxton had to break away or get his face bitten clean off. Saxton threw a right at the Alpha, but the beowolf moved its head out of the way and caught his arm in its mouth. In one fell motion, the beowolf's head sharply went downwards and broke Hale's arm. Hale head-butted it, making it let go of him and kicked it away.

"Ohhhh! That's going to leave a mark!" He said while he fixed his arm bones into place. "There! All better! Now come at me you damn hippy!" The beowolf stood there, bewildered by this man without an aura. _What pain tolerance…_

The alpha snapped back to reality though when it felt Hale's fist connect with its face, knocking it a few feet away. "Ha! That's a method I like to call 'Apply fist to face!'" Hale said as he laughed at the creature. The alpha decided that this wasn't worth it and so it ran away from the battle. Any of the surviving elements of the Grimm army followed it out to the forest. There wasn't a lot left. With Hale's sudden appearance and the mercenaries' sudden energy to fight again, the Grimm were dispatched in droves, leaving about 30 of the original 1000 or so alive.

"Oy! Get back here you lily-livered cowards!" Hale yelled out as he went after the alpha and its surviving entourage.

"Mr. Hale, wait!" Engineer said.

"Leave him," Spy said. "He'll be fine." He lit a new cigarette. "He is the greatest Australian in the world."

* * *

 **Beacon**

Everyone's reaction to Hale's sudden appearance was a giant _WHAT THE FUCK?!_ Seriously though, everybody went from losing their shit about the Grimm horde, to losing their shit about the manly motherfucker who practically turned the battle around himself.

"Isn't that the guy Mr. Spy showed us yesterday?" Blake said to Yang.

"I-I think so." Yang said, still not quite believing what just happened.

"Woah, he really does like fighting dangerous creatures…" Ruby said.

Cinder's group was really worried. Mercury and Emerald looked very afraid of the Australian guy, and Neo was as pale as a corpse. Cinder had a lot to think about now.

* * *

 **Yey, a new chapter so soon after the last one! I am really happy about the reviews guys. It's great to see people really like my story, and as for the minor issues that have been reported such as spelling and grammar, I'll try to fix it. And I want to address another issue that was on my mind. It has to do with the story's plot so don't worry, I'm not mad at you guys. I realized I'm having a hard time getting all the mercs to do stuff in this story. You may have noticed a lot of them just don't do anything in some scenes when someone is talking. I feel like I messed up including them all at once, but too late to go back now. I'll make it work.**

 **Special shout out to ATTF for inspiring me to write this in the first place. I was sitting in my room one day, you know, just looking for some high-quality fanfiction action, when I decided to look for TF2 x RWBY crossovers. Then I found ATTF's _The 5 New Men_ , and I thought "Damn, this is some good shit, I wish there were more stories like this!" And after thinking about it I decided to write this story, first time ever writing something. So anyway, check ATTF out, he is an awesome guy with an amazing crossover series going on. Hope this isn't against the rules.**


	7. PARTY!

**Notes:**

 **"Licking" is an old American South term, basically meaning 'beat the shit out of someone"**

 **No one knows Spy could turn invisible and disguise himself yet.**

 **The breach at the end of Volume 2 did happen, but Roman was not captured. This is where my story branches off of canon.**

 **A MOAB is the largest non-nuclear explosive device the United States has at its disposal.**

 **Officially, the mercenaries' staff house is two stories tall, not including the attic, has a pool, a rather spacious back and front yards, and an 8 foot stone wall marking out its boundaries. There is also a sparring circle outside, a basement, and the garage.**

* * *

 **Beacon Cliffside Air Docks**

Everyone in Beacon was eagerly waiting for the nine new assistant instructors and their manly friend to return from the epic battle that unfolded about an hour ago. Atlesian Knights and soldiers set a perimeter so the students couldn't pass. Team RWBY and their friends were at the very front of the crowd when the squadron of Atlesian dropships sent to save the mercenaries returned. One of them landed while the rest flew off to their usual patrol routes or returned to the flying cruisers. The ramp opened up to reveal the nine mercenaries, but no Saxton Hale. Everyone was cheering and congratulating the mercenaries on their hard fought victory, but they did seem to be disappointed when Hale was a no show. The men walked down the ramp to meet Ozpin and Ironwood.

"Congratulations, gentlemen. Not only did you complete your initiation, but you also defeated a large army of Grimm, which is no small feat let me tell you. And apologies for not telling you, as I didn't know that myself."

"Thank you headmaster, but please, don't slip up again." Spy said.

"Of course." Ozpin smiled gently.

Ironwood stepped up. "Well gentlemen, it looks like you were all very serious when you said you were capable fighters. I had my doubts, but your performance earlier was absolutely exemplary." He saluted them. "And for that I salute you." The mercs saluted back, albeit lazily as they didn't really like him that much. Except for Soldier of course.

"Wait a moment. Where is your shirtless friend?" Ozpin inquired.

"He ran off into the forest and we decided to leave him." Spy said. Ozpin raised a brow.

"Do not worry, Saxton Hale maybe an idiot, but believe me when I say he will be perfectly fine wandering around the wild."

"After seeing what he did earlier, I'm inclined to believe you. Come, let's go to the auditorium and officially make you men Beacon staff." All of them made their way towards the auditorium as students kept cheering at them. The mercenaries paid them no attention, except for Scout who was yelling about how great he was. Pyro was also throwing candy out and giggling at all the attention.

"Oh yeah, baby! You see this right here?!" He flexed his pathetic arm muscles. "These guns aren't just for show kids!" The students weren't impressed, but kept congratulating because what they did earlier was still pretty kickass.

"Great job you guys!" Ruby yelled out while an Atlas soldier was trying to get her off of the barricade. All her friends were smiling at them as well from the sidelines. The team nodded towards them and returned the smile. Eventually, they made it to the auditorium where the ceremony began. The students took their spots in the hall and eagerly waited for Ozpin to make it official for the mercenaries becoming staff members. He stepped up to the mic while the mercenaries lined up behind him same as before, only in ruined clothing this time.

"Welcome students, teachers, and huntsman alike to the initiation ceremony of our newest staff. It is with great pride and honor that I should be headmaster at this time, as having such capable and elite men in the arts of combat as these fine gentlemen here…" he moved a hand behind him. "…is one of the highest honors Beacon has had in its long history of training hunstmen." The crowd applauded and cheered. Ozpin looked at the men. "Gentlemen, please take a step forward and kneel." The men did as he asked, as Goodwitch walked up to Ozpin to present him a finely crafted sword. Ozpin took it, and unsheathed the blade, making a shink noise that resonated through the hall that also signaled for absolute silence in the hall. He walked up to each of the mercenaries and patted their shoulders with the flat of the blade. Why they were being inducted like squires becoming knights is anyone's guess, but damn did it look fancy.

"From now on, you will all be defenders of peace while also mentoring the next generation of Remnant's defenders." He said as he was finished with them. They didn't remember becoming huntsmen as part of the deal, but whatever. It's not like it made that much of a difference. It was a job after all.

"Rise, gentlemen." The mercenaries did as he asked and were given a standing ovation by the crowd. For the first time in their lives, the mercenaries felt like they were appreciated by people. People actually _liked_ them. Previously, anyone they met who wasn't from Mann Co. just wrote them off as dangerous criminals and maniacs who ought to be locked up, but now it was different. This felt good in their hearts, but it also sort of surprised them that they would even care about such a thing.

Looks like things are going to be different from now on.

* * *

 **Later**

The hall had been emptied out soon after, and the students did whatever they were doing before. It was a school day, but Ozpin let this day slide for the mercenaries' initiation. RED team was on their way to their staff house when they were met by Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY. Students were still giving them their congrats as they moved about.

"Congratulations." Weiss said warmly as she took Spy's hand and shook it.

"How's it feel to officially be huntsmen now?"

"Hell, if all we got to do is teach y'all and fight those sissy Grimm, then I say it feels mighty fine missy!" Engie laughed.

"Right." She said back with a smile on her face.

"Hey! You know what we should do?" Yang said with a growing smile on her face.. "We should throw a party!"

"Yeah!" All the teens yelled in unison.

"That sounds awfully nice kids, but did you forget that the auditorium is, er-, was being used? They ought to be cleaning it out right about now." Sniper said.

"So?" The blonde brawler said. "We'll just go to your place!" The mercenaries' eyes widened in surprise as they looked to Spy for what to do. They seemed to like the idea of having another party so soon, not really realizing that a party was sort of what led them here in the first place. Spy looked like he was having a 'nam flashback as all the possible ways these kids could destroy his house were cycling through his mind a thousand scenarios a minute.

"No, no, no absolutely not!" Spy spat out. "I do not want you kids to destroy our house! We've only been here a couple of days!" The teens puffed and groaned as well as his coworkers although less obviously as he gave them a harsh glare.

"Oh come on!" Yang said. "What's wrong? Are you _too old_ to party?" She grinned.

Spy cringed when she said old but kept his composure. "Ms. Xiao Long, I already said I do not want you to ruin our house! Now please leave!"

However they did not leave, as the students got all up in Spy's face and gave him all of their best puppy eyes. Except the guys though, that would be insanely weird. Spy was resisting their attempts valiantly, but there was one that he could feel piercing his French heart. At the very front, the closest to Spy's face, was the empress, no, the goddess, ***slap*** -Ow, fuck! I-I mean the creator of puppy eyes herself, Ruby Rose. Ruby's cuteness was boring into Spy's mind and soul, and it was making him panic. He started sweating once he turned around to see his team had abandoned him, apparently going off to get stuff for the party without his say so. He turned back to the teens to see that the monster herself was almost up to his face... if she was a couple of feet taller. She was staring them all down.

 _You will obey…_ Spy's heart jumped as he heard a feminine voice call to him in his mind. It did not take him long to figure out it came from Ruby. At first, he tried his best to keep a hard look against her, but he quickly found she was too kawaii. It was too much...

"N-no!" He resisted in vain.

 _Yes, you will throw a party!_

"NO!" He screeched.

 _Yes! Or else I will force you into an eternity of service in a cookie mine!_

"Ruby, please!" He begged, putting his hands to his ears.

 _YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS~_

"NOOOOOO!" Spy fell to the ground. "No, no, no, no, non, nein, nyet…" He said no in practically every language he knew, which is a lot considering he is an international infiltrator for hire.

"Are you okay, Mr. Spy?" Velvet said worriedly, kneeling by his face. Spy screamed and jumped up to his feet, startling Velvet and the teens. Ruby was still giving a soul melting puppy face.

"ARGH, DAMN YOU KIDS! Okay! We will have your God forsaken party!" The teens cheered as Spy fumed madly. His coworkers also gave small whoops of joy, but quickly acted like they weren't when he turned around and gave them an angry scowl.

"On one condition!" The Frenchman raised a finger.

"Name it." Ruby said smugly, eyes closed and everything with her arms crossed.

"It will only be your three teams and no one else, got it?"

"Agreed." The leader of RWBY smugly said once more.

"Good, I'm going to go lay down now. I'm going to need all my energy for the hours ahead." Spy said with a groan and walked off to his staff house. The teens were still jumping in joy as he left.

"Yeah! Two parties in one month! High five sis!" Yang high fived her sister.

"Oh we should invite everybody in the school! It's going to be fantastic!" Nora said excitedly.

"Now Nora…" Ren began, "Mr. Spy said it will only be our three teams, remember?" He said matter of factly. "As a new Beacon staff member, it's only fair that we honor our end of the deal." Unfortunately for Ren, some students passing by heard him.

"Oh shit, there's gonna be a party at the new guy's place?!" A student in Mistral attire exclaimed.

"Uh, no! There's no par-" Ren tried to fix his mistake before Nora barged in.

"There's gonna be a huge party at Mr. Spy's place!" Everyone moved to restrain her. They dogpiled on her, but Nora's unreasonably high strength allowed her to throw them off of her with ease. Before she yelled again, a hand went on her mouth.

"Nora! What are you doing!?" Weiss said. "Please stop!" Nora shook her off.

"THERE'S GONNA BE A HUGE PARTY AT THE NEW TEACHER'S PLACE! :D" She screamed loud and proudly.

That attracted everyone's attention.

"A party you say?" Some guy went.

" _Yeeeaaahh_ buddy! There gonna be a mothafuckin' party!" Another guy went.

" _Awww shit_ dawg, where it at?"

"At the new professors' place!"

…

The news spread like wildfire. The teens cringed at how fast it was spreading and glared at Nora.

"What? It's a party! Everyone should join in!" She beamed, huge smile while her friends still glared.

* * *

 **A couple hours after sunset, Merc's house.**

 _Okay…_ Spy thought as it was almost time for the party.

 _All we have to do is make sure no one else but those kids show up, and no alcohol gets into their hands and we'll be good…_ Spy walked up to the door when he heard knocking. He straightened out his tie, dusted his suit off, and sighed as his hands went to the door knob.

*Open*

"Hello, students. I…" There was a metric fuckton of students outside with Team RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, and SSSN at the very front. You couldn't see where the sea of students ended from Spy's front door. The other mercenaries inside peeked out the windows with varied expressions on their faces. Ruby was giving him a nervous smile and was shaking a bit.

"H-hi, Mr. Spy…" There was an awkward silence.

…

…

"Ruby, what the fuck?" Spy said. It was one of the few times in his life where he actually cursed at something.

"U-uh, I'm sorry!" She said with a whimper, and hastily looked around before settling on Nora for the blame. "It's Nora's fault!" Some of the students in the back were stirring, wondering what's the hold up.

"Hey is this where the party's at?" A female voice said from somewhere close to the front.

Before Spy could answer her, Scout jumped in front of him.

"You bet your teeth this is where the party's at!" Scout knocked Spy to the side. "Come on in!"

The students flooded in with much enthusiasm. Spy stood to his feet and watched the students charge in his front door with massive enthusiasm if they were going to war. Ruby was standing next to him and was still smiling nervously at him and the crowd of rushing students. She gave an awkward laugh as Spy gave an extremely angry glare at her with his chest heaving in anger.

"Hehe, uh…I…" Spy raised a hand, stopping her from explaining herself.

" _ **Miss Rose…**_ " He said in the scariest voice Ruby has ever heard in her life.

" _ **Those hooligans in there,**_ " his hand went to the door. _**"…if they so much as break a vase, then I will personally see to it that you do not graduate."**_ At that moment a vase was dropped out the window and onto Spy's head, knocking him out instantly. Ruby looked up to see it came from Nora who had Demoman at her side. He high-fived her for that awesome action.

"Good one lass!" Demo said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Seemed like he really is getting along with Nora real swell.

"Come on in, Ruby! Don't let that party pooper ruin everyone's fun!" Ruby hesitated and looked back down at Spy who was out like a motherfucker. With a gulp she went inside

" _Sorry Spy_." She whispered.

Going inside, Ruby saw Scout was showing off his breakdancing skills to everyone and Heavy was also showing off his massive minigun while the rest of the gang couldn't be seen with all these kids looking for an excuse to not do schoolwork. It was here that Ruby realized that she wasn't much of a social person, and nearly fainted from how many people were here.

* * *

 **Cinder's Room**

Emerald and Mercury were reviewing all the info they got on the mercenaries earlier when they were watching the initiation. Neo was playing some games on her scroll as the two more serious and mature of Cinder's lackeys did their thing.

"How could they do that?" Emerald said as she was watching a recording of the men reviving themselves in battle.

"It's obviously from those machines you dumb-dumb." Mercury said mockingly. Emerald punched him for his thinking he was funny..

"Mercury, do not start with me right now!" She spat out at him. "I know that already!"

"No fighting you two…" Cinder said as she walked in. "We have an interesting opportunity presented to us."

"What is it?" Emerald said. Cinder pointed out the window to the direction of the staff houses, and saw that the mercenaries' house was lit like Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval, not like they would know what that is, but you get it.

"How did we not see that?" Mercury said.

"No idea…" Emerald trailed off as she saw large packs of students travel over there.

"Focus please." Cinder said as her lackeys turned back to her. "This gives a chance to find out more about them." She smiled. "Besides, parties are fun." They went off soon after to the mercenaries' house.

* * *

 **Mercenaries' House**

Team evil (unofficial name, please don't sue) walked up to the front door to find that Spy was knocked out and lying off to the side. They decided to not question it, and Cinder knocked on the door. After a couple of seconds of waiting, the door opened and Team evil was blown off their feet as the rave music in the house had been greatly intensified. Cinder got up to her feet while everyone else was still picking themselves up to see that Pyro had opened the door.

"Hello," She began, "We're here for the new teacher's party." Pyro didn't say anything and stared at her, with a balloonicorn in hand.

"We would like to come in if it's not too much trouble." She gave it a smile. Pyro said nothing again and kept staring at her.

"So… will you let us in?" Pyro didn't do a thing again. Cinder was getting a little uncomfortable now as all it has done was just stare at her.

"Um, hello?" It took a few more seconds of awkwardly standing there before Sniper came up to check on Pyro.

"Oy, Pyro! What's the holdup mate? Who's there?" Sniper put a hand on Pyro's shoulder and looked past it to see Cinder and her group. "What's the matter Pyro? They givin' you trouble?"

"No, he just stood there and stared at me." Cinder said annoyed

"Ah, that's just Pyro. Come on, move aside you ankle biter." Sniper moved Pyro over to the side.

"Come right in miss, and don't worry about Pyro. He's probably just shy."

"Thank you." Cinder said as her group filed into the door. Cinder looked back to see Pyro was still staring at her and shuddered a bit.

"That was something dodgy, why'd you hold 'em up like that?" Sniper said. Pyro seemed to have snapped back to reality as soon as she left their sight.

"Mphm! Mphmpmhmpmh."

"Aww, that's apples mate." Sniper laughed as he left the front door with Pyro following him.

* * *

Inside the merc's house was absolute chaos. Some faggolas smuggled alcohol in and made several students stupid drunk, students were tearing up the dance floor as rave music played from unreasonably huge speakers, and some of them were fighting and smashing shit on the floor. Ruby was by the punch bowl in the mercs' kitchen, realizing that she was not prepared for a social gathering like this once again. Jaune was there with her. Both of them were having a very awkward moment of déjà vu, a repeat of what happened at the party a couple of weeks ago. Except it was much more uncivilized. She was watching Engineer do an odd dance that reminded her of cowboys hoedowns from the stories she read as a kid.

"Hiding by the punch bowl again I see?" The knightly boy said.

"Yep."

"I'm going to be honest here. I was not prepared for this." Jaune said.

"Me neither, I thought it was going to just be our teams here. Not the entire school!"

"Well you can thank Nora for that one." They looked over to Nora who was with Demoman and some of the more explosive savvy students. They were making 'fireworks' as they would have put it.

"Want to go outside? It's getting really stuffy in here." Ruby said.

"Sure. Let's go find our friends."

They walked past Cinder and her lackeys on their way out. Cinder was silently giving orders to them. "Spread out and see what you can gather from them." Mercury went over to Soldier, Emerald went over to the Medic, and Cinder went over to the Heavy. Neo hung out in the hallway leading up to the front door when she bumped into Pyro and Sniper. Sniper gave an apology before literally jumping into the dancing crowd and joining their dance, while Pyro stood there with her. Neo gave him a smile in hopes that it wouldn't recognize her.

"Hi." She said in sign language, hoping it knew what she was trying to say.

"Mphm." Came its response. It then gave her a really big lollipop. She took it only to nearly crash into the floor from how heavy it was and mouthed a thank you at him. Pyro clapped his hands in joy and took her upstairs. She gulped as it did so, but she decided to play along lest she break her cover.

Outside, Mercury was with a group of students listening to one of Soldier's many war stories. The students had no idea what the heck he was talking about, but it was very interesting regardless.

* * *

"August 22, 1944, I was out all alone in the German side of the Ardennes, when suddenly I was attacked by a patrol of Nazi mutant super soldiers! It was a moment that would make lesser men cry in fear and complain about having mascara running down their faces, but not this here soldier! Oh no! I fought those 10 foot tall Deutschbags until only one stood, and that would be me!" He pointed his thumb towards himself with a proud smile on his face. "After ceremoniously pissing in all of their boots, I noticed a Kraut airfield to my left that was guarded by a castle full of the meanest Germans I've ever seen! There must have been three whole armies of Waffen SS in there, but I didn't care. I charged right down the hill with a rocket launcher I found while murdering the super soldiers, launched myself high into the sky, and rained down the fists of Uncle Sam onto them all! I must have killed about half of them until one of the damn sauerkraut eating maggots shot me with a chainsaw gun, cutting my gut right open! I was forced to retreat and hide out in the forest, stuffing all 20 feet of intestine back into my body as I waited for reinforcements." One of the students raised her hand.

"I thought you said were a lone wolf out there though."

"I was! But you see sister, we Americans stick together! Even if they did arrest me for sneaking to Europe, the 8th Army under General Badassius Aswhoopa still helped me destroy that airfield with the beautiful sound of dying Nazis everywhere!" He gave a salute and shed a manly tear. "God bless the U.S.A!" Another student raised his hand.

"If you had all of your intestines out from your body, then how'd you survive?"

"Simple son, Uncle Sam himself ascended to Heaven to tell God to get off his ass and save me! Such as the power of the United States' champion and hero, Uncle Sam! Why, you should've seen him during the battle of the South Pole, where old Sam himself led the 6th U.S. cavalry, the 8th army armor corps, and the 101st airborne against Old Nick and his army of penguins and evil elves!" Soldier kept talking about a battle that most likely never happened even in his world, when Mercury's hand raised up from the group of students.

"Hey, old guy, what even is…" He was caught totally off guard when Soldier tackled him, knocking over several of the students in the group.

"That's SIR! You faggot eating maggot!" (plz don't get triggered)

"Argh! Get off of me!"

"No! ***punch*** Not until you show a veteran some proper respect, and address me as sir!"

"Ow! Just get off- awgaghwaehr!" Mercury choked as Soldier started strangling him.

"You will address me as sir, you sorry excuse for a warrior! Now say it!"

Mercury couldn't say it though as Soldier's grip on his neck was very secure, making Mercury fall unconscious. Soldier then let go of his neck and lifted him up for the students around him to see.

" _ **Attention**_ **!** This here is a classic example of a maggot! I don't tolerate maggots in my unit! And this is what I do to them!" The students nodded their heads in fear after Soldier threw Mercury into an upstairs window. Soldier dusted his hands and continued his story about Uncle Sam's invasion of the South Pole in 'Operation Kill Old Nick'.

* * *

Emerald saw what had happened to Mercury, but decided to leave it as it seemed that everyone was getting knocked around in this party. She actually had to weave her way through a few students scrapping each other over whatever petty reason as she made her way to the Medic. The Engineer was currently fighting a drunken group of 5 that tried to jump him, but he was showing them a good ol' Texas licking. Medic was treating Velvet for a few cuts and bruises when Yatsuhashi accidentally knocked her out of one of the downstairs windows in a fight with some ruffians. She yelped in pain as Medic pulled out very small shards of glass out of her with forceps.

"Ow! Thank you Mr. Medic, oh!" She said as Medic was pulling out the last of the glass pieces out of her arm.

"Yes, yes, please hold still dear, I'm almost done." He pulled out the last shard of glass and pulled out his medigun which made Velvet jump a bit.

"Just relax dear, zis von't hurt at all." He turned the medigun on and a healing beam covered Velvet's body, making all of her wounds go away.

"Wow! Thank you sir!" Velvet happily said.

"You're very velcome young lady." She ran off somewhere as Emerald walked up to him.

"Nice device there, where'd you get find it?"

"Oh zis? Zis is just a little invention of mine. I call it ze medigun! It can heal any wound no matter how severe! Provided you're still alive of course."

"Cool! I'm a real medicine geek, and I just think you're so cool for this thing! How does it work?"

"Vell, before you can begin to understand how it vorks, you have to understand how I was forced to make this in the first place." Medic told her the story he tells anyone who asks about the medigun.

"…and when the patient woke up, his skeleton was missing, and the doctor was never heard from again!" He laughed while Emerald looked like she wanted to throw up. Never in her life as a criminal has she heard of such a gory and horrible way to die, and the worst part was that the patient wasn't dead at all.

"Anyway, zat's how I lost my medical license… Now, after being kicked out of the medical university in Hamburg, I vas…"

"Can you excuse me for a moment? I got to be somewhere right now..." Emerald said as she was looking really queasy. She ran to one of the bathrooms and started barfing the contents of whatever she ate that day out. Medic shrugged and looked for more students to fix up.

Upstairs, Neo was actually having a lot of fun with Pyro in its room. Sure, Pyro seemed pretty scary and it was the enemy, but he's actually pretty childish like Neo, even if she is a teenager and it was probably a middle aged man/woman. His room was full of crude childish drawings showing scenes of extreme violence done in crayon and markers. Neo was playing pretend with Pyro. She was a cowboy riding on Mercury as her steed, who suddenly just crashed through the window. Pyro was a bandit she had to stop from robbing a bank. Both were making finger pistols at each other making *bang, bang, bang* noises at each other. Pyro suddenly stopped shooting and started drawing something on paper.

When it was finished, it was revealed to be Pyro and Neo holding hands in a flowery meadow filled with corpses with the word 'Fr _IeN_ d' above them. Neo eagerly took it and Pyro gave off a happy laughing sound from behind its mask. _This guy isn't so bad,_ Neo thought as Pyro pulled some cold ice cream from out of nowhere and gave one to Neo. She happily ate the frozen treat while Pyro shoved it into its mouthpiece, making a mess, but whatever. She heard a buzzing in her ear and heard Cinder's voice come out from it.

" _Let's leave. There is nothing useful to be gained here._ " Neo made the sign language for 'I have to go, it was fun!' and left with Mercury slung over her back. She met Emerald, and Cinder outside and left with them back to their dorm.

* * *

 **Later**

A couple of hours had passed since the party started, and the students were all over the mercenaries' property. There were students in the front yard, students in the living room, students in the garage, students in the basement, students in the backyard, students in the pool, students in the attic, and students on the fucking roof. The mercs had spent much of the party either mingling with the students or beating them senseless for causing a ruckus. Team RWBY had regrouped in the backyard near the pool with the members of Team JNPR, except for Nora, and Team CFVY. Yang was in the pool and was somehow in a swimsuit she didn't have on earlier.

" _Put me down you big meathead…"_ Coco said drunkenly as Heavy was dragging her away from the students he recently beat up for sneaking in alcohol.

" _I can walk myself…"_ She touched the ground and tried to walk a few steps before stumbling into the pool. Heavy sighed.

"Coco!" Velvet yelled. Coco was fine though as she was floating on the water fast asleep

"Man, what a party! Right guys?" Yang said while hanging on the side of the pool. She was wearing a bikini she happened to wear under her clothes that day.

"Yeah, but I'm worried Mr. Spy will get mad at us for this!" Ruby said. Weiss spoke up.

"It's not Mr. Spy we should be worried about Ruby…" She stopped talking for a second to watch Scout and Engineer jump into the pool from the roof, making a splash that nearly got everyone wet.

"I'm more worried about Professor Goodwitch coming here…" Weiss jinxed it as she heard the very words none of them wanted to hear.

"PROFESSOR GOODWITCH IS COMING!" They all ran to the front to see if they could see what was going on to see that what the guy yelled out was exactly as described. Professor Goodwitch was stomping over to the mercenaries' house, making a barrier around the perimeter so that no one escapes.

"Everyone!" She boomed. "You all have 4 months of detention for making this mess!"

"B-but, Professor! The new teachers let us -" Ruby tried to say before getting the daylights scare out of her when Goodwitch snarled.

"SHUT UP! I don't care whose fault it is! You're all still in big trouble!"

"Leave them, Glynda." Goodwitch's head snapped back to see Professor Ozpin, standing at the front gate, cane, coffee mug, everything.

"Professor!" She gasped.

"Let them have their fun. You're only young once after all." Glynda was going to protest, but simply puffed and stomped out of there.

"She ought to calm down. She might burst a vein one of these days." Ozpin said. "As for the rest of you, please, go ahead and enjoy your party. Just make sure you leave by midnight." The students were surprised but gave a resounding 'yes headmaster'. "Good, I'll be off now." He walked off to somewhere while the student's resumed their party.

"That was… unexpected." Weiss said.

"No kidding." Blake said in response.

"Wonder where he went off to." Ruby said.

Unbeknownst to all of them however, Spy was no longer unconscious at the front door and was now making his way over to the back wall. He undisguised himself as Ozpin and vaulted over the wall to the surprise of Sniper who was hanging out there after dancing for a full hour nonstop.

"Crikey! Where'd you come from mate?" Sniper said.

"Just saving these students from damnation, _mate_." He said matter of factly.

"So, you decided to just let them party then?"

Spy sighed. "After seeing it was too late to stop the students from tearing up our house, I gave in and decided to let them have fun." Sniper laughed. "I'm going over to my room now." He walked passed Team RWBY as he did so, completely surprising them. Ruby braced herself for a possible verbal whooping, but Spy simply said good evening and walked upstairs to his room.

Then gunshots were heard on the roof, and everyone froze to see what was happening.

"Attention! Lads and lasses of all shapes un sizes!" Demoman yelled through a megaphone with a shotgun in hand. Nora was at his side, jittery.

"Prepare to see some real fireworks!" He gave a remote control with a big red button on it to Nora. She was so excited that she pushed the button with such force as to destroy the remote. That hardly mattered though as the array of hastily put together 'firework' rack on the roof shot off all of its rockets one at a time in quick succession, Covering the night sky with very bright, colorful, and unusually large explosions. Everyone cheered.

* * *

 **Cinder's Room**

Team evil was going over their experiences at the party after leaving prematurely. Cinder looked out the window to see the lights at the mercs' house had somehow got brighter and the music even louder. She then saw almost MOAB size fireworks blow up high above Beacon, illuminating the entire landscape around the school.

"So what were you able to gather in what little time we spent there?" she asked her associates.

Emerald groaned. "Ohhh, I didn't learn anything other than that Medic guy is a sick bastard!"

"You weren't able to get anything on how his devices work?" Emerald shook her head.

"How about you Mercury?" Mercury was rubbing his throat.

"The soldier guy was spewing some bullshit about these made up places called 'Nazi Germany' and 'America' fighting a war he was a part of."

"Nothing else?"

"Other than he choked me the fuck out, then no."

Cinder sighed. She looked over at Neo who was currently licking an unreasonably large lollipop. She raised a brow at Neo only for Neo to shake her head 'no'.

"What about you Cinder? What did you find?" Emerald asked.

"That fat man would only talk about his weapon. Something about it costing 200,000 'dollars' to fire it for 12 seconds." Cinder said. "There's got to be something to them. Knowledge of their machines and devices would help our cause tremendously, but from what I am hearing, they keep talking about places that don't exist. I wonder where they're really from." She mused.

"Maybe we ought to try some more… forceful means, to get information out of them."


	8. Interrogations and Dinner

**Notes:**

 **Pierogi is a dumpling like eastern European dish.**

 **Spy gets a sabre too. Because the finest gentlemen are trained in all areas of fencing, be it sabre or rapier.**

 **I've also decided he should know martial arts, a cue taken from ATTF (don't sue me bro. lol jk) This is easily explained by Spy being a master infiltrator for hire, and since Mann Co. hired him because he was the best, I felt it was only right for the Frenchman to be all super spy with kung fu and shit.**

 **Please leave a review or pm me if you get any ideas or want a word in with me.**

* * *

 **The Next Day, Mercenaries' place**

Of course the party didn't end at midnight. They kept on getting crunk well into the morning, but the vast majority of the students had left before 5:00 am. Spy normally woke up at this time since back when he worked for Mann Co., he was charged with checking all systems before facing the enemy. Of course this time there were no systems to check, only the damage done to his house. He let himself sleep for a couple of hours before waking up.

It was apparent the moment he stepped out of his room that there was a lot of things he had to pay for. The second floor hallway was torn up with a couple of unconscious students in Atlas uniform sleeping on the floor. Their teams apparently left them behind. Spy growled and kicked both of them awake. They ran off soon after. Spy resumed his sweep of the house. Teams RWBY and JNPR were sleeping about the living room with Sniper passed out in a corner with a lampshade on his head. Heavy was carrying a monkey tailed boy and a blue haired kid inside while Medic was sitting on the big couch in front of the fireplace talking to Blake. They greeted Spy before Spy went on. The pool was surprisingly clean, it only had Coco in it since her team also seemed to have forgot her. Spy grabbed the pool net and fished her out of there. She was still sleeping when he did that so once she got on dry land he shook her to wake her up.

"Wake up."

" _Hmmm…"_ Coco snored. Spy sighed and pulled out her scroll. He fumbled with the unfamiliar technology before getting her ID.

"Coco Adel?" Spy said while looking down at her.

" _That's me…"_ Spy laughed.

"It would have been nice if you had another 'e' in your name. _Adele_. It means noble, kind, or tender." She said nothing as Spy carried her inside. After giving her over to Heavy, he checked the yards to see trash littered everywhere. The basement was intact, there was nothing really in there to begin with. The inside of the house was gutted, almost everything was broken and laying on the floor. He went back into the living room to wake all of them up with a bang.

 ***BANG*** His revolver went after firing a blank. The teens were all startled awake.

"BARTY! GET THE NET!" Professor Port yelled as he stumbled out of a side closet with half of his shirt hanging off and his hair in a mess.

"I GOT IT PETER!" Professor Oobleck yelled in response after finding a net downstairs and standing in the hallway, all in the span of 2 seconds. His clothes and appearance were extra messy.

"Yang, Blake, Bumblebee!" Ruby yelled in a panic.

"Calm down Ruby, it's just Mr. Spy waking you guys up." Blake said as she walked over to her team. Blake looked at the two professors. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Uhhh, we were out on a hunt!" Port said, trying to make up a story. "Until we came across this peculiar habitat to see what kind of creatures lived here! And then we-"

"You guys partied too. Is that right?" Blake said with an unconvinced look and a grin.

"…yes."

"Ahem, excuse us please! But it's time we made our leave!" Oobleck said after whisking away with Port back to wherever they came from.

"Oh, what time is it?" Weiss said.

"It is seven in the morning."

"Ugh! Why'd you wake us up?" Yang groaned as she covered her face with a couch pillow.

"Because," Spy said smugly, "If you don't get showered and readied now," He leaned in with an almost troll face. " _You're all going to be late for class."_

That really rustled the kids' jimmies as all the awake ones rushed out to their dorms with the ones still sleeping on their backs. The other mercenaries were just coming too or were coming down from their rooms as soon as they left.

"Hmph, kids." Spy turned to his team.

"Stay here and clean this place up. I'll go and help Professor Goodwitch myself today."

Right before he walked out of the door, he got a message on his scroll. He took it out and saw it came from Ozpin.

* * *

 _Dear Mr. Spy,_

 _After giving it some thought, I have decided to make you actual professors. Your performance yesterday was more than enough to convince me that you and your men have valuable skills and experience that would be beneficial to our students' education here. The classroom you've been assigned is currently being prepared for you. It will take a couple of days so you may relax until then._

 _Sincerely, Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy._

* * *

Well shit. Okay then. It looks like the mercenaries are full on teachers now! Spy turned back to his team to tell them the good news.

"Gentlemen! The good headmaster has made us all professors!" He yelled aloud. His team had surprised looks on their faces, but were otherwise unfazed by this. They didn't know a thing about teaching, but they imagine all they had to do was make the students beat each other up and tell them so helpful tidbits here and there.

"Sweet!" Scout said as he was picking up trash from the living room. "When we starting?"

"He said in a couple of days, so we ought to use that time to fix this place up."

"Hey boys, we're all out of food!" Engie yelled from the kitchen with Heavy crying at the dining room table, sandvich missing from his plate. Spy walked over to Engie to see that the refrigerator was completely empty, with only the empty containers and bags of whatever Ozpin left in there for them remaining. Spy raged.

"Argh! Those damn kids ate us out of house and home!" Spy yelled as he threw some empty bottles out in anger. The bottles knocked out Sniper, who was just coming back from his nap. Spy didn't seem to notice.

"Ughh… Looks like we'll have to go out and get some more food then." Spy said with a hand covering his face.

"Should we go to te' cafeteria and buy some?" Demo asked while helping Sniper to his feet.

"Hell no!" Spy said aloud. "Who knows what kind of processed garbage they have in the student's food. No, I'm going out to the city and buying some proper food."

"Why can't we ask the headmaster to get us some?" Engie asked from the side with a morning beer in hand.

"I don't want to trouble him so early in the morning." Spy responded. "Besides, I think I would like to see the city for myself. Who wants to go with me?" Soldier raised his hand, dropping the garbage he was carrying and out over the floor. Pyro raised its hand too.

"Pyro and I would like to go!" Soldier said.

"Excellent, you can carry our goods." Spy said. He made sure he got all the lien Ozpin gave them, and notified him that he was going out to the city. The three of them made their way over to the air docks and boarded an airship heading to the city. Little did they know, Cinder Fall was watching them from afar, smiling deviously.

* * *

 **City of Vale**

The three mercenaries were wandering the streets of Vale in search of some place to get ingredients for some good ass Italian food Spy knew how to cook. They were hopelessly lost on their quest for such a place. Spy would ask for directions, but the citizens of Vale seemed a bit weary of them, remembering their violent debut a couple of nights ago.

"What's wrong with these civvies?" Soldier wondered. "Haven't they seem a real war hero before?"

"Mphm." Pyro mmphed matter of factly.

"So? This is not how a veteran should be treated!" He was going to jump an unsuspecting passerby before Spy stopped him.

"Take it easy Soldier." Spy said as he grabbed his psychotic friend by the collar. "These people are just afraid. Give them a few days. They'll warm up to us eventually." Soldier growled, but listened to Spy.

They were walking around for a few more minutes when Spy noticed they were being followed. His experience as a spy has thought him to distinguish people tailing them from regular pedestrians, and the actions of the people following them were definitely not subtle, at least to his eye. There were these rough looking characters slowly closing in on them from all sides, making their way past anyone in the way.

" _We're being tailed."_ He whispered over to Pyro and Soldier. Spy stopped them from looking around though as to not alert their pursuers, and opted to take them out in an alleyway they were coming across. If this went as planned, the people following them would ambush them here where the mercenaries would take them head on. " _No guns or explosives."_ Spy whispered. _"I do not want to create a scene and get in trouble with Ozpin._ "

The mercenaries stood in the middle of a one way alley as their pursuers closed in from the front. There was about twenty of them, all of them Faunus. Their appearance just told you that these guys were not the usual bunch of undercover White Fang operatives. They all had various melee weapons that they hid under their clothes.

"Looks like you boys walked in the wrong part of town." A cat girl in a tank top said with a crowbar across her shoulders. Her friends laughed. The girl walked up to Spy, stopping a couple of feet in front of him.

"Young woman…" Spy said as he took his cigarette out of his mouth. "I will tell you right now, that _you_ are in fact in the wrong part of town." The girl frowned and swung at him with the crowbar, but Spy dodged and jammed the cigarette into one of her cat ears. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground after Spy took her crowbar and knocked her out cold with it. Spy threw the crowbar tomahawk style at a birdman in the back, and the mercenaries were going to close in on them in melee when something totally unexpected happened. The Faunus pulled out tranquilizer guns and shot them full of needles. Spy felt his body slow down as he watched Soldier and Pyro go down with him. Wishing to doom these ruffians before they take him, Spy pulled out his dead ringer and revolver. He aimed his revolver at the nearest Fang, which surprised all of them as they feared alerting the authorities. Then…

 ***SHINK*** Spy didn't see what happened as the tranquilizers finally put him down, but Neo came in and stabbed him in the back with her umbrella spike. She smiled as she pulled the umbrella out of his fake corpse, and stood aside for Roman Torchwick himself to come in.

"Oh dear…" Roman said, looking down at Spy's fake corpse. "That's unfortunate. But as long as we got these two, then I don't think Cinder would mind much." He issued orders for the undercover Fang to pack up the mercenaries and leave. Spy's fake corpse was left in a dumpster while the real Spy remained on the alley floor for a couple of hours.

* * *

 **Some Abandoned Factory, Industrial District. Three hours later.**

Soldier awoke with a jolt. He had no idea where the hell he was, but he did remember encountering some maggots who put him to sleep. He took a moment to observe his surroundings. Torchwick himself was standing in front of him with a White Fang in uniform at his side, and there were some other Fang in the room too. His hands were handcuffed behind his back, his right leg was shackled to a chair, he was tied to a chair, and he was in some kind of garage with all kinds of tools laid neatly on a rolling table to the side. His helmet was also on said table. This could only mean one thing… **TORTURE INTERROGATION!**

"LET ME OUT OF HERE, YOU COMMUNIST-MAGGOT-SUCKING-HITLER-COCK-SMOKING-" He got a slap in the face from the White Fang by Roman's side, who was a sergeant.

"Quiet captive!" Soldier spat at him and got another slap in the face.

"That's enough sergeant," Roman said. "Now, do you remember me friend?" He said with a grin.

"You're that maggot I knocked out cold with a ham! How could I forget such a fine hat? Can I have it by the way?" Soldier said.

"Um, that would be a no. Do you know my name?" Soldier took a couple of seconds to think about it.

"Negatory."

"No?"

"Yes."

"Oh, so you do?"

"No."

"What are you trying to say then?" The sergeant spoke up.

"I think he means yes to he doesn't know who you are." Roman slapped his head in realization.

"Oh-ho-ho! Of course! How silly of me! Well, friend, I'm Roman Torchwick, master thief, criminal mastermind, and gentleman." He bowed and tipped his hat. "Surprised you haven't heard of me. I'm pretty famous around here. Speaking of around here, I have a feeling that you and your friends aren't from Vale…" He leaned inwards. "Where are you from?" Torchwick stepped back when Soldier violently moved forward in an attempt to head-butt him.

"Woah there! Take it easy bud! I'm only asking an innocent question. People ask each other where they're from when they meet, right?" Soldier growled.

"You can't trick me you fancy coated, pretty boy! I know an interrogation when I'm in one! I've faced thousands of interrogators, but let me tell you sonny that not a single one has ever broken me!" Soldier yelled proudly.

"I've been put into some of the worst Nazi prison camps you've ever seen! Some of them I've been imprisoned in _voluntarily_ , just so I could see how long I could last! Every single prison has broken before I did! What makes you think a bunch of scum-eating, maggot bags like you can get me to talk?!"

" _Yeeahhh,_ I have no idea what a 'Nazi' is, but it looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way." Roman turned his head to the sergeant at his side.

"Deal with him sergeant. This kinda thing is too messy for a man like me." The sergeant nodded his head and picked a drill off of the table. Roman was walking towards the exit.

"Just make sure you report to me whatever you find once you're done." Roman said as he closed the door. The sergeant started up the drill and was slowly moving up to Soldier, while the veteran smiled with a legitimate brave face on.

"Show me what you got, you pussy…"

* * *

Roman walked over to his makeshift office where various maps and documents were. He stopped by the makeshift holding room for the other prisoners here. The holding room was simply a large closet that would be filled with spare parts for any of the machinery here in this abandoned factory complex. The spare parts had been removed and now it only holds prisoners behind bars that had been installed there when the Fang occupied the building. Roman opened the door to see that the Fang guards were standing guard as they should, and the Pyro was sitting all alone behind bars, tied up with rope. Neo was in the room too for some reason, playing a game on her scroll.

"Good job boys." Roman said to the two guards as he turned his attention to Neo.

"What'cha doing Neo?" He asked. "Don't you know this is where we keep the prisoners?"

Neo pointed at Pyro, and did the sign language for 'I want to interrogate that one!' She gave a sadistic smile. Roman sighed.

"Of course… Just make sure there's enough of him left when you're done, okay?" Neo nodded, and Roman asked the guards to leave the room as they did not want to be in here when Neo gets her torture on. Once they left, Neo jumped to the door, locked it, double locked it, and triple locked it. She then went over to Pyro who was still watching her. She pulled out a huge knife and unlocked the door, slowly approaching Pyro while thinking of all the deliciously cruel ways she can destroy its body.

Something totally unexpected happened. Fire came out of nowhere and incinerated the ropes keeping Pyro captive. Neo was startled and moved in to stab him before it did anything, but Pyro raised a hand.  
"Mphm!" Pyro said. Neo stopped mid-thrust, interpreting the 'mphm' as a 'stop'.

Pyro conjured up paper and a pencil from out of nowhere and started drawing on it. Neo waited for it to finish. When Pyro was finished, he showed a drawing of him and Neo out in a flowery meadow full of corpses again, but this time Neo was drawn in her regular appearance. Neo's heart stopped as she realized that Pyro knew who she was this whole time, but how?! She looked back at Pyro and saw it had its hands raised.

'What?' Neo said in sign language with a face of concern. Pyro clapped its hands and put them back in their previous raised position and 'mphed'. Neo still looked confused. Pyro repeated the action when Neo finally realized it wanted to patty cake. She slowly put the knife on the ground, and moved forward. Pyro patted its hands together again, and Neo slowly clapped her hands with Pyro's. Pyro gave off a muffled chuckle and clapped his hands back with hers. She smiled and started playing patty cake with him. She didn't say any of the words you were supposed to say while playing that sort of thing, and Pyro 'mphmed' to the words of the patty cake song.

* * *

Half an hour had passed since Soldier's torture session had begun, and the sergeant was getting nowhere with him. True to his word, Soldier responded with absolutely dick to any of the Fang's questions. The only words he said, or yelled rather, were various insults about the sergeant's mother and him being a pussy. The sergeant decided to take a break once ripping his fingernails out only got him a ' **You're a fucking pansy, you cock eating sack of Nazi shit. You're mama probably adopted you after finding your ass in a landfill!'**

"I'll give you credit old man, you really are as tough as you say…" The sergeant said.

"Amen." Soldier said in response while spitting blood out onto the sergeant's uniform. The sergeant didn't mind anymore as his shirt was completely covered in blood and spit. He left to get himself cleaned up. The other Fang in the room did the same. Soldier would yell at them, but he was too exhausted at the moment and just took this time to rest. Then someone walked into the room. It was the catgirl who Spy knocked out when they got captured. Soldier growled and was going to yell some insults.

"Stow it, Soldier." A familiar French voice said. Soldier was staring wide-eyed as the catgirl disappeared and was replaced with the Spy.

"Spy! You magnificent, French sack of crap. Where've you been?" He got a knock to the head by the Spy.

"Quiet you idiot! No one knows I've snuck in here. The catgirl almost had me before I sliced her neck with this." He held up the eternal reward.

"And if you must know, I've been out buying the ingredients for our dinner tonight." Spy took out bags full of groceries.

"Oh, you French bastard! You went out and bought food while I was captured by the enemy?"

"I figured you and Pyro would be fine." He took out a cigarette. "After all, you are the best soldier in the world and Pyro is… well, himself. Is that not correct?"

"You're goddamn right." Soldier said with a smile. "Now, untie me so we can tear these bastards a new one!"

"No."

"What?! Why?! Don't tell me you're turning traitor on us!"

"No, it's just that I still don't want to cause an incident." He lit his cigarette. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to quietly kill everyone here so we can escape." He opened up a pill bottle and poured the pills on Soldier, where they just sort of like melted into him, healing his wounds, but not all of them. Soldier was going to yell at Spy, but he shoved another pill bottle in his mouth before he can get a word in.

"I expect you to stay here after you have opened that." Spy said as he turned back into the catgirl and left. Soldier was raging.

So it went exactly how you think it would, initially. Spy was backstabbing and sneaking around the factory with ease. He killed all of those out on the perimeter first before moving in on the ones inside. They were still unaware of his presence as he was getting ready to backstab the sergeant who was sitting on a crate changing his shirt. When suddenly…

 ***CRASH!***

Soldier knocked down the door of the room he was in with his hands still cuffed. Somehow, he had cut the ropes and the chair was now being dragged along his leg since he was still shackled to it.

"Frenchman!" Soldier yelled as he spotted Spy, still disguised, behind the sergeant. The veteran grabbed an entire toolbox and threw it at Spy. Spy reacted quickly and pulled the sergeant in front of him. The sergeant took a toolbox to the face and was knocked behind the crate, and Soldier ran at Spy. Spy tried to move out of the way, but Soldier had closed the gap and was now strangling him after tackling him into the floor. Spy undisguised himself.

"Damn Frenchie! Think you can get away with leaving me alone just so you can kill some scum by yourself?!"

"Y-y-y-you ithiot!" Spy choked as Soldier strangled him.

He kneed Soldier in the stomach and did the kung fu move where you slap the opponent's ears to stun them by damaging their hearing. Soldier stumbled back, covering his ears to stop the ringing noise. He was going to keep beating Spy when he noticed the Fang were now surrounding them.

"Heh, we'll settle this later." Soldier said as he assumed a fighting stance.

"Indeed." Spy said as he followed Soldier's lead.

The Fang ran forward with melee weaponry or with their bare hands to take the mercs out. Soldier rushed forward and was kicking his leg around to use the chair he was still shackled to as a flail and was expertly knocking out grunts with his unusual weapon, while Spy was doing all sorts of badass martial arts on them. Think how Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Donnie Yen fight in their movies to get an idea of the hand to hand rape Spy was putting on the Fang. Then the sergeant jumped out with a buzz saw staff. Soldier was crushing a dog guy's throat with his handcuffs when he saw him.

"Ha! Looks like pussy mcpansy found his balls and decided to come and fight me!"

The sergeant yelled in rage and rushed Soldier with a downward slash. Soldier smiled and put his cuffed hands forward for the saw to cut him free. After his hands were freed, Soldier swung his leg over for the chair to hit the sergeant in the face. It did, but the sergeant kept going. Soldier pulled his leg back so that he could grab the chair and use it as a melee weapon. He smashed the metal chair onto the sergeant, who retaliated by swinging at him. Soldier leapt backwards and let go of the chair when the buzz saw cut the chain, and grabbed the chair to hit him with it again. The sergeant growled after getting hit by a chair for the third time and sawed right through it on his next attack. That was okay though as Soldier took the opening and tackled the sergeant. The buzz saw staff flew up into the air and Soldier caught it, using it to finish off the sergeant in a bloody mess.

"Humph, this is what you get for being a pansy!" Soldier spat at the corpse and threw the weapon down by him.

"Keep your oversized pizza cutter!" He walked over to Spy who just finished up with the Fang.

"I say that went pretty well." Spy said.

"Now, let's go find Pyro."

"Affirmative!" Soldier said. As he turned around, he got decked in the back of the head by a cane and knocked out. Torchwick himself faced the Spy.

"Tsk, tsk. You guys made quite a mess haven't you?" He said while walking over Soldier's unconscious body.

"I will say though. It is a pleasant, if unexpected, surprise that you are still alive my masked friend."

"Roman Torchwick… It's a pleasure to meet the most wanted man in Vale."

"Oh! So one of you guys do recognize me! How nice." Roman said while twirling his cane around.

"Cinder may get her information just yet. Your friend here was very uncooperative, and Neo hasn't come out of your rubber suited friend's room yet." He raised his cane at Spy as if it were a sword.

"Now, if you would be so kind, surrender. Promise we won't kill you again."

Spy simply responded by pulling out a fencing sabre instead of the rapier he fought the Grimm with yesterday. His butterfly knife acted as his fencing dagger again.

"Fine." Roman said. "Be that way. You don't exactly need to be in one piece to tell us your secrets anyway…"

Spy leapt forward with a barrage of slashes from his sabre while Roman parried. Spy did a round house kick on Roman who stumbled back. His aura kept him up though, and now it was Roman's turn to attack. Roman swung his cane at Spy from all angles, but Spy masterfully blocked and parried all of it. He dodged a jab from Roman's cane and lunged forward with his knife. The knife hit Roman, but his aura held and he smashed his cane down on Spy. Spy dropped from the hit, and rolled to the side as the cane was jammed down where his head was and tripped Roman. Roman gasped as he fell, and had the air knocked out of him when Spy kicked his gut while still on the ground. Spy got up the same time Roman did, and continued his attack. He locked his sabre with Roman's cane.

"You guys still owe me a base you know?" Roman said. "Consider this payback!"

He broke the lock and smacked Spy in the face. Spy did not stumble and spin kicked at Roman's head. Roman blocked it with his cane, and Spy clenched his teeth in pain from kicking a cane. He simply reversed the spin and hit Roman with his other leg. Roman was knocked on his back, and before he could get up, Spy knocked him the fuck out with a swift kick to the face. He punched his face just in case he was still conscious.

Spy took a moment to fix his clothes. He didn't have any pill bottles Medic let him have anymore, so he took them off a Soldier who was just coming too.

"Are you alright American?"

"Yeah… Just disappointed the enemy flanked me." Soldier said as he rubbed his head. Spy left him there while he searched for Pyro. It did not take him long to find the room with 'PRISON ROOM' written in spray paint on it. He went to the side of the door with his sabre ready and opened it abruptly.

"Pyro! I'm here to… what the hell?" Spy said.

He just walked into Neo and Pyro playing patty cake. Apparently, they didn't hear any of the violence outside and kept on playing.

"Pyro, what are you doing?" Spy said with a hand over his face.

"She's with the enemy!"

Pyro mphed in response and Neo looked past Spy to see Roman and the Fang lying all over the place outside. Neo tried to run past Spy but was stopped with a sabre tip to the neck.

"Do not move a muscle young lady." Spy said. "We're taking you and your friend with us."

Neo looked back at Roman who was being picked up by Soldier, and closed her eyes in frustration. She really did not want to face the Soldier again, especially since his friends were now focusing on her. With a heavy heart, the girl teleported away, leaving Roman behind. Spy simply blinked and pulled out a cigarette.

"Can't say I'm surprised." He said. "She did that the first time we met her too." He let the cigarette and puffed a cloud of smoke. He looked at his watch to see it was now 4:00 pm.

"Come on Pyro, we have to hurry home and cook dinner." He looked back at Soldier who was carrying Roman over his back.

"And bring _him_ along with us."

* * *

They left the factory, and sent an anonymous call to the authorities so that they would come and pick up any of the surviving Fang and evidence here. They snuck Roman into the airship station in a huge duffel bag, claiming it was full of groceries to anyone who asked.

"…in other news, Amity Coliseum is scheduled to arrive above Beacon tomorrow, sometime in the afternoon. So keep your eyes open Vale! The Vytal Festival is here!" Lisa Lavender of the Vale News Network said from a monitor on board the passenger airship. The mercs paid little mind to it and just sat in their seats, resting from their little scuffle earlier. Pyro was playing with some matches.

They made it to Beacon around an hour after leaving the city, and walked to their staff house. Various students smiled and waved at them since the mercs were now very well known around campus from their initiation and the party they threw last night.

When they got to their house, they immediately threw Roman into the basement and restrained him to an unnecessary degree. They tied him up with chains, ropes, locks, padlocks, key locks, and a fishing net they found down there. To top off this bondage cake, Roman was placed in a sleeping bag when all of this was being put on him. Roman was waking up around the time they were done with him. Before he could say anything, Spy gagged him with a rag around his mouth. Spy puffed out some smoke.

"We'll bring you dinner later." Spy said as he walked out of the basement with Roman trying to struggle and yell, but he was so rigidly tied down that he couldn't move.

"How'd you capture him Spy?" Scout asked once Spy walked into the kitchen to start cooking.

"He tried to capture and interrogate us." Spy said while he was chopping up some tomatoes.

"And you ended up capturing him instead? Cool. What are we gonna do with him?"

Spy was poured some spaghetti noodles into a pot before answering Scout. "Obviously, we ought to question him to see what he and his associates are planning."

"We gonna kill the bloke right after?" Sniper asked.

"Maybe no." Spy said while making spaghetti sauce out of scratch.

"Engineer, can you make some bacon?" The Texan hooted in joy and got to work in making his favorite food.

"Oh, Heavy do you know how to make pierogis?" Heavy shook his head and got to work.

Once they were done with cooking all of their food, it was now about 7:30 pm, and they had a lot of food on their table. There may be nine of them, but even this much food was too much.

"Oh merde…" Spy said. "Looks like we're going to have leftovers for the next couple of days."

Right at that moment, the doorbell ring. Scout left to answer it.

"Hey guys!" He yelled from the front door.

"It's those girls from Team RWBY! Want me to let them in?"

"Sure, why not?" Engie said. Spy shrugged and the rest of the mercs didn't seem to have a problem with letting them in. Scout came back into the living room with Team RWBY close behind him.

"Hey guys!" Ruby said cheerfully.

"We just stopped by to check on you after classes were over…" Yang said before her nose caught a whiff of the mercs' food. Her team seemed to have noticed too.

"Oooo!" yang oooed. "What'cha guys making?"

"Dinner." Spy simply said while bringing some freshly made baguettes out onto the table.

"Ahh! Can we have some?!" Ruby drooled. The mercs looked at each other and nodded their heads in approval.

"Grab a plate and dig in lassies!" Demo yelled. The girls happily obliged and ate dinner with the mercenaries this night. Spy got up with a plate of spaghetti and whatever else they had and brought it down to Roman downstairs.

"Don't say a thing." Spy said as he put his hand over Roman's gag. "You're in Beacon academy right now, and unless you want Team RWBY to hear..." He pointed upwards. "...then you better eat this silently."

Roman nodded his head in acknowledgement. It was strange to him that Spy didn't want Team RWBY to hear him though. Why was he keeping him here secretly?

Spy pulled off his gag, waited a second to see if Roman would stay quiet, and started feeding him his dinner.

" _I do not want to be fed like a child._ " Roman whispered.

"Too bad. It's either I feed you like this, or you don't get to eat at all." Spy said as he raised a forkful of spaghetti towards Roman's mouth.

"Besides, people say my cooking is delicious."

* * *

Spy came back up after 15 minutes. Everyone had finished eating up by now and were lying around the living room.

"Where did you go Mr. Spy?" Blake asked.

"Tending to some business." He replied back simply.

"How was the food ladies?"

"It was some of the best food I've ever had!" Weiss said. "I ought to hire you guys as my personal chefs!" Everybody chuckled.

"Yep, but hate to say it little lady, but cooking ain't a part of our resumes." A sweet Texan accent said. "Now you girls ought to leave. It's getting late."

The girls said their goodbyes and left happily, their bellies full of some of the best food they've eaten in their lives.

* * *

 **Cinder's Room**

Cinder was really angry. Neo just came back in and told her that Roman got captured by the mercenaries.

"How exactly do you get captured by someone you captured?!" She yelled at Neo who shrunk in fear. Emerald and Mercury were sitting on a bed together watching this go down.

"Roman… that damn fool! I should have known he wasn't capable of doing something so simple!" Cinder started burning.

"Come on Cinder…" Emerald began. "If it wasn't him and one of us, they would have found us out and blown our cover." Cinder seemed to calm down as she was no longer burning. She sighed.

"Yes…I suppose you're right." Cinder said after calming down completely.

"But losing Roman does deal a huge blow to our plans…" She looked at the Atlesian cruisers flying in the moonlight through the window.

"Then there's the possibility of their shirtless friend coming back…" She mused.

"Say, did the Fang track him down yet?" She got a no.

* * *

 **Holy balls! This chapter took a single day to write, but it was most of the day though, and at the moment of this posting, my eyes are tired, but it's well worth it though! So this chapter isn't filled with much humor, at least I don't think so, but I hope you enjoy the little action and advance in the story I put in. Special thanks to:**

 **buzzsaw935: Thanks for the praise buddy! And I hope you don't give up on writing. Just keep trying until you get something good!**

 **ATTF: For inspiring me and declaring his support for a fellow TF2 X RWBY crossover.**

 **Shaneman17: For being a real good sport.**

 **ReasonsTF: For giving the most analytical review.**

 **Roman HellAngel: For the encouragement and feedback.**

 **And a random guest who complained about Roman not getting knocked out with a pan. I thought his review was hilarious.**


	9. Questions and Answers

**Notes:**

 **In TF2 canon, Spy is heavily implied to be Scout's dad.**

 **Here's a full list of what the mercenaries' names are. Some of them have official names while others don't. Italics mark out unofficial names.**

 **Soldier: _John Doe_ (Goes by Jane Doe sometimes, but I feel like he just calls himself that cuz he heard some American soldiers say that for missing soldiers.)**

 **Heavy: Mikhail (Misha for short) _Cherinkov_**

 **Medic: _Friedrich Heilburger_**

 **Pyro: Unknown (I am NOT going there!)**

 **Scout: _William Charleston_**

 **Sniper: _Rick_ Mundy**

 **Spy: _Jacques Moreau_**

 **Engineer: Dell Conagher**

 **Demoman: Tavish Degroot**

 **I use Google Translate. Don't rekt me for bad German please.**

 **Don't try to read the German portion unless you're like me and like attempting to read foreign languages. Don't rekt me cuz I'm American plz.**

 **For those of you who don't know, in TF2 canon, Pyro does not see the world as you and I would. He thinks the world is full of lollipops and rainbows while in reality he is causinh death and destruction wherever it goes. And yes, I refer to Pyro as it, her, and him interchangeably. That's how it could be friends with Neo.**

 **This last bit is completely unrelated to the story, but 'Mikhail' is the Russian form of 'Michael'. Got to say, Heavy don't look like the type of guy who's name is Michael.**

* * *

 **Mercs' House, After Team RWBY left, The Basement**

The mercenaries were all down in the basement, staring down Roman Torchwick, who was putting on a brave face, but we all know he is at least a little scared. Especially since the nine men before him are some of the toughest, ballsiest, craziest, and badass motherfuckers Remnant will ever see, in that particular combination at least. Also, if you don't count Saxton Hale, that is. The mercenaries had set up chairs and tables in the basement for their interrogation session with Roman. Scout removed Roman's gag, and they started questioning him.

"I'll do this alone gentlemen. I don't want you to break him so soon. _Literally_." Spy said to his friends before moving on to Torchwick.

"Evening Torchwick…" Spy began. "Those girls are gone now. Which means we can start asking questions now." Spy leaned inwards.

"Who are you working for?" Roman chuckled while Spy raised a brow at him.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing…" Roman said softly. "It's just that a few hours ago, I was the one asking questions. The irony, eh?"

"Yes, hilarious." Spy said unamused while putting out his cigarette. He looked back at his friends, who were honestly just relaxing in the basement as if an interrogation was not happening right now. Scout, Demo, Engie, and Sniper were playing a racing game on a console they set up.

"Now answer the question." Spy took out another cigarette.

"Oh, please. Why should I tell you anything? You're just going to send me to jail like any other huntsmen or cop would once you're done with me." He said smugly. "I'm not telling you a single thing." That statement caused a menacing chuckle from the mercenaries.

"Really now Mr. Torchwick? Well…" Spy lit his cigarette before continuing. "I will tell you right now, that if you keep up this act, _we_ will be the ones going to jail." Roman looked at him confused.

"Provided that they find your body. And your _families'_." Roman's face got really serious.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying just that. We will kill you and your family." Spy said with a completely straight face. "Preferably in the most painful ways imaginable, if necessary."

"Ha! I'm calling your bluff, you huntsmen trash!" Roman said smugly.

"Besides, I cut all ties with my family years ago! I don't give a damn about any of them anymore!"

Spy's face did not change at all as smoke came from his cigarette.

"Pyro." He called for the pyromaniac. Pyro came running over from watching the mercs play to Spy.

"Mphm?"

"Give me the drawing." The Frenchman said. Pyro reluctantly gave over its drawing of her newest friend.

"Merci, you can go back to whatever you were doing now." Spy held the paper so that Roman couldn't see it. He took a moment to look at the crude drawing before talking to Roman again.

"You said you cut all ties with your family?" Spy said without looking away from the paper.

"That's right." Spy glared at him for a second before flipping the paper around to show him the drawing of Neo and Pyro holding hands with the word ' **F** _ **r**_ _i_ eN **d** ' above them.

"Then what about her?" Spy said calmly while pointing at the crude Neo drawing. Roman's eyes visibly went wide, and his jaw dropped a little. He quickly regained his composure and looked at Spy.

"What about her? There's no way you guys can catch her. She's a sneaky one, that Neo." He said confidently. Spy stood up and put out the cigarette.

"We'll find a way." Spy said as he walked out of the basement. He called for all of the mercenaries to leave the basement with him

"And what if you don't?" Roman said loudly from across the room. Spy looked at him.

"I'm sure my friends would like a word with you then. Especially him." He pointed at Soldier who ran a finger across his neck at Roman. They shut the door soon after, leaving Roman to mope in the basement.

"Okay gents, here's the plan." Spy said to his team.

"No one lay a finger on him unless I say so. We will spend the next few days tracking this 'Neo' down. Until then, we need to restock on supplies and teach our class. Got it?" They all nodded their heads.

"Where do we start to find this girl?" Heavy asked the Spy. Spy shrugged.

"No idea, my Russian comrade. But, I'm sure she'll turn up eventually to come and find her friend we have here." Spy said as he started walking down the hall. The mercenaries went to bed

* * *

 **The Next Day, Afternoon, Mercs' House**

They had spent the entire day finishing up the repairs on the house. By the time afternoon came about, the house was in mint condition. Everything was back where it was and whatever was broken was simply thrown out. It was mostly just paintings and vases anyway, nothing too important. The mercenaries were now chillin' in their living room, watching TV after a hard day's work. Currently, they were watching a VNN broadcast.

" _Well Lisa, I feel like this year's Vytal Festival is going to be the greatest in years! Just look at the excitement of the crowd here!"_ The cameraman focused on the crowd behind the reporter.

The crowd was cheering really loudly, and at the front of the crowd were these shirtless guys. Each of the shirtless guys had a letter painted over their chest, spelling out VALE when they stood next to each other. They were chanting **VALE! VALE! VALE!** If you want a proper idea of what they look like, think of European football hooligans or American football fans.

 _"Wow! Are you seeing this Lisa? The people of Vale are absolutely pumped for the Vytal festival! Not only that, but- Hey!"_ One of the shirtless guys jumped forward and took the mic. He had a capital V on his chest.

 _"Whooo! Motherfucker! Vale number one!"_ He turned around to face the crowd while the reporter tried to get his mic back from him.

 _"I say 'Who's number one' you say Vale! Ready!?"_

 _" **YEAH!"**_

 _"Who's number one?!"_

 _" **VALE!"**_

 _"Who!?"_

 _" **VALE!"**_

 _"I can't hear you! Who's number fucking one?!"_

 _" **VALE!"**_ The crowd screamed enthusiastically at the top of their lungs.

 _"Yeah! Vale for life, motherfucker!"_ Before the hooligan can say anything else, the news reporter decked him in the face, knocking him down.

 _"*Stupid shit*… Anyway! This is Cyril Ian, Vale news reporter, signing off. Back to you Lisa!"_ Before the camera switched back to the studio, the hooligan with the V can be seen coming up behind him with a folding chair raised above his head to strike him with it. It would have been hilarious if the camera showed it happening though.

 _"Um…thank you, Ian. Well you heard it ladies and gentlemen! Vale is absolutely ecstatic for the arrival of Amity Coliseum. Which should be arriving any time soon! In other news, reports from the frontier indicate a drastic drop in Grimm activity in that area. One witness from a local village claims that she saw Grimm running away from a muscle-bound, shirtless man with strange chest hair last night."_

The mercenaries looked at each other and smiled.

" **Hale."** They all said in unison before looking back at the screen.

 _"…the legitimacy of the eyewitness claim is dubious at best, but unusually large numbers of huntsmen have been confirmed to be near the fringe of the frontier. Their objective unknown."_

* * *

The mercenaries heard their doorbell ring, and Heavy left to answer it. He peeked out the little side windows that some doors have, and saw it was Team RWBY and JNPR in unifrom. Ruby saw him and waved.

 _ ***Door Opens***_ "Hello."

"Hi Heavy!" Ruby beamed.

"What does red hood and friends want here?" Heavy smiled.

"We decided to stop by and see you guys after classes. After all, someone's got to watch you guys! Being not from Remnant and all!"

"Wait, what?" Jaune said after hearing Ruby's statement.

"You heard correctly boy. Heavy and team are not from this world."

That made Team JNPR gawk at him, and there was a short pause

"Uh… why don't we go inside and talk about this?" Ruby said, trying to break the silence. They agreed and walked inside. The mercenaries were still watching TV when they got there, so they made room for the teens to sit down.

"Wow. You guys sure fixed this place up." Ren said, looking around at the clean interior.

"Yeah… sorry for the party by the way Mr. Spy." Ruby said slyly, rubbing her head in slight embarrassment. Spy exhaled deeply after remembering the events of the party and the mess they had to clean.

"It's fine Ms. Rose. Nothing we couldn't handle."

"Yeah, um… can we get back to how you guys are not from this world now?" Jaune asked. Spy raised a brow at Ruby.

"You told them?" Spy asked.

"Uh, not exactly. But didn't you say you didn't mind if people knew you're from a different world?"

"Yes, we did." Spy said as he looked at Team JNPR. He took a moment to truly look over the teens as he hadn't properly met them before.

"Why don't you introduce yourselves first?" They exchanged introductions with the mercenaries.

"Excellent. Now, like your red cape wearing friend said, we are not from this world." He looked at Ruby. "I would show them the presentation, but someone smashed it during the party. I don't even know how they got it off of me."

Nora jumped up. "Oh! So are you guys, like, aliens!? Oh, this is so cool! I'm friends with some super aliens who kick butt!" She started punching the air as she said that. The mercenaries laughed.

"Not exactly, Miss…um, what is your name?"

"Nora Valkyrie." She said proudly, fists on her hips.

"Okay, Nora. In a sense, we are aliens, but not the outer space kind." She seemed to be a little disappointed when he said that, but was otherwise eager to hear the rest of his story. Her team was also really interested.

A banging noise was heard in the basement, making everyone look down. The mercenaries panicked a little.

"What was that?" Weiss asked.

"Uh, zat vas just one of my inventions! Please excuse me, I have to go make sure it doesn't explode. Spy, would you like to help me move some, uh, _stuff_ around?"

"Very well. I'm tired of telling everybody everything anyway. Engineer, you tell them." Spy and Medic went down the hall containing the door down to the basement.

"Alrighty then. So as Spy was sayin', me and the boys ain't from this world. As in we're from a separate universe." Team JNPR gave him a questioning look.

"Trust me, he's telling the truth!" Ruby said. "Just look at all the cool stuff they have! No one in Remnant has machines that could bring you back to life!" Her face went solemn right after saying that, remembering something from her past. "Unfortunately…"

"Anyways, the little miss is right. Have you seen anything like the machines we have?" Some scuffling noises and grunts can be heard downstairs.

"Uhm… so we're from this world called Earth, and it ain't got any of this dust stuff, or those Grimm y'all are so afraid of. People there don't got an aura either."

"What?! Then how do people survive their without an aura?" Pyyrha asked. Sniper joined in.

"They just do, mate. The people in our world survive with nothing but their wits and natural strength." Medic can be heard yelling out underneath them, albeit muffled.

"Are they okay down there?" Yang asked. Spy can be heard yelling something in a language they can't understand as smashing noises are heard below.

"Don't worry about it. If we can handle an army of Grimm by ourselves then they are definitely good down there." Sniper said.

"Much obliged Sniper, now kids, take a look at this if you're still skeptical." He pulled out a map of Earth and some photos from the Gravel and Robot wars.

Team JNPR scanned the objects, eyes wide at the sights shown to them. There was an image of Soldier braining Spy with a shovel, one had Scout running away from a Demoman with a briefcase on his back, another had Heavy facing down a bunch of robots that look like him in a 1 vs 28 boxing match, and another had an image of all the mercenaries holding back an unimaginably huge tide of robots.

"Why are you guys fighting each other in this one?" Ren raised a photo of the melee at Degroot Keep.

"Because, we were hired too. It's best not to question it young man."

"Wait, so you were hired to fight each other?" Jaune said.

"Ugh, I just said don't question it! But since you asked, yes, we fought each other for three years straight before moving on to the robots some of them other pictures show."

A loud crashing noise was heard below. Medic was yelling something and a voice they haven't heard before was yelling as well. The teens looked at the mercenaries suspiciously.

"They sound like they're in trouble. Is there someone else down there?" Blake asked as her bow twitched, her cat ears trying to tune in on the noises below. Ruby got up.

"Maybe we should go down there and…" She was sat right back down by the Scout.

"Yes! Uh, we should go down there! Just not you guys though, I'll go!" Scout said as he ran down to the basement.

"Heavy will go too!" Heavy said as he jogged after him.

"Right behind you, fellow patriots!" Soldier went with them too.

There was now only Pyro, Engineer, Sniper, and Demoman left in the room with the huntsmen in training.

"Okay, so in short, we're from a completely different world, we have no idea how we got here, and if you're wondering, we don't got any aura." The unknown voice in the basement gave a loud scream before it was silenced by a loud crashing noise that shook the house. The crash woke Demo who had fallen asleep during Engineer's explanation of where they're from.

"And, Spy forgot to tell you this, but we can pull stuff out of nowhere cuz' we have these personal inventories on our persons at all times. No idea how it works though, but damn is it useful. Can you imagine carrying all the weapons we have with just your hands?" Sniper added.

Some shuffling noises can be heard below as the mercenaries in the basement were ordering each other around. Weiss stood up.

"Okay! No more games! What's down there that would warrant five of you going down there just to deal with it?" The mercenaries in the room looked at each other.

"Uh, Medic said it was one of his inventions, remember? Damn German's new toys barely work half of the time." Engie said, trying to cover up their secret. The teens gave him a suspicious look. The basement door can be heard opening and everyone looked to see the other mercs return to the living room. Spy and Medic seemed really ragged.

"What happened to you guys?" Ruby said.

"That commie-" Soldier got decked in the face by the Heavy, slapped by the Medic, kicked by the Scout, and pistol whipped by the Spy before he could accidentally reveal their secret. He fell over, unconscious.

"Don't worry kids. It was just one of Medic's inventions getting out of hand, but it's all under control now. Engineer, I trust you finished explaining to them, oui?"

"Just about."

"Excellent." Nora raised a hand.

"What was the invention, hmmm? It sounded like it put up a fight!"

"It was just a, uh…" Spy trailed off.

"It vas a new healing machine! Ja, that's it! A new prototype that vould heal all of us in a small area!" Medic said.

"Cool. But who was that other voice down there?" Blake asked. She hadn't been able to identify who the voice was, but she swore it sounded familiar.

"I haven't the faintest idea of what you're talking about, mon ami félin." Spy said with a straight face.

"Um, excuse me? What did you just call me?" Spy smiled.

"It means 'my feline friend'." Blake and the other teens froze after hearing him say that.

"W-what?" Blake said sheepishly.

"Yes, yes, I know this comes as a surprise that I know you're a Faunus. But what did you expect? I am an expert spy after all. I'm trained to look over every single thing of anyone I meet." He put a hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"Don't worry. I won't tell your secret if you don't want me too."

"Thank you." Blake said, still a little sheepish. Then Pyro came running in from the kitchen.

"Mphm! Mphm mphmmpmh mphm!"

"What's he saying?" Ren asked.

"He said the coliseum is here. Let's go have a look." Everyone went outside to see the massive form of Amity Coliseum approach the school, with airships of military and civilian origin alike flying about it.

"Wowie!" Nora yelled while sitting on Ren's shoulders. "It's so big!"

"I've seen pictures of it before, but I must say not a single one has done it justice." Weiss said, taken aback by the majesty of the flying arena. They took a couple of moments to take in the coliseum's arrival before Ruby broke the silence.

"I think we should go now." Ruby said. "Thanks for letting us come in guys!"

They exchanged goodbyes as the teens left while the mercenaries went back in their house. The four who remained in the living room asked the ones who went down there what happened.

"What happened?" Demo asked before taking a swig of his scrumpy. Spy held up a small pocket knife that was similar to the Big Earner.

"Somehow, that fiend down there cut all the ropes and picked the locks with this." He put the knife away. "He was surprisingly hard to put down."

* * *

 _ **Flashback, like 15 minutes ago**_

Spy and Medic entered the basement and slowly walked down the stairs.

"Versuchen Sie nicht, einen Ton zu machen, Freidrich." (Try not to make a sound, Friedrich.)

"Ja, aber warum sprechen Sie Deutsch?" (Yes, but why are you speaking German?)

"Ich will nicht diese Kinder etwas zu hören, wir sagen. Wenn sie uns überhaupt hören konnte." (I don't want those kids to hear a thing we say. If they could hear us at all.)

Spy and Medic reached the bottom of the stairs to see that the tightly secure sleeping bag Roman was in was now sprawled on the floor, along with the ropes and such used to keep him in it. They cautiously walked up to it when Roman suddenly came up from the sided and smashed a chain into Medic's face. He screamed as went down. Before Roman could rough up Spy with the chain, Spy pounced him and knocked him into a wall. He grabbed the chain and started wrestling Roman for it.

"Medic! Give me a hand! "Spy yelled out at Medic. Suddenly, an actual hand was thrown at Roman's face, startling him and stopping the struggle momentarily.

"Wirklich?! Ich meinte, Sie kommen hierher und helfen Sie mir!" (Really?! I meant come over here and help me!)

"Tut mir leid! Sie haben gesagt, wir sollten in deutscher Sprache zu sprechen bu dann sprachen Sie in Englisch! Ich wusste nicht, ob ich es ernst genommen haben sollte !" (Well I'm sorry! You said we were supposed to speak in German, but then you spoke in English! I didn't know if I should have taken it seriously!)

Spy growled and turned around to face Roman before getting slapped in the face twice. Once with the hand Medic threw at Roman, and once with Roman's own hand. Roman punched Spy in the face and made for the basement stairs, but Medic tackled him, making Roman yell out as he hit the floor. Medic got out a sedative needle and was going to jam into Roman's neck, but Roman caught it and was trying desperately hard to push Medic's hand away from him. He kneed Medic in the gut and pushed him away, and before he even took a step up the stairs, Spy pulled on his collar, making him crash right back down on the floor. Spy attempted to restrain him, but somehow, Roman got incredibly strong, and he was grappling, punching, and kicking Spy.

Roman kicked Spy off of him. It was at that moment that the other mercenaries came in and rushed him back down the stairs. Roman saw they were coming, and ran back down into a corner in the basement, the five mercs closing in on him.

"I won't let you hurt her, you bastards! She's the only person I care about in this world!" Roman pulled out the pocket knife he used to get out of his restraints and swung at Heavy. The giant easily got his arm before it hit him though, and raised him high in the air. Roman screamed before Heavy smashed him back down in the ground with enough force to shake the house. They quickly re-restrained him. This time, he was put in another sleeping bag, wrapped in a blanket, wrapped in bubble wrap, tied up with rope and string, chained up with chains, locked with dozens of locks, and tied to a support beam holding the basement roof up. Several chains and ropes kept him connected to the walls, floor, and roof. He looked like a cocoon stuck in a spider web.

* * *

 _ **Now**_

"By the way, how did you imbeciles forget to check him for weapons?!" Spy yelled at his companions as they spread about the house.

"Yell at yourself, you French shmuck! You're the one who brought him in here, so you shudda checked him!" Spy's possible Bostonian son said. Spy was not in the mood after nearly having their secret revealed.

"Scout! Your room, now!" The Frenchmen yelled.

"What?! You ain't my dad! Besides I'm too old for that anyway. 21 years baby! Right fellas?"

No one said anything as Spy glared at him, sending chills down Scout's spine the way only a father could.

"Ugh! Fine! But screw you though!" He stomped off to his room upstairs. Well, technically it was Heavy's room too. He didn't want to stay in the living room. Scout slammed the door once he got inside the room and sat on his bed.

"Little baby man has father troubles, yeah?" The Russian said as he was cleaning his miniguns.

"Not now Heavy! And screw you too! He ain't my dad! My dad died in an accident before I was born. Ma told me he went and backstabbed the wrong people." Heavy looked up from his weapon and back at Scout.

"Yes, he seems to backstab a lot of men these past few years…" Heavy got a pillow thrown at him.

"Shut it lardfat! We talked about this already, alright? My dad died in a horrible accident… Long before I was born… It was a very tragic and traumatic thing for me. He's dead, I swear!" Scout said hastily with a face full of anger and sadness, refusing the truth. Heavy looked at him and said nothing while Scout was laying in his bed bouncing a baseball off the ceiling.

Back downstairs, Sniper, Spy, and Soldier were sitting at the dinner table while Engineer and Demoman were watching an action move. Pyro was playing with the stove while Medic was in the garage working on an actual prototype of the lie he told the teens earlier.

"Gentlemen, I think I know a way to get him to talk." The Spy began.

"What is it mate?" Sniper asked.

"This 'Neo' girl." Spy raised the drawing of Pyro and Neo. He pointed at Neo.

"This is the same girl Soldier fought when we first arrived here. I think his connection with her is far deeper than previously thought. He said he didn't want us to harm her and he appeared to have gotten stronger from his resolve to stop us."

"Crikey, you think this girl's his daughter or something?" Soldier slammed his hands on the table.

"That girl is a communist and a hippy! I will personally find her and break her back across my knee for being an enemy of America!"

"Calm down John, we might not even need that girl." Spy said.

"What are you saying mate?" Sniper asked.

"Isn't it obvious Rick?" Spy said as he raised his disguise kit. He whistled as he performed that action.

"Ah, of course!" Sniper said in realization. "You gonna start calling us by our real names now, Jacques?"

"Only when no one's around Mr. Mundy. Don't get me wrong, I trust the people of this academy will keep us safe, but that headmaster, I suspect there's more to him than meets the eye. But that's not the point now. What matters is that we get information out of this Roman."

"So when do we begin?" Sniper went.

"Tonight."

* * *

 **Tonight (LoL)**

Roman was really depressed right now. Not only did he fail to escape, but his failure might give those bastards all the more reason to hurt Neo. He was about to cry at the thought of his adopted daughter be tortured and beaten by these men.

 _Wait. Why am I even crying? Those guys won't really hurt her, right? They're huntsmen! They can't do that sort of thing._

He was interrupted from his thoughts when the mercenaries came in. Roman gave them all a glare before he realized there was a much smaller figure they were covering with their bodies as they were walking over to him. He failed to notice Spy was missing. Pyro was also not there.

"Evening mister." Engie said.

"What do you want?" Roman said with a growl.

"Oh nothin'. Just that someone dropped by and wanted to see ya."

"…what?" The mercenaries spread out to reveal a tied up Neo was standing amongst them. She gave muffled yells and her eyes welled up in tears upon seeing Roman. Neo ran forward and hugged Roman, but her tied up state only allowed her to sort of bump her tied up body with Roman's tied up body.

"Neo!" The master criminal yelled.

"How'd you find her!?"

"Does that really matter boy?" Engie said as he and the other mercs present pulled out pistols or their melee weapon if they didn't have a pistol.

"What matters now is that you start spilling the beans, son." Engie said menacingly as he raised his pistol at them.

"No! Please!" Roman yelled. "You're huntsmen! You can't do this sort of thing!"

"Do we look like huntsmen mate?" Sniper said with his kukri raised at him. "What could you have possibly thought that would have made you think we were huntsmen?"

Roman did not answer that question and just stared at them, face full of fear.

"L-look! I'll do anything you want! Just don't hurt her! Please, I beg you!"

"Well, let's start with some questions then. Who are you working for?"

"Some bitch named Cinder Fall! I don't know who she is, but she hired me!"

"What'd she hire you for?" Demo asked with the Scotsman's Skullcutter resting on his shoulder.

"I'm her man out in the field! I'm supposed to manage the grunts in whatever operation she has planned!"

"What is this communist-cock-smoking Sally planning? You damn hippy!" Soldier asked.

Before Roman can answer that question Pyro had walked into the room. As Pyro was walking down the stairs, it saw 'Neo' right up against Roman, surrounded by his friends leveling their weapons at them. Pyro gasped an 'Mphm!' and ran over to who he thought was Neo. He shoved and beat his friends aside to give his bestest, giant bear hug. The hug was so strong that Spy's mask fell off, and he undisguised as he fell to the ground gasping for air. Roman saw this and was not happy.

"What the fuck!? You guys tried to trick me by turning into my Neo!? Fuck you guys!" Roman yelled madly as he thrashed about in his restraints. His efforts earned him a sedative to the neck, making him fall asleep.

"Pyro! What the hell?! You ruined possibly our only chance of getting information out of this man!" Spy yelled in anger. Pyro didn't seem too fazed by it though, as it seemed to be sadder that its friend wasn't here. His fellow mercenaries face palmed.

* * *

 **Somewhere beyond the Vale Frontier, Night**

It wasn't easy traveling these parts. There was no wall or military constantly keeping watch over the land beyond the walls. Anywhere was prone to attack by the Grimm, yet some of the ballsiest, bravest people still venture out here to live in settlements free from the control of the kingdoms. They could have chosen to live within the kingdom's walls and be relatively safe, I mean there are still Grimm activity within the walls, but not enough to warrant that drastic of a threat. But no, they chose to live with their bodies practically tied to the Grimm naked while waving a middle finger at them. Fucking manly.

Two teams of professional huntsmen walked up to a small town to rest for the night. They had been searching for the man who fell out of the portal in the sky for about two days now, and they haven't come anywhere near close to finding him. It wasn't hard tracking him though, no, that was the easy part as this man left an easy to follow trail of broken trees and torn up ground during his battles with the Grimm. The hard part was actually catching up to him as he was incredibly fast. At least they encountered little to no Grimm resistance on the way here.

They were part of a larger task force of huntsmen Ozpin requested to come and find this man, six teams in total. They only needed so many since Ozpin discovered the man had left the kingdom's borders, so he called for more to come in and help these current two. The other four teams should arrive by tomorrow so they decide to just stay here for the night.

Upon entering the town, they were greeted by the sight of several elite White Fan operatives lying about all over the streets of the town, all dead. The townsfolk were currently searching the bodies for anything valuable. Clearly, a battle had gone down here.

"What happened here?" The leader of the huntsmen asked a woman carrying a baby. She was female.

"Some man came in here and saved our town from these bastards with his bare hands!" The woman kicked a dead Fang.

"Really? Where is he?" The woman pointed at the inn.

"Down in the old inn! The men are having a celebration in his name!"

The huntsmen walked over to the inn to find it was very rowdy and wild in there. Some of the roughest, toughest, and manliest looking men they have ever seen were in there. Typical for people who lived out in the frontier. However, one man stood out from the rest, their target, Saxton Hale, who was vastly manlier than the rest. The townsmen were currently chanting his name and singing manly songs about his manliness the way Viking or lumberjacks back in the day used to do.

"Call Professor Ozpin! We found our man!"

* * *

 **Alroight bois, hea's a nu chapta for ye fanfic needs! Apologies if it seems a little short. I'm gonna respond to some of your questions and reviews now.**

 **Completely random guest who wrote review on a 3Ds : Awww shit boy! Thanks for the praise! I noticed that trend going on in RWBY crossovers too, and I'm also sick of it. And yes, I do know Death Battle. I like Overwatch and TF2, that's why I am 99% certain I'm going to get triggered with whoever wins the Death Battle between Tracer and Scout. I don't really like seeing my favorite characters fight, even if the situation makes complete sense. I'd rather see them work together, but hey, that's just me.**

 **37: Thank mate. I figured that Pyro's strange way of seeing the world would get him to easily make friends with Neo, even if she does know full well that what she does it awful.**

 **Pyromania : Sure. There'll be more Pyro and Neo moments, but no to the shipping. Of course you can ship it for yourself, but in this story Pyro and Neo will be only friends.**

 **buzzsaw935** **: Your welcome friend. Just learn how to English and try again. _That Dark Deciever_ guy's advice was actually pretty insightful. You ought to listen to it. Why don't you try writing a new story and see how it goes? Just make sure you follow anyone's advice and I'm sure you'll pull through.**

 **ATTF:** **Thanks m8. I hope your story comes along nicely too!**

 **And thats it. Not a lot of this story's readers posted reviews or pm'ed me. It's a shame too, I discovered I actually like reading your reviews.**


	10. Classes and Clashes

**Notes:**

 **Heavy's shotgun fist is a reference to the video titled 'Heavy Problems' by Doctor Lalve. Dat guy is hilarious.**

 **A murder stroke is a move in medieval European sword fighting where you grab the sword by the blade and hammer into the fag you're fighting with the guard.**

 **I noticed there are two different kinds of Atlesian Paladins in RWBY. One is piloted, while the other is controlled by a drone. The drone variant can be seen at the battle of Beacon.**

 **If you watch the Atlesian Knights closely in battle, they have wrist blades they use to fight whatever they're fighting in melee.**

 **Atlesian Elites are a special Atlas unit of my own creation. They were mentioned in an earlier chapter, but here's the full description. They're covered in full body armor (think something like clone troopers), have non-collapsible swords, heavier versions of the regular Atlas rifle, and a wrist shield. They look like knights.**

 **That's it, now read the story.**

* * *

 **Mercs' Classroom**

The students the mercs were supposed to teach were waiting in their classroom, waiting for the professor to show up. Among them were the entirety of Team RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, Velvet, and Neo (disguised). None of them actually knew that their professors were going to be the mercs. Word hadn't got out yet that they had become full on professors so they all got a surprise to see Spy, Medic, Heavy, and Engineer walk into the room. Medic and Heavy took a seat while Engineer set up his rancho relaxo.

"Good day. We'll be this class' teachers for today." Everyone gave off confused looks and looked at each other.  
"But, I thought the headmaster said you were assistant instructors?" Velvet said timidly.

"He changed his mind." Spy said simply.

"Now onto business. Welcome to Unusual Combat Situations 101. Terrible name, I know." Ruby raised her hand.

"Where are the rest of you guys?"

"They're busy. Now I trust you all know who we are already, correct?" The students nodded their heads, easily remembering their initiation and party.

"Good, good. Now this class maybe called 'Unusual Combat Scenarios 101', but believe me when I say that this class is really just another combat class. Just with some… special elements as part of the course." Cardin raised his hand.

"What do you mean 'special elements'?" Heavy stood up.

"He mean special like I put foot up your ass, boy." The class laughed out loud while Cardin shrunk back into his desk, remembering the giant who broke his balls.

"Yes, well, to give you a proper answer Mr., uh, Winchester, I want you to imagine this. Imagine sitting down one day, minding your own business, when you are all of a sudden attacked by a man throwing a sandvich at you. What do you do?"

"Simple, I'd smash his face in with my mace." Cardin said smugly. He was going to high five Dove when a sandvich was thrown straight into his face. It was the same one he accidentally stepped on, now old and dirty. All eyes were on Heavy.

"Then do it Mr. Winchester, he's yours." Spy said as he stepped off the combat ring.

"Heavy save that one just for you!" He cracked his knuckles.

Cardin wiped the sandvich off of his face, and growled at Heavy, apparently not scared of him at the moment. He got his mace and jumped into the ring with Heavy.

"You're going to regret that old man…" Cardin growled. Heavy gave off a chuckle and waved him over. Cardin got triggered and ran at Heavy in a rage, giving a roar as he lifted his mace upwards to bring it down on Heavy. Heavy simply took a step back, making Cardin miss completely, then punched Cardin in the face so that he stumbled backwards. Heavy kicked the mace out to the side while Cardin regained his footing. Cardin looked at Heavy with angry eyes.

"Boy…" Heavy said. "You say you want to fight like men last time, yeah?" Cardin nodded.

"Now is time to fight like real men. Heavy promises you this time. Now, fight me!"

Cardin stood there for a bit to take in his words, then he thanked Heavy's kindness by charging at him. Heavy smiled and caught his charge, getting pushed a few feet back from the sheer force of it. After he skidded to a halt, Heavy uppercut Cardin twice, once in the gut to get him to let go of Heavy, and another in the face to knock his head up. Cardin fell backwards to avoid a jab and moved around the side to grab Heavy's still extended arm and threw him Judo style. Unfortunately, Heavy was so heavy (lel) that he simply fell on top of Cardin when he pulled Heavy over his shoulder.

"I am not impressed." Went the Russian.

Heavy slapped Cardin up the head whilst sitting on him. Cardin's face scrunched up in anger, and he punched Heavy in the gut. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to be sitting on him. As Heavy keeled over, Cardin slipped out from under him and kneed Heavy right in the chest, sending the Russian out on his back. Cardin moved in to stomp on Heavy, but Heavy caught his foot and pulled him in to deliver a strong uppercut right into his back, making Cardin fly up in the air a couple of inches. The Russian wasn't done there as he got right back up to his feet and caught Cardin's legs right before he had fallen within eye level with Heavy, and slammed him back and forth into the floor like some of those old cartoons did. When he was done slamming Cardin into the ground Tom and Jerry style, he stood Cardin up on his shaky feet.

"What is wrong? Fighting real man too hard for you?" Heavy got a smug grin on his face. "Do not be too ashamed you lose like baby." Heavy chuckled for a bit before getting decked in the face by Cardin, knocking his head upwards but not making him stumble. He's still got some fight in him it seems. Heavy was not amused. He moved his head back down at Cardin and simply stared back at him with an angry face. The giant cocked his arm back and made a pumping noise like that you would hear from a shotgun, somehow a shell was ejected from his arm, and shot a fist straight into Cardin, making him fly out of the ring. Heavy laughed as Cardin crashed out of a window and blew the smoke off of his fist.

"New punch is good!" Heavy yelled aloud. Spy walked up from behind him and tapped his shoulder.

"Good, you beat a teenage boy. Now go bring him back here." Heavy frowned and moved out to do as Spy had asked. The Frenchman turned around and faced the class.

"Okay, that was an excellent example of what this class is about! Though I'm certain we will not be the ones you students will be facing, at least not most of the time. But, back to the matter at hand, who has any questions for me?" All the students raised their hands while Spy gave off a sigh.

"Preferably ones about this course and not about us." Spy said annoyed. The vast majority of the class put their hands back down, with only Ruby and Jaune's hands raised. Spy pointed at Jaune.

"You, yellow boy."

"Um, excuse me sir?"

"Apologies, your name means yellow where I'm from. Now, Jaune, what is your question?"

"What other kind of surprises can we expect in this class?" The Frenchman smiled at him.

"You will have to wait for it, Mr. Arc, it is a surprise after all. Okay, now you, Ruby." He waved a hand at Ruby.

"Where's the rest of you guys?"

"Ugh, I said questions about this class Ms. Rose!"

"That is a question about this class!" She said with a pout. "If you guys are all professors now, then how come the rest of you aren't here today?"

Spy stared out into empty space and thought about what Soldier told him earlier.

* * *

 **Merc's House, Earlier**

"Frenchman! Get over here! We have a serious problem!" Soldier went while still completely undressed. He was only wearing his helmet and underwear.

"What is it John?" Spy said with a sigh.

"I have come to the realization that we have no American flags!"

"Is that it?" Spy said without looking away from buttoning his shirt.

"Yes! This is very serious! We need to find one ASAP! Maybe even make one if we have too! I don't care which way we do it, but we need a flag and flagpole out there by today!"

"There are no American flags in this world, John. America doesn't exist here. Now please, put your clothes on and get ready for work."

"I can't work with this knowledge stuck in my head you escargot eating bitch! I need to deal with this now!" Soldier put his pants and shirt on and ran out the door with his rocket launcher in firing position.

"I'll be back later!" Soldier yelled as he rocket jumped out into the campus somewhere.

"Ugh… someone go follow him." Spy ordered as he got just about done dressing.

Sniper, Scout, and Demoman ran out of the door after him with excited looks on their faces. Obviously planning to slack around today.

"Wait you idiots! You can't all go! We need to teach our class today!" Spy yelled out after them.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Spy! We only makin' sure he don't break nothin'!" Scout yelled back.

"Wait! Come- ughh… Just make sure you don't kill anyone! Or else we could lose our jobs!" He yelled back at them.

"Whatever you say, crouton!" Scout yelled at the top of his lungs.

Spy kept looking after them until they rounded a corner, then he looked back at the remaining four mercenaries not including him.

"Come on gents, we must hurry or we'll be late."

"Vait, vat about our captive?" Medic asked. "Who vill vatch him?"

"Hmmm… Pyro. Pyro you stay here and watch Torchwick, and please, do not harm him yet. We're still waiting on that girl to show up."

"Mphm."

"Perfect. Now, let's go! Class is starting soon!"

Pyro watched its friends leave before going to the TV to watch some cartoons.

* * *

 **Mercs' Classroom**

"Like I said Ms. Rose, they're currently busy at the moment."

"Busy with what?"

" _That_ is not related to the class so I will not answer that." Spy said as he turned his back on her to walk off to his desk

"But-" Ruby went before Spy shushed her.

"Shhhh! Quiet, please. Let's get back to class and we'll talk about it later, alright?"

"Okay…" Ruby nodded. Spy gave her a small smile and faced the rest of the class.

"Good. Now listen up, I'm going to be frank with you, I didn't really have anything planned for today. So I'm going to give you two choices for what we should do next: You'll have the rest of class time for yourselves, or you can face each other in the ring. Whatever is fine with us."

The class was silent. They weren't sure if this was one of the 'surprises' the mercs had in store for them, or if he was legitimately telling the truth. Spy cleared his throat.

"Pardon me. I must use the restroom." He turned to his coworkers. "The rest of you takeover while I'm gone." Spy walked out somewhere while the students started whispering among themselves about what they should do. The remaining three mercs were hanging out at the front of the room, with Medic healing Cardin for any injuries.

"Okay…" Yang went. "I guess we're, free?" She said slowly.

"Looks like it." Blake went.

"Hold on a minute! This can't be right!" Weiss raised her hand.

"Mr. Medic! What is the meaning of this?"

"Yes, Weiß?" Medic was feeding a white dove that came from somewhere.

"You can't just end class right now! We still have thirty minutes left!"

"I thought kids like you would enjoy some free time." Medic said without looking away from Archimedes.

"Yeah, but I came here to become a huntress! Not sit around and do nothing! Surely men such as yourselves can teach us something useful in fifteen minutes?" At that moment, Weiss froze when she heard a clicking noise behind her and felt something cold and hard get pressed up against her head.

" _What about 'be completely aware of your surroundings' then? Hmmm, Schnee?"_ A French voice from behind her said. Weiss quickly turned around to see nothing was there. Just Jaune, who gave a shy smile and waved at her as she turned back.

"What happened Weiss?" Ruby looked up from her drawing of a beowolf.

"Did you hear that?!" Weiss yelled aloud.

"Hear what?" Yang went.

"Mr. Spy! I heard him! He was right behind me!"

"Um, no he's not. He went to the bathroom remember?"

"B-but, I heard him!" Schnee looked back at Jaune.

"Jaune! Did you hear it?" Jaune shook his head 'yes' and pointed a pencil at her. Weiss gave him a puzzling look.

"What are you doing, you-" ***BANG*** Weiss got a rubber bullet to the head, knocking her out of her seat. She got right back up and was going to tear Jaune a new one to see he wasn't there. She looked around frantically for the boy, that's when she noticed that Jaune was sitting over by his team on the other side of the classroom. With a growl she stomped over to poor Jaune. All the while her team looked at her shocked, having absolutely no idea what just happened. Jaune saw she was coming, but did not sense that he was any danger yet.

"Hey Weiss, what's up- Ahhhhh!" Jaune screamed as he felt ice surround his body.

"Why did you do that Weiss?!" Pyyrha went upon seeing her future husbando get frozen. Weiss did not take her cold eyes off of Jaune.

"Ask him! What's the meaning of **THIS** , Jaune?!" She held the rubber bullet straight in front of his eyes.

"I-I don't know! I don't what you're talking about!" Weiss leaned her face close to his and gave him a very menacing glare.

"Oh yes you do, you filthy jerk! You shot me! With a pencil! …somehow! And I want to know why!" Jaune shrunk back in fear as Weiss seemed to grow larger and more intimidating before him.

"That's enough! He didn't do anything wrong!" Pyyrha shoved Weiss back. The whole class was watching their argument unfold while Heavy, Medic, and Engineer just had smiles on their faces.

"Professors! Do something!" Velvet yelled in a panic as it seemed things were about to get violent. The mercs kept smiling.

"That's it!" Weiss pulled out her rapier and held it to Jaune's face.

"Tell me the truth now, vomit boy, or else I'll show you the wrath of a Schnee!" She didn't get a reply as all of a sudden, another Jaune materialized out of nowhere in the seat next to real Jaune. Everybody stared at the Jaune doppelganger in a state of surprise.

"What's happening? Why did it get all quiet?" Jaune went as he couldn't actually turn his head around to look at his surroundings. Nora helped him out and turned him 90 degrees to his left. His eyes went wide.

"Oh! There's another me!"

"W-what?!" Weiss went as she pointed Myretenaster at the new Jaune.

"Who are you!?" Pyyrha went.

"I'm Jaune Arc." The doppelganger said casually as if he did not have a classroom full of students with badass weapons looking at him right now.

"No you're not! I'm Jaune Arc!" Went the real Jaune. "Someone get me unfrozen please! It's getting really cold!" Nora obliged him again, but not in the way he would have preferred. She threw him out into the middle of the classroom, hoping that the ice would break and make pretty sparkles everywhere. Her hopes were crushed when Jaune was caught by Heavy, who was now standing in the middle of the combat ring with Medic and Engineer. Engineer had a level 2 sentry set up. The class looked at their instructors fearfully.

"W-what's going on!?" Weiss said whilst looking at their professors with her weapon still drawn on the doppelganger.

"This is a test…" The Jaune clone said.

 ***POW***

Weiss was knocked onto the ring by the Jaune doppelganger who started having smoke clouds appear around him. When the smoke cleared, Spy stood in the fake Jaune's place with his fist extended. The students were in total shock again as all the mercs smiled in anticipation for what is to come.

"Listen up everyone! In the time we have left, which is…" Spy looked at his watch. "…fifteen minutes! You all have to fight me and my coworkers!" Spy tapped on his scroll and all the doors in the classroom shut.

"Doesn't matter which side wins, as long as you fight till time runs out, you get to leave with a perfect score for this exercise."

"But-" Ruby tried to say.

"3,2,1, GO!" Spy yelled in a rush.

Spy punched Ren in the face and delivered a swift kick into Blake's stomach, sending her flying out into the ring. He then expertly dodged a counter punch from Ren, caught his arm, and flung him over his shoulder. Unfortunately, Spy couldn't dodge a swing from Nora's hammer, and he was sent out into the ring too, landing on top of Blake. Spy quickly got right back up and elbowed Weiss in the face as she lunged at him with her weapon, and he pulled out his revolver to quickly put four more rounds into the Schnee, saving the last for Blake who tried to get up. That didn't put them down however, and Spy pulled out his rapier and sabre to close in melee with them.

Meanwhile, Engineer, Medic, and Heavy were holding the ring against the students. Engineer had his sentry wrangled and focused fire on Ruby who had a hard time avoiding the unbelievable amount of bullets the sentry spits out. Heavy was currently beating the shit out of the rest of the CRDL boys again, this time with some random students in the mix. Medic wasn't having such a good time. He had Yang, Nora, and Pyyrha on his ass so you know it's not going so hot for him. Still, he tried his best to parry and strike back with his kriegsmesser while unloading tranquilizing syringes with the blutsauger into them whenever he could. The German screamed and ducked under a swing from Nora's hammer only to get a punch to the gut from Yang when he un-ducked. He unloaded the whole cartridge of needles into Yang as he flew backwards and crashed into a wall, still standing though.

He was starting to lose hope as Pyyrha was running in to knock him senseless with her shield. He ducked, and her shield got stuck in the wall so he unloaded the blutsauger into her exposed body. The supernatural effects of the vampiric syringe gun healed Medic right back up from his crash with the wall, and he started dueling Pyyrha with the kriegsmesser. They parried back and forth until Pyyrha spin kicked the sword out of Medic's hand and moved in to stab his chest, only to hit her shield. Medic bashed her away with it and was currently cowering behind it as Yang and Nora were now laying into the shield.

"I require assistance Schweinhunds!" Medic yelled over to his friends. Yang had grabbed the shield and threw it over her head and back to Pyyrha. Nora and Yang had evil grins on their faces as they looked down at their cowering professor. Yang cocked her fist back.

"Guess we win this time, Professor Medic!" Yang said with a wink. Her fist shot at Medic, and Medic closed his eyes and shivered in fear. The fist never made it to him, as a huge hand caught it before it hit his face. Yang looked to her right in shock to see the giant form of Heavy had caught her fists.

"Punching is good." Heavy smiled at her. He cocked his own fist back, a shotgun shell came out of nowhere again, and punched yang straight into Nora. Both girls were knocked back and out of the room as the punch literally made them go through a wall, but they were not down. Nora was still getting up to her feet while Yang used her gauntlets to shoot herself back at Heavy with a fist raised. Heavy cocked a fist back and their fists punched together in a shockwave that shattered all the windows and knocked some of the generic students to their backs. Yang landed feet first and stood in front of Heavy with her fists on her hips.

"Not bad, big guy!" She said teasingly. "But _I'm_ the brawler here!" Yang gave a gentle punch to Heavy's chest and resumed her fighting stance. "Come at me! This is going to be fun!"

Heavy gave her a grin and made his hands into a finger gun and pointed at her. Yang looked at him funny. Before she could ask what he was doing, Heavy said **POW** , and she shot backwards as some invisible force hit her straight in the face. That's when Nora came charging past her with magnhild. She gave an intimidating battle cry as she moved the hammer up in a downward smash on Heavy. Heavy caught the head of the hammer with his hands, the force of the impact making him sink into the ground, and **POWED** her too. Nora stumbled back from the force but swung back with magnhild. Heavy dodged and uppercut her out of the roof, sending a few more **POWS** to make her fly higher.

"Are you okay doctor?" Heavy went as he helped Medic up to his feet. He was just about done healing himself.

"Ja, danke mein freund." (Yes, thank you my friend.) Medic took a second to dust himself off and retrieve his kriegsmesser when he heard a whistling noise. Suddenly, Nora crashed right back down through the roof and onto Heavy, knocking both of them out. Medic gasped as he watched Heavy go down. He didn't have a lot of time to help him as at this time, Pyyrha and Yang were back, exhausted and wounded, but still ready to fuck him up.

"Aww man! I wanted to fight him!" Yang groaned after seeing Heavy's unconscious body under Nora's. "Oh well, least I still got you, Medic!" Medic screamed and ran away from Pyyrha and Yang and over to Engie in hopes that he would focus the sentry on them. He hoped wrong as the sentry was down and Engie was now wrestling with Ruby for control of crescent rose on top of frozen Jaune, who was now laying face first on the floor. You can hear muffled cries of **WHAT"S GOING ON!?** and **I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!** Meanwhile, on top of him, Engie and Ruby were wrestling like children fighting for a toy.

"Give it back! It's mine!" Ruby said as she pulled her scythe back towards her.

"No little missy!" Engie yelled back. He pulled the scythe back towards him.

"Gimme!"

"Nope."

They kept going back and forth until Medic cried out for Engie.

"Hilfe! (Help!). Please help me!" Engie and Ruby stopped fighting for a second to look over at Medic. They saw he was getting chased by Yang and Pyyrha who were taking pot shots at him as they ran. They also saw that Heavy, Nora, and Ren were out, with Weiss and Blake still fighting the Spy. All of CRDL and the generic students were out too. Ruby smiled and Engie looked back at her.

"Humph! Looks like we're winning!" She said smugly with her eyes closed. Engie was not amused with her smugness and kicked her off of the Jaune-cicle. He then brought Crescent Rose to bear on Yang and Pyyrha, who were currently kicking the Medic as he was on the ground like some school yard bullies would do out on the playground. The Texan struggled with the weight of the weapon, but he did manage to get the crosshairs on Pyyrha. Ruby was coming up behind him and jumped on his back.

"GOTCHA!" She yelled as she held him in a choke hold. Engie panicked and fired the shot. He was not anticipating how much recoil the weapon had so he and Ruby were sent flying into the wall. Luckily, the shot was still lined up perfectly and Pyyrha got one right into the head, knocking her out while Yang looked back to see who just shot her. Engie was out and Ruby was crawling on the ground from how much it actually hurt to hit the wall. Her aura was drained from the wall of bullets from the sentry earlier. Yang looked at her sister worriedly, and back down at Medic with a look of anger. Medic gave a shy laugh as the last thing he saw was Yang's fist before blacking out.

It was now only Spy, Blake, Weiss, and Yang left. Ruby don't count cuz she can barely get up. The three girls backed Spy into a corner with their weapons still raised at him. All of them were exhausted. Spy waved a hand at them.

"What are you waiting for? You've done well thus far. Come and finish me!"

Weiss did not hesitate and lunged at him with myretenaster. Spy lunged back at her with his rapier, slipping myretenaster as he went, and jabbed Weiss right in the chest, knocking her back. He took a step back to dodge a kick from Blake and ducked a punch from Yang. He countered with a sabre pommel to the face on Blake, and a knee to Yang's belly. He switched out his rapier for the ambassador, still holding onto the sabre, and quickly unloaded three well placed shots into the girls' heads. The ambassador, as some of you might not know, has this supernatural ability imbued in it from a French gunsmith who knew magic, and this gunsmith decided to say 'Fuck it! Why not add extra headshot damage?' It was a custom made weapon for the Spy too, and the gunsmith was generously rewarded with five million francs' worth in dollars. So anyway, the girls all went down upon receiving the shots and were down for the count. Spy smiled at his handiwork when he suddenly felt something grab his leg and start lightly hitting him. He looked down to see it was Ruby, who crawled all the way from the Engineer just too weakly punch his legs.

"Hrng! Herg! Take this!" She said weakly as she was hitting him to no avail.

"Miss Rose…" Spy began. "You can stop now. You aren't able to fight anymore, let alone stand up."

"I _can_ too!" Ruby pouted. She tried to pick herself up, but only made it a few inches up when her arms gave in.

"Oof! Ugh…okay, maybe I can't stand up…" She went after hitting the foor. Spy bent down and patted her on the back before moving into the center of the class to survey the damage to the classroom. It wasn't too bad you know, just like, everything was broken. Nothing a few hundred thousand lien can't fix. Spy noticed that the only students who weren't down were Velvet and the disguised Neo. Velvet was hiding underneath a fallen curtain like a child underneath a blanket.

"Well, are you going to fight Ms. Scarlatina?" Spy said as he lit a cigarette. Velvet shook her head.

"U-um, no t-thank you, Mr. Spy." She said shakily.

"Are you sure? You're not getting any credit then." She shook her head again and hid her face under the curtain.

"Oh well, just make sure you participate in future exercises and I'm sure this won't have that much of an impact on your grade." He then looked at Neo who just sat in her seat and did nothing other than tremble in fear. Spy raised a brow at her.

"What's the matter? Afraid of fighting your professors?" He puffed out of his cigarette. "I don't blame you. It must have been quite a sight to watch us fight those Grimm, hmmm?" He said politely. Neo did not say a word and stared at him. She was too afraid to do anything lest the mercs find her out. Spy sighed.

"Humph! Kids!" He cleared his throat and clapped his hands.

"Okay everyone! I'd say that exercise went well! Well, indeed! You all get full credit, except for you and you." He pointed at Velvet and Neo. Velvet was peeking her head out from under the curtain. Spy looked at his watch to see how much time they had left.

"Hmm… we still have three minutes…"

"Everyone! Before you leave, please report to Medic to get your injuries healed." The students picked themselves up and did as he had asked. Heavy and Engie were already fully healed as Medic had recovered and healed them up as Spy was addressing the students. They all lined up for Medic to do his magic on them. It was a pleasant surprise from the exhausted students to feel the medigun magically refresh them.

After that, the bell rang and the class filed out of the room and out to lunch. Team RWBY stayed behind. Engie had set up a rancho relaxo and opened up a couple of beers to share with Medic and Heavy.

"Whewie! Enjoy the lesson youngins'?" Engie said.

"I guess…" Weiss went. "But why did you just attack me like that?!" Weiss yelled, giving Spy an angry face. Spy was sitting down on his desk chair.

"Just part of the class, Weiss. You said you wanted to learn something, so you did." Spy said simply.

"What exactly did I learn then?" She puffed.

"You learned that not everyone is who they seems…" Spy said seriously. "Also you learned that even without an aura we can still beat you in a fight." Yang pffted him.

" _Oh_ come on! We still got most of you down before you pulled that cowboy trick on us! You guys just got lucky." Heavy stepped up.

"If blonde hair think we are so lucky, then fight me in boxing ring!" Boxing gloves appeared on Heavy's hands and he punched his fists together. Yang gave a smug look at him.

"Deal. When and where do you want to fight, _hmmm_?" She gave a grin. Heavy grinned back at her, but before he could say anything, Medic interrupted him.

"Argh! Please no more fighting! I've had enough pain for one day!"

"But doc, we used to get in a lot o' pain back in the day, remember?" Engie went.

"Ja, but please! Zis is just a teaching job! Granted one vhere ve fight superpowered kids, but still!"

"Whatever you say doc…" Engie took a drink.

"Guess we'll fight later Heavy." Yang gave him a warm smile and lightly punched his chest again. Heavy did the same though his light punch pushed her back a couple of inches.

"Hey, Professor Spy?" Blake asked.

"Oui…" Spy said without looking away from a magazine about fine suits and sharp knives. Blake remembered that 'oui' means 'yes'.

"How did you turn into Jaune like that?"

Spy looked up and gave her a smile.

"Allow me to- wait, hey!" He shouted at Neo who was still in her seat. She jumped up in fright.

"Get out of here, class is over! Unless you want to stay and have a word with your professors then I suggest you leave." Neo sprung up, bowed her head, and quickly walked out of there. Spy watched her leave before turning back to Blake.

"Okay… as I was saying, allow me to demonstrate." He suddenly turned into Blake after clouds of smoke enveloped him. Team RWBY was looking on in amazement.

"Cool!" Ruby was zooming all around Spy, examining every detail of fake Blake. Spy stood up in all his fake Blakeness. "He looks just like you Blake!"

"Amazing…" Blake said. It was her exact, spitting, image!

"Even the cat ears are here!" Weiss had pulled off the bow and saw that the fake Blake also had cat ears. The ears twitched when Ruby poked them. " _Awwww-ha-ha!_ It's so cute!"

"Aren't they?" Spy responded in Blake's voice. Yang poked fake Blake's chest.

"Hehe! Even the boobs are real!" She laughed. Blake slapped her hand away from fake Blake and blushed in embarrassment.

"I thought you guys said you didn't have any semblances though." Blake said while still blushing and glaring at Yang who was smiling back at her like a cheeky scrub.

"That's because it's not a semblance, Blake." Spy went as his voice changed from Blake's to his usual French one. After turning back into his normal French form, he showed them his cigarette case. It had a selection screen for all the people he can turn into.

"Woah!" Ruby went with wide eyes. "Can I try?!" Spy refused, but his soul was quickly stolen when Ruby unleashed her puppy eyes on him. He growled and gave it to her. She fumbled around with the device for a few moments before turning into her sister.

"Hehe! Look I'm Yang! _Grrr_ , I like fighting and punching stuff. Take this!" She gently punched real Yang and everybody laughed at her antics.

" _Well then_ , looks like we'll just have to fight it out then!" Yang started play fighting with her sister.

"Okay, okay, give it back now Ruby. It's about time you girls go and get lunch."

Ruby did as had asked, and the girls were sent on their way. The mercs watched them as they left out the door. Medic opened up a beer for Spy, who gladly took it. Spy gave off a long sigh as he sat back down his seat.

"Gentlemen, I must say that classes went way better than expected today." Spy said before taking a drink from the bottle.

"Ja, zis vas nothing compared to ze wars we fought for Mann Co." Archimedes flew in and landed on Medic's shoulder.

"Shoot boys, we don't even got to fight them!" Engie said aloud, giving a chuckle after.

"We just got to knock some heads around every now and then, and that's all we got to do!"

"Da. Battle with old team was much harder." Heavy went.

The mercs took a moment to remember the intense battle with the TFC mercenary team. It only happened a few days ago, but the mercs were still reeling from how hard it was. I mean, there is a reason Mann Co. hired them to fight for them. The only reason why they hired the current TF2 mercs was because the old ones got, well, old. Still, their age meant little in the final battle. TF2 Vs. TFC at Mann Co. HQ, with Saxton Hale, Margaret, Miss Pauling, and the Administrator holding back the robot horde while the TF2 boys fought to destroy the TFC boys robot control center. It was a hard fight, but they did it, the robot wars were over. All the wars were over, really, as Mann Co. didn't need them anymore. There was no longer a RED or BLU company as Redmond and Blutarch were dead, and no more robots as Gray and the TFC mercs were dead. Even the administrator was gone as she finally yielded to old age at the end of the battle, leaving Saxton Hale the sole owner of Mann Co.

…

…

…

"Agreed…" Spy broke the silence. "This job is much easier than our previous ones."

"Yep, only problem is that we're in a world full of evil creatures and magic." Engie said solemnly. He took a swig of his beer.

"Yes… Heavy misses family…" He looked out a shattered window to look at some students walking about, doing what students do. Laughing, chatting, gossiping, all that jazz. Medic put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure you do mein freund. Ve all do." Spy was silently watching his teammates.

"Shoot boys… The job ain't hard, but this world sure is! Think about for a sec, here we are, we nine normal Humans who ain't got any of them 'aura' or 'semblance', walking around a world where people got these fancy weapons and superpowers." He set his empty bottle down and got out another one. "I'd say we're pretty far out of our league out here, fellas."

"Don't feel so down, Dell." Spy flicked his cigarette away and stood up. "We've proven ourselves capable thus far, and if you really want to, you can find a way to get back to Earth. We're in no rush." Spy said calmly.

"Back to Earth? But Spy, ve have jobs here now! Ve can't just leave." Medic said.

"I know that, Friedrich, but you said yourselves that you miss your families. I'd say a way to get back and forth from here to Earth isn't such a bad idea." He gave his friends a smile. They all smiled back.

"In any case, we're in no rush. I'm sure your family is fine Mikhail. Didn't you say you were going to move them to America?"

"Da. Family is still in Europe right now. Living in Paris until Misha comes back to move them." Spy chuckled.

"Hehe, _Paris_ , _Ville des Lumières,_ the _City of Lights_ … Perfect. You have nothing to worry about Russian, they're probably too busy sightseeing and shopping right now to worry about you. Hell, they must think you're still in the Badlands." Spy stood up from his seat.

"Okay gentlemen, let's go back to our house now. I'll file a damage report for Ozpin later."

* * *

 **Mercs' House**

"Pyro, we're back!" Spy yelled out as he, Engineer, Heavy, and Medic walked through the front door. They walked into the living room to see Pyro had dragged Roman upstairs to watch TV with it.

"Pyro, why is he up here?" Spy asked.

"MphmMphmh. Mphm!" Spy sighed.

"Augh, Pyro he is a grown man! He's too old to watch cartoons!"

"Shut it you bastard! Beats hanging around the basement all day…" Roman said. "Pass some popcorn, will you?" Pyro happily shoved popcorn into Roman's mouth.

" _Thanks_." Roman said in a muffled voice. Medic came walking down from the stairs.

"Vhere is everyone?" The German said. "There's no one but Pyro and Roman here!"

"They are not in kitchen either!" Heavy yelled out from the kitchen with a bunch of sandviches in his arms.

"Augh… Those imbeciles must still be out 'looking' for Soldier." Spy gave out a sigh and sat down next to Roman. "Don't worry about them. They're more than capable of taking care of themselves." He pulled out a suit catalog. "Provided they don't kill each other."

* * *

 **Vytal Fairgrounds**

The other four mercs had spent the entire class period hanging out at the fairgrounds. Well, to be absolutely honest, they spent the entire class period hanging and _FIGHTING_ at the fairgrounds. Scout, Demo, and Sniper decided to stop by one of the alcohol serving stands in the more adult section of the grounds, and grabbed a couple of drinks in their quest to find Soldier. That's when they ran into some trouble with some drunken hooligans there. These were the same guys from the newscast with VALE spelled out on their bare chests. Then all hell broke loose. After utterly beating the fuck out of the hooligans and their entourage in a 'fair' fight with their fists, Atlesian Knights came in and started blasting at them since their programming immediately deduced the hilariously one sided fight as an act of terrorism. Civilians ran from the scene as Atlesian Soldiers came running in and started fighting the mercs too, thinking the Knights' firing on the mercs was enough reason to start fighting.

"Major League!" Scout yelled as he knocked an Atlesian soldier out with a bash to the head with the sandman. Scout turned around and knocked a baseball at a soldier shooting at him, knocking him out too. He then pulled out his pretty boy's pocket pistol and unloaded all 12 rounds into a section of six Atlesian Knights marching towards him. The bullets all found their mark, but two knights were still standing. Before the damaged Knights could bring their rifles to bear on Scout again, Scout knocked one out of commission with a running kick, grabbed the rifle, and fired twice into the other Knight still standing.

"Whoooo! You seeing this?!" Scout yelled out to his friends whilst unloading the Atlesian rifle onto any soldier and Knight shooting at him. An Atlas elite came in with a riot shield and charged right down at Scout. Scout dropped the rifle as it clicked empty, and pulled out the sandman. He leapt over the riot shield wielding elite and smashed the side of his head with his bat. The elite was still up though and swung at Scout with his sword. Scout caught his hand and flipped him over his shoulder, knocking the elite unconscious with a downward smash to the head.

"Freedom!" Demo yelled as he was beating some serious ass right now with the Eyelander and Chare n' Targe against several Atlesian soldiers, knights, and elites. A knight lunged forward with its wrist blade extended and was rewarded with a missing head, while from another angle, an elite with a wrist shield swiped at him with his sword. Demo blocked it and countered with a slash down the man's torso, but it was blocked by the shield. A regular soldier tackled Demo as he was fighting the elite, knocking him over, but Demo kicked him up into the air as he rolled backwards and kept slashing and stabbing at anything who came close to him. Two elites came in and synchronized their attack on Demo, one slashing on each side. Demo blocked one hit with the Eyelander and the other with the Targe. He smashed the pommel of the Eyelander into the face of the elite to his left, and punched the other with the Targe. Both of their faceplates were smashed open and you can see their faces as they fell. A knight came with its rifle to blast him in close range, but Demo caught it with the guard of the Eyelander and flipped it over, then smashed its head in with a murder stroke.

Not too far away, Sniper was showing some soldiers some Australian justice. He dual wielded the smg and cleaners carbine against various Atlesian units hiding behind cover while shooting at him. The cover hardly mattered as Sniper's mastery of marksmanship ensured they would go down the moment they poked their heads out with short bursts. When both guns clicked empty, Sniper pulled out a glass of Jarate and the bushwacka, and threw the jarate at a group of knights and soldiers charging him. If you played TF2, then you know what kind of rape he's dishing out on them right now.

At this point in the battle, two Atlesian paladin drones were sent in as reinforcements to fuck them up. Demo knocked another soldier senseless when he saw the paladins coming.

"Bloody hell! Oy lads! We got a big bloody robot over here!" He smiled as he pulled out his sticky bomb launcher and shot himself towards the nearest Paladin. With the charge n' targe activated to do more damage, Demo crashed straight into the Paladin with the scotsman's skullcutter out, severely damaging the machine's systems. The drone started firing wildly as it no longer had any control over its' weapons, but Demo quickly put it out of commission before it did any serious damage. Demo laughed as he stood on the corpse of the destroyed machine, but he was then punched by a huge metallic fist from the other paladin. He skidded across the ground before stopping by way of crashing into a concession stand. The remaining paladin was closing in on him with its plasma weapon charging up.

Then an explosion, and then a whistling noise was heard from above. Critical rockets started raining down on the remaining paladin as Soldier appeared on the field. "SCREAMING EAGLES!" The old veteran yelled as he shot out all four rockets out of the direct hit, and after doing so, he pulled out the market gardner to finish the machine off. Upon landing with a shockwave, the machine was cut clean in half with the shovel, because that's just how the fuck TF2 works. Trust me, I don't even know how a lot of the stuff they can do is possible, but they do it anyway cuz they're cool like that.

"STOP!" A voice yelled out from across the fairgrounds from the speakers on an Atlesian dropship. A flight (3) of dropships had arrived to stop the fighting. One landed, and out came General Ironwood with an entourage of Atlesian specialists in uniform. Soldier stood at attention with his rocket launcher stood up at his side.

"Afternoon, General! Come here to witness me and boys teach your men how to be real soldiers?"

All the fighting had died down, and the Atlas personnel were dragging themselves to the side of their general, pointing their weapons at the mercs. They're lucky the mercs were forced to load their weapons with non-lethal means, school policy. Any slashes and bashes from blades and blunt instruments were made null by the soldiers' auras, but that didn't save them from getting knocked out when they were hit.

"Mr. Soldier, you and your men are under arrest for disturbing the peace." Ironwood said seriously. A female specialist moved forward to cuff him, but Soldier smacked her in the face with the market gardener. She got up and moved in to punch Soldier before receiving a kick to the gut and a bat to the face from Scout. The Atlas soldiers tensed up.

"Shove it up your ass, General! We ain't started nothing, alright? Those bastards over there started this whole mess!" He pointed his bat towards the unconscious hooligans.

"Don't talk to the general like that, you scum!" The down female specialist said. Her reply was a kick to the face.

"Listen gentlemen, it doesn't matter whose fault it is. You still dealt serious damage to Atlas personnel and property." He glanced over at the injured soldiers around him and at the destroyed knights and paladin. "That is a serious offense, and I must take you into custody." He motioned for all personnel to move forward and take the mercs prisoner. The mercenaries tensed up, and looked like they were ready to fight again.

Suddenly, Ironwood got a call on his phone, making everything stop.

"Ironwood here, report." A frantic voice can be heard from the other side of the line though nothing was intelligible to those standing around him.

"Calm down, pilot. You're saying that this 'Saxton Hale' has arrived here? Good, now… What!? What do you mean he jumped out of the airship!? Did the huntsmen try to stop him!? He threw them off!? Where is he now!?" Ironwood looked up and got his answer.

* * *

 **Atlesian Dropship over Beacon Airspace, Five Minutes Ago**

"Okay, Mr. Hale. We're here." The female leader of the huntsmen group sent to track him down said to the shirtless man sitting across from her.

"Pilot, radio the headmaster and the general. Tell them we've arrived." She turned her head back to Hale.

"Now Mr. Hale, once we touch down, the General and Headmaster will meet yo-"

"Down on the ground, I know. Oy! Pilot! When are you going to land this bladeless helicopter thing?" Hale said.

"Once we're cleared for landing. It should take only a couple of minutes." The pilot yelled back from the cockpit. Hale stood up.

"Bah! I don't have a couple of minutes mate! I've been stuck in this thing all day and all night!" He walked to the back ramp and slammed his fist into the button to open it up.

"What are you doing!?" The huntress yelled over the noise of air rushing into the cabin.

"What's it look like woman?! I'm going to jump out of this damn thing!" All the huntsmen in the ship tried to hold him back.

"You can't jump! Not without an aura! The fall will kill you!" Hale gave her a smile.

"Sheila, you ain't never seen a man like me before!" Hale flexed his muscles and all the huntsmen were sent flying about the cabin. He turned around and gave them a tip of the hat as he fell backwards out of the dropship.

"Pilot! Inform the general now!"

* * *

 **Back on the Ground, Now**

Everyone on the ground looked up and heard a mighty and manly voice yell out from above.

 **SAXTON HAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEE!**

Hale landed right behind Ironwood's force with a shockwave, making everything fly up and away from the crate he made.

"Ha! Nothing like the feeling of air rushing past you as you fall a thousand feet from the air!" Hale laughed as students and students arrived at the fairgrounds to check out what was happening. Among them were Team RWBY, and all of their friends, and Ozpin and Glynda. The rest of the mercs came running in too.

"The fairgrounds…" Ruby said as she surveyed the utterly ruined area around her. Glynda stomped forward and fixed everything with her semblance.

"Don't worry everyone, the fairgrounds are fine now. Except for _them._ " She glared at the mercenaries, who had formed up into their usual group of nine. The crowd appeared to be turning against the mercenaries as Ironwood's forces got back to their feet and resumed pointing their weapons at them.

"Now, now, everyone." Ozpin said as he stepped between the mercs and the potential mob before them. Good thing too, since it looked like the mercenaries and Hale were getting ready to fuck them all up.

"The damages have been fixed. There's no need to lynch our poor new professors over something like this. If I heard correctly, they're not even at fault for this mess." The crowd calmed down. Everyone had respect for the headmaster, and now that they thought about, fighting all nine of the mercs in one place was probably not a good idea. After the crowd dispersed with Atlas personnel forcing them to break up, Ozpin faced Saxton Hale.

"Greetings. You must be Saxton Hale. It's an honor to meet the man who fights Grimm with his bare hands, and without an aura no less." Ozpin shook Hale's hand.

"And I'm General James Ironwood of Atlas." He gave Hale a salute. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Ha! Well met gents! Now, why did you have me come to this 'Beacon'?" Hale went.

"Let's talk about this later Mr. Hale. The General and I need to make a report to the council. We'll talk about it tomorrow morning. After all, you must be tired after traveling here all day."

"Pffft! Tired!" Hale looked behind him and at his mercenaries. "This bloke thinks I can get tired! Hahaha!" Ozpin and his associates gave Hale a quizzical look.

"Well, you can stay with your associates here for the night." Ozpin bid them adieu and left with Ironwood and Goodwitch. Once they were out of sight, the huntsmen and huntresses in training crowded around Hale.

"Wow! You're the guy who beats Grimm with nothing but his fists! You're like a superhero!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes, that's Saxton Hale for ye." Demo said as he pulled out his scrumpy bottle to take a swig.

"Heh! That's right!" Hale turned his head toward Sniper. "Get over here mate and introduce your fellow Australian to the kids here!"

"Right, Mr. Hale." Sniper walked over to Hale's side.

"Kids, this is Saxton Hale. Australian national hero, and the fourth richest man in the world." Sniper said.

"Don't forget animal hunter extraordinaire chap!" He gave a hard pat to Sniper's back. "What kind of Australian would forget that?"

"How are you so strong?" Yang asked.

"I just am girly! It's what you get for being Australian!"

"But, if Sniper's 'Ostrollien' like you, then why is he all scrawny?" Ruby asked.

"It's cuz he's from New Zealand, lass." Demo said. "People there are more artsy and cultural than people like Hale."

"What!? You ain't Australian!? Oh mate, that explains so much about you!" Hale laughed as he patted Sniper on the back again, making him fall back down. Spy cleared his throat.

"Alright everyone, you can ask Mr. Hale questions all you want tomorrow. Let's all go back to our homes and rest for the day." They did just that.

* * *

 **Mercs' House**

"Huh, nice place you got here lads!" Hale said as he walked through the front door and took a look around the house.

"I expected something fancier with all the money I gave you though."

"It is because we work here now, Mr. Hale." Heavy said. Hale's looked at him.

"What? Work here? What'd they hire you do, kill those 'Grimm' all day?"

"Uh sorta…" Scout said. "We're teachers here, but they said we can kill Grimm on missions sometimes."

"Ha! How much they payin' you lot?"

"For all nine of us in total, about one million lien every month. That's equal to about five hundred dollars." Spy said as he was carrying a man wrapped in a several layers of ropes, chains, blankets, and locks, into the hallway containing the basement entrance.

"Hmmm? Who's the bloke you got here? Some hostage?"

"Sort of." Engie said.

"We're only keeping him here until we can get him to talk. Now where do you want to sleep Mr. Hale? I got some blankets and-"

"Blankets!? Do I look like a pussy to you mate?!" Hale said loudly. "I got me chest hair and muscles to keep me warm!"

"Uh, okay… where do you want to sleep then?"

"The roof please!"

And that is where Hale slept that night. Listening in on the beautiful sounds of the creepy crawlies out in the distance that he could fight later.

* * *

 **Cinder's Room**

"Holy fuck… That muscular bastard is here!" Mercury said in a panic. He got a slap across the face from Cinder.

"Snap out of it! His appearance does make it significantly more difficult to conduct our plans. But no worries, all we have to do is lay low." She looked out the window towards the mercs' house. "I have a feeling he's not here to stay."

"And what if he does?" Emerald asked while comforting Neo, who totally lost it upon seeing Hale up close and personal. Cinder did not look away from the window.

"If he does, then I'll… figure something out." Emerald and Mercury gave her a concerned look. Did she really not know what to do now?

* * *

 **Oh hell boys... I think I'm sick. This chapter nearly killed me! I'm going to tell it like it is. So I didn't upload since last week cuz I'm a cheeky bastard stuck in high school and play video games all day. I practically typed this whole thing in a day again. Take a guess why I feel sick. It's also because I've been struggling with the story. I respond to reviews now, and please leave a review or pm me if you want a word in.**

 **Goldenclaw:** **Ayyyyyyy, thanks.**

 **Guest:** **You know which one you are. The guy who wanted classes to begin. Well here it is.**

 **Cadaver1041: I pm'ed you about it already, but thanks for the review.**

 **MCZ: Boi, go on Youtube and look up "manliest song ever" and pick the overly manly man theme song.**

 **37:** **_Yessss!_ You'll get yo hammy meetin' next update tho.**

 **Guest:** **No, dude. It's pronounced SAXTON HAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**


	11. Escalation of the Plot!

**Notes:**

 **'Fruit loops' is apparently Australian slang for 'fools'.**

 **Saxton Hale can break the fourth wall. he does it all the time.**

 **A C4 is a plastic explosive usually used by armies as, well, explosives. If you played any Battlefield or Call of Duty game you don't have to read this.**

* * *

 **Ozpin's Office**

Ozpin and Ironwood were patiently waiting for Saxton Hale to arrive. Admittedly, it was taking a bit long. Hale was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago, and Ironwood was getting a little impatient.

"What is taking him so long?" Ironwood growled.

"Have patience, James." Ozpin sipped on his coffee. "It is perfectly fine if he is a little late for our meeting."

"True, but I don't think that finding the tallest building in the academy is that difficult." Ironwood said.

"Agreed."

Then the elevator opened up and Goodwitch walked out, but Saxton Hale is still not there.

"Glynda, where is he?" Ironwood asked. She pointed behind him. All heads looked out the window facing the courtyard, and saw a head peeking out from the bottom. Hale gave them a smile and a wave while Ironwood and Ozpin stared at him. He then reared a fist back and nodded his head in a matter that said ' **this is fine right?'** Hale didn't wait for an answer as he punched straight through the glass and crawled right in. He dusted the glass off of him before speaking.

"Ha! Sorry about the wait mate! I was busy looking for one of them airships you got so I can come crashing in here the way I normally would! It's what I call a **DYNAMIC ENTRY** , but none of the pilots would take me so I just climbed up this damn tower." Hale shrugged. "Not quite as exciting as crashing through a window from freefall, but it's better than nothing!" Hale laughed.

"Now if my memory is all right and straight, you're Professor Ozpin, right?"

"Correct, Mr. Hale. It's good that you're finally here. Though I'd prefer it if you took the elevator instead of my poor window." Ozpin said. The window Hale punched open was the same one Heavy jumped out of a few days ago. Goodwitch sighed and fixed it right up to Hale's amazement.

"Crikey! You're Bidwell's got some magic?! Lucky! Mine only talks and worries about everything!"

"What's a Bidwell?" Goodwitch asked.

"Sorry. I meant assistant! Bidwell's the name of one of my closest two assistances. He's a total coward though, but he's a good chap nonetheless."

"Right." Ozpin nodded. "Now Mr. Hale, onto business."

"What's on your mind chap?"

"It is in our understanding that you and the nine men we let you stay with for the night are from another world, correct?"

"That's absolutely right! Did you not see the portal in the sky when I made my dynamic entry to this world in the first place?"

"Yes, we all saw it Mr. Hale. Now what we want to know is why you're all here in Remnant." Ironwood said as he stepped towards Hale in a serious manner.

"Who're you supposed to be?" Hale said while looking over the General. Ironwood saluted him.

"General James Ironwood of Atlas, director of Vytal Festival security. Now, please answer the question."

"I came here looking for my mercs! You see, as CEO of Mann Co., it's my responsibility to make sure the company stays afloat through the hardest of times, and let me tell you, we are in some seriously hard times now."

"I suppose it's these robots your men told us about?" Glynda asked.

"Yep! The people controlling those damn machines ran Mann Co. straight into the ground with all of their irresponsible spending! _Damn girl…_ " Hale muttered under his breath.

"And that's why I'm looking for my boys! I plan on rehiring them and paying them a sixth of whatever they earn on the jobs we send 'em out on!"

"But didn't you say your company was out of money?" Ironwood asked.

"I sure did! That's why I'm goin' to hire them out like some mercenary for hire manager to whoever's interested! And like I said they'll get a sixth of whatever they get. We get the rest! It's a fair deal as far as I'm concerned." The Remnanters looked at each other.

" _He's certainly a fair employer, isn't he?"_ Goodwitch whispered to Ozpin.

"Interesting Mr. Hale, so that is the only reason why you came to this world?" Ozpin asked.

"Mate, I told you like twice by now, yes! That's why I'm here!"

"Indeed you did. It's just that when we asked them why they came here, they said it was an accident and they don't know how they got here." Ozpin took a sip of his coffee. "Speaking of which, how did you get here, Mr. Hale?"

"Well, I just found one of their teleporters out in the desert and jumped right in. Then I came into this weird dimension full of nonsense and guff, met some annoying blokes, and then found a portal thing that led here." The Headmaster took a second to piece together what he just said, and came up with the conclusion that it didn't make sense, but since Hale actually knew how he got here, he'd have to take Hale's word for it.

"Okay. Do you know a way back to your world then? It would be most wonderful if our two worlds met in friendship." Hale smiled, raised a finger, and opened his mouth to talk. Then his finger slowly went down and his mouth shut after he realized he didn't know how the fuck he was supposed to bring the boys home.

"Erm… I figured I'd let the Engineer figure it out. I heard the Yank is good with machines so maybe he'd figure something out. And if that don't work, then maybe we'll figure out some magic trickery to get back home." Ozpin raised a brow.

"Magic?"

"Yeah! Believe it or not mate, but magic exists in our world. In fact, once every year I get reports of an evil wizard attacking my mercs!" The Headmaster and General looked at each other, triggered by the words 'wizard' and 'magic'.

"Well, what will you do here until you get back to 'Earth'?" Ironwood asked.

"I dunno. I figured I'd come in and back out with the mercs real quick, but that clearly ain't happening anytime soon. So I'll probably just go hunting these 'Grimm' things until the lads figure something out."

"Hunting you say? Well, Mr. Hale, I'm pleased to inform you that I have a job for you that fits the bill perfectly." Ozpin said.

"A job? Mate I do this thing for free! I find it disgraceful if a man were to go out there and kill something just for money! Where's the thrill of it?!"

"All the better Mr. Hale. Since you're clearly not fit for a teaching job, I can make you a huntsman."

"Already am one, mate!" Hale said proudly and smiled.

"Not the kind that goes out hunting animals Mr. Hale, I mean like the huntsmen of our world. Defenders of peace, warriors of justice, keepers of…" Ozpin paused listing things huntsmen do when he noticed Hale wasn't very interested. "…and they're the main line of defense against the Creatures of Grimm." Hale slammed his hands on Ozpin's desk, shattering the glass.

"You're telling me you're gonna send me out there to fight the Grimm?!" Ozpin nodded. "For free!?" Ozpin nodded again and a small smile appeared on his face.

"Well, you've got yourself a deal! But only under one condition!" Ozpin's smile went away.

"Name it Mr. Hale."

"I want absolutely no restrictions, alright? I prefer to be absolutely free when I'm out in the wild. Unless it's with my Mann Co. staff keeping me informed with company affairs, that's an exception."

"Umm, well Mr. hale, I can't exactly have you go out there without any-"

"No." Hale interrupted him. "No deal." Ironwood smiled and gave Ozpin a look that said _Ha! Bitch, he mine now!_

"Well if you won't take a job as a huntsmen, then what about a job as a specialist in my military?" Ironwood said while still smiling like he was the shit around here.

"That would be a 'no' also, General." Ironwood frowned.

"What? But-"

"But what, chap? I just got done telling your friend here I don't want any restrictions! Have you any ears? You expect me to work under an army that's probably bound to be full of 'regulations' and 'codes of conduct' out there? Nah mate, that takes the fun out of what I do."

Then, Ozpin received an alert on his desk. It was an emergency call from the frontier.

"This is Headmaster Ozpin, proceed."

"Headmaster. We have reports of a major Grimm attack forming up on a frontier town called 'Mannlich'. The townspeople request immediate huntsmen assistance."

"Of course, ranger. I'll send-"

"How big is this Grimm attack, son?" Hale rudely interrupted Ozpin and put his face in front of the screen.

"What?! Who are you!?" The ranger on the other side said.

"That's not important right now, son, tell me how big it is!"

"Uh, well… the townspeople said there must be hundreds of them. Among them beowolves, ursai, goliaths, beringels, and several more." Pictures of the mentioned Grimm flashed across the screen. The one that got Hale's attention was the beringel. His face lit up when he saw the gorilla-like Grimm.

"Crikey! That's one beastie I wouldn't want to miss a fight with!" Hale turned his head towards Ozpin. "Listen mate, sorry for denying the job, but can you do me a favor and get an airship ready for me?"

"You wish to go out and face this Grimm attack yourself?" Ozpin asked.

"*Pfft* What's it look like I wanna do mate?! Go out and make peace with them like a damn hippy? No! I tell you what I'm gonna do! I'm gonna go out there and shove my foot so far up their asses, that they'll be spitting out boot polish! In other words, I'm going to fight them if my explanation was too manly for you to comprehend."

"Very well, Mr. Hale. I will get an airship ready for you along with two teams of huntsmen-"

"There's no time mate!" Hale said as he ran towards the window. "Those beasts ain't gonna wait for any huntsmen to kick their hides!"

"Wait!" Ironwood said aloud while putting the glove covering his robotic arm on Hale's shoulder. "What you're doing is really admirable, even if it's only because you want to fight the Grimm and nothing else. But before you go, I want you to know this." Ironwood leaned forward with a menacing look.

"Remember, this is our world. If you or your men cause any damage here, we will hold you all responsible for all of it. I will let the incident yesterday slide, but we will be watching for any further disturbances. Did I make myself clear?" Hale smiled and stared back at Ironwood's serious expression. He then brushed the General's hand off and walked towards the window.

"Whatever you say mate!" Hale yelled before jumping out. Shouting his favorite phrase as he fell.

 **SAXTON HAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**

…

"Well, so much for getting him to join our side…" Goodwitch said as she fixed all the damages hale has done to the office.

"At least he doesn't seem interested in causing any trouble." Ozpin said. He looked over at his longtime friend and saw he was still standing there staring out the window Hale jumped out of.

"Something the matter, James?" Ironwood stood there for a moment before turning around to talk to him.

"These are strange times, Ozpin."

"Indeed they are James."

"We have a wounded maiden, an unknown enemy hiding in the shadows planning to steal her power, an ever growing terrorist organization, intensifying Grimm presence across all the borders of the four kingdoms, and finally, men from a different world entirely." Ironwood rubbed his temples.

"I don't like it. The troubles of Remnant are enough as is, but now people from a different universe? It makes my head hurt just thinking about it."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much James. At least these new men are on our side."

"What about the man who just jumped out of the window then?" Ironwood asked. Ozpin shrugged.

"While Hale may not be a huntsman, he seems far more likely to help our cause out than the enemy's. Besides, we have his men with us."

"True… but still, they said they were mercenaries. Contract killers for hire. What if the enemy manages to get a hold of them?"

There was a short silence in the office as they thought about the possibility of the mercs joining the enemy, until Goodwitch broke the silence with her own thoughts.

"Then we just have to make sure that they don't. I don't know about you two, but I'm much more worried that more people from this 'Earth' will come here. Considering how well they handle themselves without an aura, I'd say the danger of more like them coming is very real, especially if the enemy finds them first."

"Agreed." Ozpin and Ironwood said in unison.

* * *

 **Mercs' Classroom**

The students were very wary of entering the classroom. If they learned anything about the class yesterday, it's that they should be ready for anything. They eventually filed into the class, still very alert for anything funny. Demo, Sniper, Pyro, and Medic were in here this time.

"What do you think the surprise is this time?" Ruby asked her friends.

"I don't know." Jaune replied. "Maybe he'll turn into one of us and try to trick us like yesterday."

"No." Ren said. "They won't try the same trick so soon."

"Maybe they'll shoot lasers at us!" Nora said giddily.

*BOOM*

An explosion and then a scream was heard as Russel Thrush of Team CRDL was sent crashing into the ceiling while still in his seat. He landed back down with a loud thud as the class looked on in shock. Needless to say, the students jumped out of their seats, and frantically searched for any bombs. What they saw horrified them. Every single damn seat had a sticky bomb underneath.

"Haha! Best be careful laddies! Don't want te' get yerselfs blown up now do ya?" Demoman laughed.

"Yeah you said it, mate!" Sniper laughed. He pulled out his sniper rifle and stood it next to him.

"Alright! Listen up you bunch of hooligans! This here's an exercise in stress under fire! Here's how it works. They're bombs underneath each and every single one of your desks, like your spiky-haired friend here oh so kindly demonstrated for us, and you will be watching something today!"

The class looked at each other in confusion.

"Really? That's it?" Yang asked while twirling a pencil around with her fingers. Sniper smiled menacingly and pulled off a one handed no scope on the pencil. Yang jumped when the pencil suddenly left her fingers.

"I forgot to mention one important detail…" He laughed evilly.

"You will be shot at if you so much as show a smidge of falling asleep, or get blown up, or get smacked, or get blown away, or- well you get it, there's a lot of things we can do to you." Sniper gave a face that can be called a 'rape face'.

"Uh, what are we watching?" Ruby said fearfully.

"Hehe, we're watching…" He clapped his hands and Pyro turned the lights off, making the room go completely black for a second before the light of the holographic projector lit up the room.

"... _The Complete History_ _of the Kingdoms of Remnant_! Courtesy of Professor Oobleck!" All the mercs present started laughing evilly and maniacally as the students were crying out in despair.

" _Noooooooo!_ " Yang groaned with her hands over her face. "We deal with this crap every day in Oobleck's class already!"

"Yeah!" Weiss added. Sniper laughed at the girls.

"Look on the bright side, ladies. Hehe, think of it as review for whatever tests you're having on history later."

"Excuse me Professor Sniper, but what exactly does this have to do with combat?" Pyyrha asked politely.

"Simple. One must always be alert and aware of everything around them, no matter what happens! Not doing so would find you an easy way to the grave..." He said gravely. The students went all quiet as his words scared them.

"Welp! No time to waste! Come on! Start the damn film Medic!"

"Hehe…Ja, can do." Medic laughed evilly. The documentary began with theories of how Humanity and Faunus came to be on Remnant.

" _Remnant. It is the world where all known life exists…"_ Some of the mercs laughed at that statement as that is clearly not true anymore.

…

…

…

The students were dying. Not only was this a documentary, it was an _old_ documentary with a boring narrator who spoke in a constant monotone voice. Sometimes it would show extremely cheesy and cheaply made live-action shorts of events like battles or political meetings.

*BOOM*

"AHHHHHHH!" Jaune went after being sent out of the ceiling.

"Jaune!" Pyyrha yelled after him as he flew out of the building. She tried to get up only to freeze in place when a rubber bullet whizzed past her head, only a millimeter off from hitting her.

"Ah ah ah! No leaving your seat, Miss!" Sniper was waving a finger at her. "Consider that a warning shot. And don't worry about the boy. I'm sure he's fine." Sniper high fived Demo while Pyyrha warily sat back in her seat. This event really shook up the students. It officially proves their new professors do NOT fuck around. All were wide awake, but for how long will they keep this up? There is still 45 minutes of class left…

" _Ancient ruins indicate that civilization may date as far back as…"_

"… _Faunus-kind presents a puzzling…"_

"… _the Grimm overran the Empire of the Black Moon…"_

…

*BANG*

*BOOM*

*BANG*

*BOOM*

…

There was now only 15 minutes of class left, and only a quarter of the class was left. They were mostly taken out by the Sniper as they realized that constant damage to the class might get them fired or lose all of their money in repairs. Much to Demo's disappointment, but at least he got a few beautiful explosions in. By a miracle of fate, Team RWBY was intact through the whole ordeal, while only Ren and Pyyrha were still up for Team JNPR, all of CRDL was out, and Neo was still up. She was behaving exactly like she did yesterday, but this time she was trying to hide as best she can in her seat so that she can still watch this torture without the Pyro seeing her. Fortunately, it appears to be working thus far. Instead of walking down the aisles looking for students to blast away with the air blast function of its flamethrower, it was busy burning some textbooks that a combat class really shouldn't need in the first place. Unfortunately, the fire was really distracting and the class found out that taking their eyes off the screen also meant failure when Cardin and Dove received a

"Ahh!" A generic Faunus student sitting next to Neo cried out when Sniper nailed a rubber bullet to his skull. It took all of her strength to not jump out of her seat lest she suffer the same fate. Medic ran up to treat him for any injuries.

"Ooo! Vell done my freund! You lasted a grand total of 48 minutes! Nothing to be too ashamed of, huh?" The German nudged the boy's shoulder while the boy only groaned in response.

"Vat interesting horns…" Medic said after noticing the horns on his head. The Faunus lad got really uncomfortable when Medic started stroking them, and Medic noticed this.

"Oh! Don't vorry boy! I already tried putting horns on Human subjects back home! It didn't work, but it was an exciting operation nonetheless! Hehe, You should have seen ze look on his dead face, haha!" He looked up and saw the disguised Neo.

"Oh, don't mind me young lady. Please, eyes forvard, or else I'll have to shove _**zis**_ through your face!"

Neo, for the life of her, did not turn around to look at Medic, which pleased him since she's following his instructions, but also disappointed him because he would have loved to see the look on her face upon seeing the ubersaw.

Meanwhile, in the front of the class, our favorite huntresses in training were beginning to crack. Yang felt like knocking herself out with Ember Celica, Blake wished for a catnap, Ruby wanted to drop dead in boredom, and Weiss wished she wasn't in this class right now. Then it happened.

Ruby snuck a peek over to her right and saw Yang was about to drop. She had a completely dead look on her face, eyes half-closed, mouth slightly open, and she was beginning to slowly fall forward. Ruby panicked, and quickly looked at Sniper, who noticed and was smiling evilly with his rifle in hand. He pulled the bolt of the weapon back and loaded another round in the chamber, and leveled his rifle equally as slow as Yang was falling.

" _No! Don't do it! Please!"_ Ruby whispered very quietly at him. Sniper actually heard her and whispered back.

" _Ah yeah! I'm gonna do it little girl!"_ He whispered back. The evil smile still on his face.

" _No! No! Please!"_ She begged.

" _Yessss! I'm gonna put one right between her eyes! And you're next."_ He made a finger gun and pointed it as his head. " _Boom_. _Headshot!"_

At this point, Yang was halfway out of her seat and Sniper squeezed the trigger ever so slowly… then **BANG!** A shot went off. Its destination: Right between Yang's eyes.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ruby screamed out. She reacted quickly, and with her semblance of supernatural speed, jumped in front of Yang and took one for the team. Literally! It was all for nothing though as Sniper just loaded another round and nailed Yang in the head. The sisters laid on top of each other, taking a well-deserved, blissful rest from this cruel and inhumane torture. Blake and Weiss sat straight and gave angry glares at the Australian madman while the Aussie chuckled to himself on a job well done. Not long after Ruby and Yang went down, the documentary stopped with a couple minutes of class left.

"Alright everyone! We'll stop class here! Please report to the Medic if you've any injuries. That is all."

Everyone sighed in relief and eagerly got out of there and out to lunch. As for little Neo, she was among the first to rush out of class. She ran ahead of all the students only to bump into the Pyro as it was coming back from the bathroom. Neo panicked and froze in place while Pyro stared at her. It soon dawned on Pyro that this girl was his buddy!

"Mphm!" Pyro went as it tried to lovingly crush Neo in a huge bear hug. She quickly stepped to the side, making Pyro fall to the ground.

"Mphm?" Pyro mphmed sadly.

"Mphm mphm!" It got up to try and hug her again, but Neo ran far away, easily losing the Pyro. Pyro stared after her as she went, then looked down at the ground with its shoulders slumped. _New friend was gone…_

"What's wrong Pyro?" Blake asked as her team walked out of the entrance to the class.

"Mphmphm…" It muffled sadly.

"Um, what?" Pyro didn't say anything.

"I can't understand you with that mask. Mind taking it off?" Pyro didn't say anything again and kept on moping. While Blake rolled her eyes and walked off with her team to get some lunch.

"EVERYONE CLEAR ZE AREA!" Medic yelled out as he and the other mercs ran out of the classroom. The students did as he asked and gathered behind their professors at 50 feet away from the classroom. Demoman was not with them.

"Demo! Don't do it you Scottish twat!" Sniper yelled at the building. The only response he got was a maniacal Scottish laugh from an unseen Demoman, and then a huge ass explosion.

*KA-BOOM!*

Smoke and fire rushed out the windows and entrance of the solitary building that was the mercs classroom, and something shot out from the shattered glass canopy above the classroom and high into the sky.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Demo screamed in joy as he flew out towards the mercs' staff house with a trail of smoke and fire behind him. The students were staring in complete disbelief as the new professors just showed them some more outlandish bullshit. Medic and Sniper face palmed while Pyro was still sad about Neo running from it.

"Argh! That bloody, no good, wanker! How am I going to call myself a professional if my coworkers keep destroying our workplace!?" Sniper yelled aloud as he flew his hat down on the ground.

* * *

 **Vale Frontier, Above Mannlich**

"Queen's corgis! Look at that fearsome bunch down there!" Hale yelled in excitement right beside the bullhead pilot.

The situation was not looking good. The Grimm didn't start their attack on the town yet as the same elder beowolf that ran away like a bitch from hale the day he arrived here was leading them. Similar to the battle with the mercenaries, it was ordering its Grimm in formation, but now its force was smaller as a lot of Grimm had been lost by the mercs and Hale. Still, enough had spawned and gathered since them to form quite a formidable army with somewhere around 600 Grimm instead of the previous 1000. The townsmen had set up a defensive line across their wall, waiting for the Grimm to come at them like real men instead of running back to civilization where people are soft and shit.

The alpha saw the bullhead coming and growled. It took a sniff of the air as its heightened sense allowed it to identify pretty much anything… then it shat itself. In a rush, it gave a roar that sent all flying Grimm after the one airship in the sky. The sky darkened as the aerial Grimm converged on Hale's airship.

…

"Mr. Hale! Please! Sit down and wait for me to land!" The Faunus pilot said at Hale annoyed.

"Waiting!? Did the other pilot tell you nothing!? I have not the time to wait chap!" He said aloud.

"Besides! Do you really want to fly… into _that_?" He pointed out the cockpit and the pilot stopped looking at Hale and at the massive wave of flying darkness coming at them.

"U-uh, okay! You win!" The pilot did a complete 180 and floored it.

"Excellent!" Hale yelled as he jumped on top of the bullhead. He smiled as the Grimm started roaring at him.

"Oh this is gonna be fun!" He readied himself for a jump.

"SCREW GRAVITY!"

He yelled as he did a BRAVE JUMP off the airship and into the middle of the flying Grimm horde. The largest nevermore in the flock, bigger than the one our favorite huntsmen in training fought during their initiation, flew ahead at max speed and opened its mouth wide…

…and swallowed Hale whole.

…

So much for the- oh shit, wait!

Hale punched himself straight out of its belly and jumped on top of the dying Grimm. Similar to the mercs, he has a personal inventory too, but it's mostly filled with various hunting 'equipment'. Among said equipment were chains. Hale took the chains and jumped onto another, slightly smaller nevermore as the one he was on plummeted to the ground. He wrapped the chains around the creature's beak and was leading it around as an unwilling flying mount with him standing on its back.

"Haha! Come get me you bunch of fruit loops!" Hale laughed as he was punching and kicking any Grimm that had the balls, or foolishness, to come at him. Grimm were dropping like flies as it took one or two hits to kill them since most of them were lesser Grimm. A griffon landed and tried to crush him by smashing its paws down. Hale stepped to the side and it hit the nevermore instead, causing the bird to cry out in pain while Hale wrapped the chains around the griffon's neck before it could pull back. The griffon was being strangled to death while the nevermore was going crazy as the chains were leading it everywhere.

"Argh! Calm down you oversized pigeon!" Hale yelled at his steed as he released the dead griffon, the creature sliding off the nevermore's back and down below. After a couple more minutes of beating and bashing Grimm that tried to close in on Hale, the nevermore's finally had enough of this overpowered faggotry, and sent a barrage of feathers towards their comrade. The Aussie saw this, and reacted by pulling out a huge bundle of C4s from his personal inventory as there was no way, even with his manliness, that he'll survive this.

Now I know what you're thinking, _What the fuck?! Saxton Hale doesn't use bombs you stupid fuck! Unfollowed! 0/10, Worst story ever._ But hear me out, these bombs are used to blow holes in silly walls and barriers that stand in Hale's way when he goes out burning zoos or hunting endangered animals in hunting reserves. Okay? Are you good now? Now finish reading this chapter.

Hale shoved the bundle of C4s into the nevermore's mouth and sealed it shut with the chain he wrangled around it, set the fuse for 5 seconds, and jumped off backwards. He smiled and waved his hat at them before flipping around and facing the ground. The barrage of feathers pin cushioned the poor nevermore, but luckily the Grimm didn't have to feel bad about killing their fellow Grimm when the C4 bundle went off, sending the feathers lodged into the nevermore everywhere, killing all of the flying Grimm in the sky.

"Ohhhh…" Hale sighed. "Wished I could've finished them off with my fists…"

The elder beowolf below had made its move when it realized Hale was here, and the Grimm were almost to the walls by the time Hale jumped off the nevermore. The townsmen did their best to weather the horde down with hi-power bolt action rifles, shotguns, molotovs, and even hunting bows. Now that the horde was close to the wall, the closest defenders pulled out melee weaponry ranging from axes to spears and braced for manly close quarters combat. A goliath roared and ran with its head lowered to smash right through the wall. When suddenly…

 **SAXTON HAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEE!**

Everything froze and looked up to see something crash right into the goliath that was going to breach the wall. The force from Hale's fist colliding with the creature was so great, it exploded into a bloody mess of Grimm flesh. Laughing can be heard from the ruined corpse as a manly figure stepped out, laughing a hearty laugh. The elder beowolf, who stayed behind in the rear with beringel guards around it, looked on in fear. A total repeat of its earlier defeat at this man's hands.

"Hahaha! You bunch of filthy animals are about to witness first hand some Australian justice!" Hale looked back at the brave people of Mannlich up on the walls.

"Oy! I remember you lot! This was the town I saved from those terrorists the other day!

"Hey! It's Saxton Hale!" An elderly, but ripped man on the wall said. He was wielding a hi-powered, military semi-auto rifle with a bayonet back from the days when Remnant's armies used weapons like that. It must have been a family heirloom if it has lasted this long. This man was the mayor.

"Yeah, he's right! It is Saxton Hale!" Another defender yelled out.

"He's come to save our town once again!" The woman who was a holding a baby the day the huntsmen took Hale said, though her baby wasn't with her this time.

"Save? Oh right! Yes! I am here to save this town, _and_ fight these creatures!" Hale said.

"Now, usually I prefer to fight alone, but considering how nice you all are, why don't you come on down here and help me out? Maybe you'd score some kills for yourself, ha!" The townspeople stared at him and looked at each other.

"The choice is yours you know! Just come – eh?" A beowolf tried to get the jump on Hale like the first time, but Hale was ready this time. He grabbed the beowolf's head and crushed it by closing his fist around it. Then, the Australian roared and crashed into the Grimm horde, opening up the usual crates of **FUCK YOU** he normally does in any fight he gets into.

A mighty roar was heard as the manly motherfuckers that were the inhabitants of Mannlich jumped down from the wall to do battle with the Grimm now that their hero was in the battle. After a while, the elder beowolf and its beringel entourage went forth when it became apparent that Hale's crates of **FUCK YOU** were too much for the Grimm to handle.

Hale was having the time of his life, wrestling, punching, kicking, ripping, and strangling the Grimm alongside these brave people at his side. It was quite a rush. Battles like this rarely happen on Earth these days, but it was so much _fun_! They really ought to happen some more. Nothing manlier than the thrill of battle!

"Haha! Come on you lot! You've yet to show me why you're so dangerous to the people here!" Hale yelled out a challenge to the Grimm. Suddenly, a roar was heard, and all the Grimm retreated back, and the townspeople gathered behind Hale.

"What's wrong?" Hale yelled.

"Lost the will to fight have they?" Hale said to the defenders behind him. They laughed and started throwing insults at the creatures. That's when the Grimm parted 'ranks' to let the elder beowolf and the beringels step forward. Hale perked up when he saw them.

" _Ohhhhh…_ I remember you!" He turned back towards the townspeople. "Don't worry about the tall one. He's big and armored, but believe me when I say he's a total coward!" The townsmen laughed but were uneasy about the beringels.

"So how is this going to go down? Hmm? The way I see it, you think you grew a pair and decided to try your luck on me again. Is that right?" The elder didn't say anything.

"Well, hate to break it to ya mate, but you're still a pussy! Bringing your friends to fight your battles for you!" He motioned at the beringels around the elder. The beowolf growled.

 _What about your friends!?_

"Who? Them?" Hale pointed over his shoulder at the townspeople.

"Oh, they just wanted to come down here and fight. And as you can see, they're balls are vastly bigger than your entire army combined mate!" All the humans laughed.

"Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing you brought them. Oh no! I'm more than happy to shove my foot up each and every one of your asses!" The creatures tensed up in rage.

"You can understand what they're saying, Mr. Hale?" The mayor asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Quiet please! I'm doing a serious scene that's boring me right now! If only _someone_ would speed it up!"

Well…fuck. Fine.

"Perfect! Now let's do this you mangy freaks of nature!" Hale took a step forward and stopped.

"Oh! As for the rest of you…" Hale said to the townsmen.

"You can fight the leftovers! I want _those_ bastards!" He pointed at the elder and the beringels. Hale and the creatures of Grimm roared as both sides were about to clash in glorious battle…

 **Ha! Thought you would get to see me, Saxton Hale, fight some beringels? One of the most oh so** _ **supposedly**_ **strongest creatures in this 'RWBY' world? Well, sorry to break it to ya good readers, but you'll have to wait for the next chapter for the exciting conclusion for** _ **Mann and Beast: A Clash of Fists and Fangs**_ **in part 2! What's that? You're angry it was split between two chapters!? Well then, if you feel like it should be changed, then you'd have to come and talk to me! Where I will gladly receive all of your complaints with my fists! Haha! See you next chapter!**

* * *

 **Cinder's Room, Earlier, as in around the time the Mercs' Class Ended**

"Cinder, Cinder!" Emerald came rushing into the room. "Did you hear? That Saxton Hale guy left Beacon!"

"I know." She said calmly. "I've known since he left."

"Really? Why'd he leave then?" Emerald questioned Cinder.

"Let's just say… I made a deal to get him off of our backs." Cinder smiled.

"There's no possible way he can survive what _she_ has in store for him."

"She? Who is this 'she'?" Emerald asked.

"Oh, no one important. Besides, you don't have to know anything." She put a hand on Emerald's shoulder.

"All you have to do is obey, remember?"

"Yes, Cinder. Of course…" Emerald said.

Suddenly, Neo came running into the room. She slammed the door shut and sat right in front of it. She was visibly panicked about something.

"What happened Neo?" Cinder asked the petite girl. The girl was about to say something in sign language, but her eyes went wide.

"Neo? Neo?" Cinder snapped her fingers. "What is wrong with you? Snap out of it!" She slapped Neo, but she had absolutely no reaction to it.

"Uh, Cinder?" Emerald said slowly. Cinder sighed.

"What is it?"

"I think I know what's got Neo scared."

"Really?" Emerald pointed out the window and Cinder looked out of it to get quite a surprise.

The Pyro itself was right up against the glass of the window, staring at Neo. It banged the glass a couple of times and said some muffled 'mphms'.

"What the hell!?" Mercury yelled out as he was standing against the glass.

"W-what do we do, Cinder?" Mercury backed away from the window. Emerald and Mercury slowly reached for their weapons before Cinder stopped them.

"Wait! Let him in. Let's see what happens…" She walked up to the window and opened it up, and Pyro tumbled in. It picked itself up and dusted its flame proof suit off.

"Hello, Mr… Pyro? Is that correct?" Cinder said. Pyro nodded.

"Okay. What are you doing in our dorm room Mr. Pyro? And why through the window no less?" Pyro did not answer her and walked straight to Neo. This caused Team evil to panic. Neo shrunk in fear when Pyro grabbed her and help her up Lion King style.

"Mphm!" It muffled. Cinder easily figured it was talking about Neo.

"Neo? What do you want Neo for?" Cinder maintained her calm outward appearance, but inside her mind, she was fearing that Neo was found out by the Pyro and was going through all the ways she can deal with this without ruining the plan. As for the Pyro, it tucked Neo underneath its left arm like she was a book or something and drew something on a piece of paper. When it was done, a crude drawing of Pyro and Neo smiling together in a room with pajamas on was revealed to Cinder. The word ' _S_ _ **l**_ **E** _e_ _ **p 0**_ **v** e _r_ ' in a higly bastardized form was written above them.

"A sleepover? You want a sleep over with Neo? I'm sorry, but isn't that a little… _questionable_ for a man such as yourself to be doing such a thing with a teenager?" Pyro said nothing and stared at her.

"You know I'm only telling the truth." She said. Pyro said nothing and kept staring at her. Cinder was beginning to have some serious déjà vu right now. It reminded her of her first encounter with Pyro at the party when it creepily stared at her.

"Could you please stop staring at me?" She said annoyed. Pyro dropped Neo and walked up to Cinder until it was almost right up against her.

"Uh, what are you doing? Can you please-oh!" Pyro placed both hands on her shoulders and looked deeply into her amber eyes. Cinder stared back at it with a flustered look, but then, _it_ happened. Cinder began having terrible visions of her being tortured in ways that make even her sick. She saw fields of hellfire and corpses with enough face left on them to indicate they were in extreme pain when they died. She saw a huge demonic skull with an open mouth with its teeth lined with bloody corpses, and inside was a throne with the Pyro on it. And it had her severed head on its lap…

"Gah! Okay! You can take Neo! Just get away from me!" She pushed it away from her while the rest of Team Evil looked on worriedly, _especially_ Neo. Pyro tilted its head sideways at Cinder. _Why did the beautiful fire queen push me away?_

"Did you hear me!? You can take Neo! Just please bring her back by tomorrow morning!" Pyro snapped out of it and looked around.

"Mphm!" It said in acknowledgement. It grabbed Neo and ran out of the room and over to its staff house. Neo tried to scream, but you know, she's mute. Emerald and Mercury were really worried while Cinder laid in bed, trying to get rid of the awful visions in her head.

* * *

 **Alright, lads and lasses, here's the next chapter! So as established before, I'm a lazy, high school, fuck so this story will most likely be updated once every week. Sorry. :(**

 **On another note: I would like to shout out a cool guy called Cadaver1041! This boi is a fresh writer making a much darker and serious TF2 X RWBY crossover than this one here. He's also a better writer then me. So if you like that kind of thing then go check his shit out. Let it be known I'm a fresh writer too, but I feel its right that we help each other out. His story is called 'Leaving a Dead World'. (Please don't fuck me up if this sounds pretentious Cadaver. Alternatively, you can and I will cry about it.)**

 **A shout out to LE MAO XVII as well. He is a significantly better writer than me and he has some cool stuff as well. He's got a TF2 X RWBY crossover called 'Team Fortress 2 vs RWBY'. He pits TF2 characters against RWBY characters. Pretty simple, but entertaining regardless. Don't get me wrong though, I'm a sensitive guy so when I see characters I like fight each other, it hurts the heart you know? Similar deal with Tracer vs Scout. Anyway check him out too. (Same deal as Cadaver, LE MAO.)**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Stryker Pikachung J: Thanks!**

 **buzzsaw935 and ATTF: I haven't played TF2 long enough to know all the cosmetics nor do I actually care about cosmetics, so I just decided to have them be all default in appearance. They do have all class cosmetics in their inventories so you can imagine whatever you want for them. Plz don't fuck me up for not caring about cosmetics. I'm F2P since 2010 so I don't get stuff like hats unless its an event, and I'm too lazy to pay for anything on the TF2 store.**

 **MrtheratedG: Maybe, maybe...**

 **Yey: Maybe, maybe... Your name is funny because I posted 'yey' once as a guest review on ATTF's 'The Five Mercenaries'. I was a pussy back then and I didn't have an account for this website left so I left an anonymous review for ATTF.**

 **Red Lisa: Thank! And why not write your own? It might turn into something great...**

 **Cadaver1041: _Yesssssss~_**


	12. Captured and Banished!

**Notes:**

 **O-money is Monty Oum. (Peace be with my boi T_T)**

 **Gaben is obvious.**

 **The songs Soldier is singing are the "Hymn of the Marines" and "Blood on the Risers". Both are military songs about the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Airborne, respectively.**

 **Oum means 'uncle' in my language. This has nothing to do with the chapter, but let me tell you how awkward it was when I found out his full name.**

* * *

 **Mercs' House**

"John…" A French voice began. "This is one of the most idiotic things you have ever done since I've first met you."

"Idiotic!? Humph! Typical Frenchie! You people think your better than everyone else, but at the first sign of getting your toes stubbed you run away like a bunch of little girls! Oh, wait! You really do!" Soldier laughed while Spy sighed.

"That is because I specialize in stealth and sabotage. I run away only to come back and finish the job at a more opportune time."

"Ah! You admit to running away from fights! No wonder why France got its ass squashed by the krauts during the war!"

"That was because the people managing our military were a bunch of idiots. And, for your information, Général Charles De Gaulle did come back to fight the Germans with the remains of the French army."

"Pffft! Doesn't change the fact he ran away to England!"

"Yes… he fled to England." Spy sighed in defeat.

"Well, it looks like you're not so different from the rest of the croutons, Jacques! You and your country have a tradition of running away! At least the queen worshipping, tea drinkers kept fighting!"

"Oh… can we get back to why you're crafting an American flag out of cloth and blankets now?"

"I already told you Jacques, we are in serious need of an American flag! And I couldn't find any so I'm making one!"

"Not too surprising, but why is it so big?"

The makeshift flag Soldier was making could cover the whole of the mercs' front yard and half of the house if fully spread out. It was a patchwork of various cloth, rags, clothes, blankets, and whatever other fabric Soldier could find. All the mentioned materials were in various shades of the colors red, white, and blue.

"Because! I have come to the realization that upon entering this world, we have been declared war on by these 'Grimm'. And more importantly, they declared war on **ME**! A loyal G.I. of the American military, and by extension, the entire U, S, of A! I won't stand for it!"

"Okay, but what does that have to do with making the flag so big?" Spy said.

"Oh, it's because my extensive knowledge of American military history reminded me that the army with the biggest flag always wins! Not like an American army ever loses anyway, but look at the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore! The biggest American flag ever was flown there and the Americans won the battle with the British running away from the sheer size of it! Also, it is to my understanding that this enemy is literally everywhere, so I want those bastards to get a _really_ good look at the ultimate symbol of democracy!"

"I'm fairly certain that's not why the British retreated, John…" Spy said.

"And if I were to take an educated guess based on your explanation, you intend to fly this… 'flag' high above our house in an effort to scare off the Grimm?"

"Precisely!" Soldier said. "It's full-proof if you ask me." He said proudly while Spy face palmed.

"Ugh… Well at least it means you're taking your damn underwear off the flagpole." Spy looked over at the hastily made flagpole Soldier made.

In the absence of a proper flag, Soldier painted a pair of his underwear in the colors of the American flag and flew it on a flagpole made out of long wooden sticks glued or tied to each other in a crude fashion.

In the distance, a very large explosion could be seen from somewhere in the campus, and something with flame trailing behind it was flying towards the merc's house…

"-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" A familiar Scottish voiced screamed in joy as he shot across the campus and right into the mercs' front yard. He landed right on top of Soldier's huge flag with a crunching noise, and was killed instantly.

"RAAAAAAGHH!" Soldier raged. "YOU DAMN CYCLOPS! YOU RUINED MY FLAG!" He jumped on Demo's corpse and preceded to beat the shit out of it. Either so angry as to where he would beat a corpse, or too stupid to realize he's dead. Maybe a little of both…

"TIME TO FACE THE WRATH OF AN ANGRY AMERICAN!" Soldier was now slamming Demo's face into the ground. He was doing that thing that mothers do sometimes when they're hitting you and they hit you with every word they say.

"DO" (FACE SLAM)

"NOT" (FACE SLAM

"MESS" (FACE SLAM)

"WITH" (FACE SLAM)

"THE" (FACE SLAM)

"FLAAAAAAAAG!" (FACE CRUSH!)

Yeah… Demo's brains were now all over the flag while Spy just sighed.

"Ugh… you better hope Friedrich has an auto reanimator ready, John, you simpleton."

"Dell!" Spy called into the house. A hardhat wearin' head popped out of the second floor room windows.

"Yeah!?" A smooth Texan voice yelled.

"Did you and Friedrich bother to make any more of those auto reanimators since our initiation?"

"Yeah… we made one. Why do you ask?" Engineer asked. Spy pointed over to Demo's corpse which Soldier was dragging off of the flag. Engineer had to lean out of the window to get a good look at the scene.

"Ah, I see! I'll be down right quick!" He yelled as he went back in the window. At this point Scout came vaulting over the wall.

"Hey fellas. You- woah! What happened to Demo?" Scout said upon seeing Soldier drag Demo's body over by the bushes by the front door.

"The idiot sticky jumped from somewhere and forgot he can die from the fall." Spy replied simply.

"And he landed on the flag!" Soldier added as he was digging a shallow grave for Demoman's body.

"John, stop digging! Demo will be alive and well soon." Spy said. Soldier groaned and threw his shovel on top of Demo's corpse, and then walked back over to his giant flag to fix whatever damages Demo did do it. Spy and Scout watched him walk back to the flag before continuing their conversation.

"Okay… so anyways, you'd never woulda guess where I just came back from!" Scout said excitedly.

"I was wondering where you went." Spy said. "Judging by your excitement, you probably went and flirted with some girls."

"Uh, that too… but It was somethin' even better! I was out in the city, right? Lookin' for some of the finer things this world got, when I found this wicked nightclub!" Spy raised a brow.

"A nightclub?"

"Yeah! Owned by this swell guy named Junior, reminds me of this punk who owned a bar back in Boston I used to tussle with. They havin' a party this Friday, and I'm invited!"

"Why do you want to go to a filthy nightclub for, William?"

"For your information, it ain't filthy. It's as clean as the floor after mom mops it up. Also, I would love to spend some time away from you guys. Getting into fights and living with eight other dudes for three years straight gets a man wanting some time to himself, you know?"

Spy had a quick 'nam flashback of all the times in the past where his coworkers have made it the worst experience of his life. Anything ranging from killing each other even when on the same team, supernatural monsters, evil wizards, bread monsters…

"Yes… I know the feeling."

Engineer came running out of the house with one of the only auto reanimator they made since they've been in this world. He had to dig up Demo's body and pull his corpse out of the shallow grave first. Scout stepped over Demo as he went inside the house.

"Christ Soldier, you really had to smash his brains out?" Engie said as he was picking up bits of Demo's brain and skull.

"Yes! It was for America!" Soldier yelled whilst scrubbing out blood from one of the red stripes on the flag, not realizing no one would really notice it. Engie shook his head and shoved Demo's brain bits back into his skull before throwing the device by him. The device did its job and Demo was alive and well again.

"-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…" Demo went. He stopped when he realized he wasn't flying anymore.

"Oh…" He looked at the self-destructed device next to him.

"Did I die?" Engineer nodded his head.

"You done and wasted a reanimator too. These things ain't easy to make you know?" Engie said.

"Sorry mate… Must have been meh scrumpy." Demo burped loudly and passed out while Engineer face palmed at his friend's drunken antics. He then picked up the reanimator and went inside to see if he can fix it up for future use. Soldier began softly singing some military song as he worked on his flag.

" _From the halls of Montezuma,_

 _To the shores of Tripoli,_

 _We fight our countries' battles;_

 _In the air, on land, and sea:"_

…

The ultimate American patriot kept singing when Medic and Sniper came running in from the front entrance.

"G'day fellas." Sniper said between breaths. "You see Demo 'round-" Sniper stopped once he saw Demo out cold on the lawn.

"Ah, he survived. Damn rat…" Sniper went inside the house while Medic stayed back to examine Demo.

"Hmm… No sign of anything broken, internal bleeding, or even bruising! Spy, did you use ze new auto-reanimator Dell and I built?" Spy nodded his head.

"Ah. Zat vould explain it. Vell, I suppose I ought to go inside and build some more then."

"Yes. You go do that." Spy said. "Those devices are very essential to us." Medic nodded his head and went inside. You can hear him calling out for Engineer so that they could begin work on the devices. That left Soldier and Spy in the scene, not including Demo. Why? Because when Demo is out cold, he's practically in another world until he wakes up from drunken slumber.

"… _In the snow of far-off northern lands._

 _And in sunny tropic scenes;_

 _You will find us always on the job._

 _The United States Marines."_

"Soldier, please stop your singing." Spy said, and Soldier looked at him angrily.

"Stop my singing? You snail-snapper… of course you wouldn't appreciate the patriotic songs of the U.S.A! Damn you! I'll keep singing until I drop from starvation! Now run off like your country did in the war, rifle-dropper." He resumed work on his flag and started another singing another military song. This time much louder.

" _He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright,"_

…

Spy simply shrugged the insults off, he didn't have that many connections with France anyway. He walked over Demo and into the front door, when he was suddenly run over by Pyro rushing into the house and upstairs at breakneck speeds.

"Ohhhh…" Went the Frenchmen as he lay on the floor with a possibly broken back.

"Medic…"

* * *

 **Pyro's Room**

Pyro violently knocked its door open and threw Neo into its pile of stuffed animals. It then slammed its door shut and locked it with whatever it had until it was obscenely secure. Once it was done, it slowly turned towards Neo, and stared at her. Neo was tightly hugging a huge cat plushy, shaking in fear as the Pyro walked towards her. She was afraid it was going to torture her since it knew who she was, but then again, this guy has done nothing other than be really nice and friendly to her.

"Mphm…" Pyro went as it was standing above her. It extended its hand for Neo to take which she hesitantly did.

" _Thank you"._ She said in sign language once she was on her feet. Pyro mphmed a response, which she guessed was a 'you're welcome'. It then reached into its insanely deep pockets and pulled out a little piece of paper.

"Mphm!" It gave her the paper, and it was an adorable little 'F _r_ **iE** n _d_ _**C**_ _a_ rD" with a happy face, flowers, rainbows, smiling corpses, kitties, doggies, burning houses…

She looked at the card warily, then gave a shy smile and pocketed it. Pyro clapped its hands happily and hugged her. Neo jumped when it hugged her, unaware that she had changed her eye colors as she did so. She slowly and uneasily hugged the Pyro back, much to its delight.

 _Okay…_ Neo thought. _It knows who I am, but he doesn't seem to care that much._ She relaxed and smiled as the Pyro's friendly hug felt nice and warm.

Then, there was a knocking on the door.

"Pyro!" Spy yelled from behind the door.

"Hmph!" Pyro went as it ran to open the door, taking off every single thing it used to secure it. Once it was finally open, Spy gave Pyro a furious look while he was holding an empty first aid kit.

"Why did you run me over?!" Spy yelled. He was going to yell some more when he noticed the petite little black haired girl standing in the middle of the room. Spy looked at her and back and Pyro as he got his chest to stop heaving in anger.

"Pyro, why is there a student in your room?" The Frenchman asked after calming down completely.

"Mphmphm mphm!" Pyro giddily showed the ' _S_ _ **le**_ **eP** _ **oVe**_ r" drawing it showed Cinder earlier to the Spy. Spy gave Pyro a completely straight look.

"You… intend to have a sleepover with this girl?"

Pyro nodded its head and gave a muffled noise that actually sounded like a 'Yes!'

"Ugh…Pyro…" Spy face palmed. "You can't have a teenage girl over for a sleepover!"

"Mphm! Mphmhpmh Mphm?!"

"I don't care! If word gets out that a teenage girl slept in your room for the night, people could get the wrong idea and it will ruin our reputation!"

"Mphm? Mpmhm… _Mphmhpmh…"_

"Pyro! No! She is not sleeping over! And that is final!"

"Mphm! Mp-"

"Shut up! Just get her out of here already!"

Out of options, Pyro used its last resort… It got close to Spy and stared deeply into his-

"I will take all of your rainbows and toys away if you do not back away from me now, you maniac!" Needless to say, Pyro immediately jumped away from the Frenchman.

"That tactic no longer works on me, you fool! I've been killed and set aflame by you so many times that I've become immune to all forms of fear from you!"

That wasn't entirely true. Spy was still very aware that Pyro could absolutely fuck the shit out of him if it was really angry, but in this case, the Frenchman was counting on Pyro being too damn sad to remember it could do such a thing. Luckily, that was exactly the case.

Pyro slouched in defeat, and sadly turn towards Neo and gave its hand towards her.

"Don't worry young lady. The Pyro will lead you out of our home and you can go back to your dorm now." Spy looked her over once more before Pyro led her out.

"Hmm… You are one of our students, the one who refused to fight yesterday. Miss…?"

Neo made the sign language for 'Rosa Tremaine'. Spy raised a brow at her.

'You are mute?' He asked in sign language which surprised Neo.

'Yes.' She responded.

"Hmm, that would explain why you are so quiet." He said.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Miss Tremaine. I bid you Adieu." He bowed his head and motioned for Pyro to go ahead and take her

He followed them out as Pyro led her downstairs, and as they walked past him, Spy noticed something was off about this girl's eyes… He remembered yesterday, during class, her eyes were a bright green, but now, they were brown and pink… like that girl that was with Torchwick.

Neo felt a hand placed on her shoulder and looked back to see the tall form of the Spy behind her. They were still in the hallway leading out to the Livingroom.

"Ms. Tremaine…" Spy went in a calm manner while Neo looked at him with a questioning look.

"I think I've had a change in heart. Maybe you can spend the night here." He said coolly.

Pyro, upon hearing this, jumped up in joy and rainbows somehow radiated off of it. It grabbed Neo by the hands and it made her jump and down with it.

"Yes, yes, Pyro. I know you're happy, but the choice is entirely up to her if she wants to stay here."

Neo's eyes went wide. She knew she was right up against the enemy that she was so afraid of, yet she also knew there was no possible way they could know who she was. Except for the Pyro of course, and it seemed that it hadn't told its friends of who she really was yet if the Spy didn't apprehend her about it by now. And the Pyro was her friend…

"Well, do you want to stay, Miss Tremaine?" He asked in a warm voice, interrupting Neo's though process.

She nodded 'yes'. Pyro jumped even higher in joy, dragging poor Neo up and down with it.

"Very well, looks like you are staying with us tonight! Now if you follow me, I will give you a sleeping bag down in the basement."

Neo gave him a confused look.

'But it's still daytime.' She sign languaged.

"Oui, I know that. But I will give it to you now so you don't have to worry about it later. Understood?"

She nodded her head.

"Excellent! Now come along. This should only take a moment."

Spy led Neo over to the Basement door with Pyro following behind, and opened the door for her.

"Ladies first." He said politely.

Neo hesitated a bit before proceeding down the basement steps with the Spy following behind a few steps back. She got the surprise of her life once she made it to the bottom. Standing at the bottom of the staircase in complete shock, Neo stared wide eyed at Roman Torchwick in his cocoon like constraints. Torchwick opened his eyes once he felt her presence in the basement. He was left ungagged this time around as he had no reason to call for help in a place where anyone who came would either beat up or arrest him. The criminal recognized the girl as Neo in her student disguise, but he was too angry to think about how they would disguise themselves as her disguise.

"Again? Are you seriously trying to trick me into thinking you got Neo for a second time? Man, you guys are desperate! Why don't you try looking for her up your-"

He shutted the fuck up when Spy finished walking down the stairs, whistling.

"Oh! Pardon me! Did I… _interrupt_ something?" Spy smiled deviously and smugly while Pyro came down the steps too.

"Gag him." Spy whispered back to Pyro.

Before Neo could snap out of her shocked state, Spy pounced on her and grabbed her throat with both hands, choking her. She was gasping for breath as she looked over at Roman to see the Pyro run over to him.

"NE-Oughghg…" Went Roman as Pyro stuffed a pretty homemade scarf it knitted itself down Roman's mouth. T'was an unusual, but effective gag.

Neo's world slowly went black as oxygen was cut off from her brain. The last thing she saw before blacking out, was the Spy choking her out with a small smile on an otherwise polite and plain face.

"Alright…" Spy went as he stood up to his feet. "We got her, and to think she was hiding as a student here all this time…" He picked Neo up and held her over his shoulder.

Spy then walked over to the support beam at Torchwick's left, and started restraining her in largely the same manner that Torchwick was confined in. Torchwick was yelling muffled cries of anger during this whole ordeal by the way.

Once Spy was done restraining Neo, it looked like two giant cocoons were in the basement. You know, if cocoons were made of chains, ropes, sleeping bags, blankets, locks…

"Mphmpf?" Pyro mphmed.

"Don't worry about your friend here, Pyro." Spy said. He then looked at Torchwick straight in the eyes with a smug look on his face.

"We won't harm her as long as _someone_ gives us answers." He smiled evilly as Torchwick's expression changed to one of genuine fear.

"Come, Pyro. We'll see her again tonight…" He said menacingly before walking back up the stairs with the Pyro.

After hearing the basement door shut, Roman looked over at his unconscious baby girl, and wept.

* * *

 **Oh, boo hoo! What an unmanly sod, this one is! I don't know about you lot, but I'm tired of this drama nonsense! What this chapter needs is a fatal dose of adrenaline, manliness, and action, all poured into one explosive cocktail of epicness! Now, I, Saxton Hale, am proud to announce that this portion of the chapter will be exclusively about me! Australian national hero and CEO of Mann Co., Saxton Hale! I know I said it twice, but if you've a problem with that, please pour your complaints out of your mouth hole and onto my fist once I connect it with your stupid faces! Now, back to the matter at hand! Here's part two of 'Mann vs. Beast: A Clash of Fists and Fangs!"**

 **Mannlich**

The townspeople lagged far behind Hale as he sprinted faster than a peregrine falcon in a hunting dive towards the alpha beowolf leading its beringels. One of the four beringels jumped in front of the alpha and took the full brunt of Hale's devastating charge with a fist clocking in at around **5 fucking hundred kilometers** per hour crashing into its chest. The creature wasn't dead yet, but it **DEFINITELY** felt that shit as it was sent crashing into the lesser Grimm behind it. True to the alpha's orders, the remainder of the Grimm army ignored Hale, and focused on the townspeople.

"RAAAAAGH!" Hale roared in challenge to the five remaining beringels and alpha. The gorilla-Grimm slammed their fist into the ground and their chests as they prepared to rush Hale. Hale mimicked their actions mockingly, making them even angrier. One leapt high into the air and slammed down on Hale with its fists cuffed together. For once, Hale actually got the air knocked out of him.

The beringel was about to repeatedly smash its fists down on Hale's face when its neck was suddenly firmly grasped by one, manly, Australian hand. He punched the creature off of him, and quickly got to his feet and nimbly dodged a dozen swings from another two attacking in sync. As they were swinging at him, Hale grabbed one by its arm and ducked underneath the other's as it flew where his head was, and began swinging it around in an effort to use it as a living bludgeon. That didn't work out so well as the simian Grimm kept its footing and tried to chomp down on Hale's head. Hale had to break away from it to avoid getting his face bitten clean off, only to face the same beringel he punched earlier when it joined the fight to return Hale's punch. Hale blocked just in time, but the force of the punch was too great and he was sent skidding a few meters back, face first. Seeing their opportunity, all four beringels closed in on Hale and started beating the fuck out of him while the alpha watched. It would be smiling right now if it was a human. Feeling confident that Hale was down for the count, it looked around the battlefield to see that the townspeople were already retreating back to their wall with the lesser Grimm in pursuit.

After a couple minutes of beating Hale's ass, the beringels stopped, thinking he was long dead at this point. The alpha saw this and walked up to Hale's body with an air of victory surrounding it. Feeling so sure of itself, it decided to take a victory bite of Hale's flesh…

"Hahaha…" A voice laughed softly. The alpha paused midbite and looked at the down man in confusion.

 **SAXTON HALE!**

All the Grimm around Hale were stunned as a manly and mighty roar was heard for miles around, and stumbled back to recover only for each and every one of them to receive devastating blows to the face in quick succession. The alpha in particular got an elbow smash to the face.

"Hahaha!" Laughed Saxton Hale. It wasn't one of those 2edgy4me insane anime laughs though, it was Saxton Hale's usual hearty laugh.

"Mate, you have no idea how long I've waited for a fight like this!" Hale said happily as he wept a tear from his eye.

"Ahh… Look at what you gone and did! You ruptured my tear ducts! I thought a sealed those off years ago!" Hale raised his fists and gave a brave smile.

"Real men don't cry! Why don't you sods come and wipe my tears away for me like the girls you are, _hmmm_?"

The Grimm got fuckin' _pissed_ and ran forward to metaphorically fuck Hale so hard that he'll die from the sheer violence of the act. Ugh… the fuck am I writing this for… Well you get it, they want to kill him.

"BRAVE JUMP!" Hale yelled as he leapt high into the air to descend back down with his fist extended. One of the beringels jumped up with its fist cocked back to meet Hale in the air, only to get a manly fist to the mouth. I mean like literally in its mouth, as in Hale punched straight into its mouth and it was stuck in it. Well, it was stuck until the beringel's head exploded upon impact with the ground.

There was no time to marvel at his kill though, as Hale was nailed right in the face by the alpha as soon as he got to his feet. He slid back from the hit, and exchanged blows with the three remaining beringels as the alpha stood back and watched again. Hale ducked under a swing and sweeped a beringel off of its feet before slamming it into the ground with his fists. Then, he was dealt a blow to the gut and then a swing to the face from another beringel. Before he can even counter, the beringel he slammed a moment ago had grabbed his legs and held him there for the third beringel to come and uppercut him up into the air.

All three beringels jumped up to pursue Hale. One grabbed him by the legs in order to throw him back down to the ground, but it wasn't counting on the fact that Hale was counting on this to happen. Once the creature's arms were firmly grasped on Hale's legs, Hale flipped himself over, punched the beast in the face, making it let go of him, and pushed off of it with both legs, making it crash into one of its kin back into the ground. As for the last beringel in the air with him, it grabbed onto Hale's back and repeatedly slammed its fists onto Hale's hatted head. Hale reverse head-butted it and flipped it over him to pile-drive it into the ground. The creature's head caused a crater to form once it collided with the ground, but it wasn't dead yet. Before finishing it off, Hale had to punch and kick away its companions so that they couldn't interfere with this glory kill. Once he was clear, Hale grabbed both of the creature's bottom fangs, planted his foot firmly onto its chest, and began pulling with all of his strength. The creature roared in pain as Hale ripped out its fangs, thrashing around wildly in an effort to get Hale off of it, meaning it didn't see what Hale was going to do until it was too late…

*SHINK*

Hale stabbed both fangs into the Grimm's eyes, making it cease all of its movements and causing it to make a low groaning noise. The groaning noise stopped once Hale shoved the fangs deeper into its eyeholes. The manly man laughed once the creature began fading. Its companions roared in rage as yet another of their kin had been killed by this unbelievable man. They didn't have a lot of time to roar though as Hale quickly closed the gap between him and the Grimm. He held one in a very strong choke hold while he fought the other with only one arm. The choking beringel wildly threw its hands behind its back to try and get Hale to release it, but Hale moved it in front of the attacking beringel so that both gorillas would strike and hit each other. In anger, the attacking beringel slammed its fist into its own kin to get it to stop hitting it, grabbed it, and threw it away from Hale. Once the attacker faced Hale, it got several punches to the face, making it stumble back from each punch. Hale got punched back by the Grimm, but held strong. He returned blows with multiple, simultaneous, and devastating deep strikes all over the creature's body. It tried to return the punches whenever it could, but it wasn't enough to stop this beast of a man. No, if anything it made Hale intensify the speed and power of the blows against it. Eventually, the creature began to falter and stop punching once it ran out of energy, but of course, Hale didn't stop. He kept rapidly punching the Grimm for a couple of seconds before twisting his body all the way around with a fist cocked in uppercut position… to punch the beringel _really_ high up into the sky.

The man then went under the swinging arms of the beringel he was strangling earlier, and tackled it. It did not go down however, and it was slamming its hands down on Hale's back as he tried to flip it onto its back. That was not a successful endeavor though as Hale finally hit the ground with a powerful cuffed slam from the beringel's fists. The gorilla was going to stomp Hale's head in, but the Australian rolled a couple of inches to the right, narrowly missing the stomp, and punched the beringel's balls. As the creature keeled over, Hale rolled his body up like a shrimp to use both legs to kick it up and away in the air, making it clip into the other beringel as it was coming back down to the ground. Though it had taken a really powerful uppercut to the face, this falling beringel descended back down with its fists cuffed and raised to smash Hale into the dirt. Luckily, this actually worked and Hale was pinned to the ground by the gorilla Grimm. The Grimm angrily unleashed a barrage of hate filled fists onto Hale, in which case he held his arms in front of his face, struggling to hold out against the barrage. Eventually, Hale grabbed a nearby stone and smashed it into the beringel's face with such force as to where its face plate cracked and it held it in pain. Once the creature stopped gripping its face to look at Hale, it was greeted by the sight of him holding something that he really shouldn't be associated with…

A safari shirt. Hale pounced on the beringel, wrapping the shirt around the creature's neck as it fell backwards with him on its chest. The stranglehold on the beringel tightened as it attempted to rip the shirt off of its neck, but it was useless as this shirt was impossibly tough. It weakly punched (at least much weaker than before) Hale in an effort to get him off, but in the end, it was killed by a shirt.

"Ha!" Hale laughed as he let go of the creature.

"Thank you Maggie for making these Kevlar shirts for my birthday!" He said to himself.

"…I'm still probably not gonna where 'em though. Oh well…" He put the shirt back in his personal inventory.

In an instant, Hale turned around and clotheslined the last beringel as it tried to get the jump on him. Hale jumped onto the creature as it was down to grapple with it in a wrestling match, rolling all over the floor with his limbs wrapped around it with the creature doing the same. He slammed his elbow into the creature's head a couple of time, took a punch to the chest, got a solid blow to the face when the creature grabbed his head and slammed him into the ground, and returned the favor with a suplex. After a few more moments of violent scuffling in the dirt, Saxton Hale hoisted it over his shoulders in a fireman carry and threw it off into some nearby trees, making some trees fall over with the creature's impact.

The creature angrily threw all the trees aside in a rage, but it was quickly silenced with an entire log thrown into its mouth. Hale ran behind the creature and elbowed the back of its head so that the log was really deep in its throat. The creature attempted to pull the log out of its mouth, but then Hale wrapped the Grimm's arms around the log with his spare hunting chain and punched it in the face to stun it. He ran back over to the free end of the log, and began swinging the log around with the beringel on it like it an Oympic hammer thrower. After a couple dozen rotations, Hale released the log, making it crash right into the sturdy stone wall of the town of Mannlich, Grimm first. Hale ran over to see if it was finally dead, and to his slight surprise, it was still alive, but barely.

Hale smiled and walked over to the creature.

"Ooo… Tough luck, chap!" Hale said as he patted the log that was still in its mouth.

"What say you we get this damn stick out of your mouth, hmm?" The beringel groaned in response as Hale removed its chains and the log. Once it was free, the beringel fell to the ground, flat on its back. Hale crouched besides its head and grabbed its lower and upper jaw and began pulling it in opposite directions. The beringel groaned loudly in pain as it felt its jaw get fucked when Hale broke it. Not long after, it finally died, and Hale stood up.

"Sorry about that!" Hale said with a smile. "I saw that in some film where this giant gorilla snapped a dinosaur's jaw by doing just what I did there!"

After taunting the Grimm, Hale looked around him to see the current situation of the town. Despite being driven back and taking losses, the townspeople had managed to hold the Grimm back in a brutal melee in the streets. And now, the Grimm were in high retreat as Atlesian dropships had arrived and begun strafing runs on them. The townsfolk cheered as Atlesian Knights and Soldiers dropped down to support them. But there was something off though… Where was the alpha pussy?

The Australian got his answer when he looked over to the forest to see the pussy itself, hanging out by the mouth of the forest with lesser Grimm in full retreat running past it, being a fucking pussy as usual.

"Well now! I thought you manned up mate! Yet you barely came and fought me at all! Seems like you truly are the coward everyone knows you are."

 _He's not wrong._ A young beowolf who stopped beside the alpha growled, in which it got decapitated by the alpha.

 _SHUT THE FUCK UP!_ The alpha roared. It then ran into the forest with the remains of its army. There was only 30 out of the 600 it brought with it. A total defeat because of an Australian and a town full of manly frontier folk.

"Oh no you don't, you goddamn bitzer!" Hale yelled as he ran after it.

He was so determined to kill the alpha that he ignored the other Grimm running out into the forest, only 'interacting' with them when he ran them over. This was a bad move on Hale's part, as he just ran right into the Grimm's trap…

A huge portal of dark red swirls opened up and swallowed all the Grimm and Hale up. Hale attempted to slow down, but his momentum was too great. The portal then closed once the last of the Grimm had entered it.

"Hey! Where'd they go!?" An Atlas Soldier yelled as Hale and the Grimm just vanished off the spot.

* * *

 **Unknown Location**

The portal spat Hale and the Grimm out onto a hard, crystal like floor. The Grimm scurried away before Hale could get up, and when he did, his eyes went wide.

Surrounding him in all directions, were Grimm of all shapes and sizes everywhere. Grimm on the walls, Grimm perched on giant dark purple crystals, Grimm covering the land, Grimm everywhere. Hale did not panic though. If anything, this pleased him because this was definitely going to be a _**HUGE**_ fight, but he did feel a little dread upon seeing how many Grimm there were though.

"Welcome, stranger." A female voiced called from behind him. He turned around to see a bone pale women with glowing red eyes and adorned with an all-black cape with a strange design on it.

"Who the hell are you!?" Hale yelled at her.

"Who I am is not important, Mr. hale." She said. "What is important, is you being in this universe."

"Ha! Stupid woman, you're pets here dragged me into this world!" Hale said.

"I don't mean this realm, Hale. I mean our world as a whole." She said.

"You and your men don't belong here in Remnant. _Especially_ you…" She said chillingly.

Hale pffted at her.

"*Pfft* Think I don't know that? I only came here to bring them back to our world, alright?"

"And it seems you've either forgotten that, or you have no way back."

"Uh, it might've been a bit of both… Mostly the latter…" He admitted. The woman smiled.

"Oh? Is that so? Than it must be your lucky day, Hale. I happen to have a way for you to get back to your world." Hale lit up.

"Really? Well slap me with a cactus made of nails, why didn't you say so earlier?" Hale said.

"Sure! Though I would be very sad if I didn't get to fight those buggers over there ever again…" He pointed a thumb at some Grimm.

"…Mann Co. comes first! And more importantly, my hunting reserve! Speaking of hunting, do you mind me bringing some Grimm with us?" She shook her head.

"While I would love to see another world burn, I already have this one to focus on. That would be a no, Hale."

"Aww… Applesauce! Oh well, let's get this over with. Let me get my boys before you send us back." Hale took a step forward when he was suddenly restrained by an unseen force.

"Actually, Mr. Hale…" Salem began. "While it's true you people don't belong here, _you_ are the only one causing enough of a stir for me to do this to you."

"Argh! What are you doing to me?!" Hale struggled to move his body.

"What am _I_ doing to you? Did I not say earlier? I'm sending you back home." She said. An evil smile formed on her face.

Hale was going to yell at her, but then a blue portal opened up right in front of him.

"W-what…" Hale said as he looked at what was on the other side. It was the dimension of nonsense and guff where Gaben and O-money lived. Speaking of the devils, they popped their heads out on either side of the portal entrance.

"Gaben!"

"I'm Monty Oum."

Hale's eyes went really wide.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Hale screamed.

"I refuse to go back in there with _them_!"

"Too bad. Now, goodbye Mr. Hale." Salem said as Hale began slowly floating into the portal. He struggled with all of his might, but it was a futile effort. Hale was sucked into the portal, and it closed as soon as he was fully in it.

* * *

 **The Void**

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Hale screamed again.

"Oh… that hag!" Hale raved.

"Gaben." Hale's head snapped in the direction of the voice, and saw Gaben and O-money hanging out behind him.

"Hi." O-money said.

"Open this damn portal up you damn bastards!" Hale shouted at them.

He tried to grab them by the collars, but it seemed like the only physical aspects of them were the throne and desk so his hands just went right through them.

"Umm, no." Gaben said.

"No? NO?! Oh to hell with you then if that be your answer, mate!" Hale floated away from the men in search of the same portal thing he went through the first time he got to Remnant. He didn't have to search long as he already found the portal he was looking for. This time around, it showed an image of the mercenaries hanging out at their house.

"Ah-haha!" Hale laughed. "Sorry to leave so soon, lads! But I got a pale bitch to give some stitches too!"

He floated into the portal, only to slam against the moving images as if it were a solid glass wall.

"What!?" Hale gasped. He kept trying to enter the portal to no avail.

"Arrrrghhhh! Why won't it let me through!?" He felt a hand tap his shoulder, and saw Gaben off of his throne and standing behind him. Apparently, even though Hale can't touch them, _they_ can touch him.

"What do you want!?" He yelled angrily. Gaben held up a little monitor that said "Saxton Hale has been banned from Remnant. Reason: Complaints of possible hacking."

"THE BANHAMMER HAS SPOKEN!" Gaben yelled as he held up a hammer that said "BAN" on it. O-money simply nodded his head at that statement while Hale just looked at Gaben with a sad and dumb face.

 **NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

* * *

 **Oh fuck... Gaben and O-money are actually relevant to the story! Haha... oh, I'm going to get fucked over so hard by you guys...**

 **Real talk here, I would like to thank all of you guys were bothering to read my story. All the support really means a lot to me. It's not like I enjoy reading your reviews or anything _baka!_ Ugh... the cringe. And also, if you are a guest reviewer, please give yourselves a name. It makes it hard to distinguish guests from one another when I do these responses when they all have the name 'guest'.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Determination Guest: Fuck, dude. I never played Undertale because I'm really poor/too lazy to get it, but by just watching the Sans fight on the internet made me cry on how hard it was.**

 **Batmd and pepijn30: Yep.**

 **Command8: Which scene reminded you of the friendtality? Pyro's entire interaction with Neo?**

 **TheExpL0DiNgaPplE: Eventually.**

 **MCZ: Thanks for the talk. The specific C4 I had in mind was the one from Counter-Strike where the terrorists plant a timed C4 at some important postion. I did this because in "The Contract" comic, Saxton Hale heavily implies that Mann Co. is the on supplying weapons to Counter-Strike players whenever they buy new weapons during a game.**

 **Christopherprime22: Fear teh puppy eyes. They will melt your soul, they will cause extreme pain and agony to your loved ones, all because it is really cute!**

 **Noble the Unknown Primordial: Thanks mate!**

 **Stryker Pikachung J: Pyro needs to work on its technique, eh?**


	13. Things are happenin'

**No Notes, but you should really read the bottom of this page.**

* * *

 **Mercs' House, That Night**

"...Mr. Torchwick...are you awake now?"

Roman woke up to the sight of the Spy sitting down in a folding chair in front of him. He looked around at his surroundings to see that Neo was now lying down in a sleeping bag with ropes wrapped around her. She was still sleeping, and the Pyro was sitting on its own sleeping bag next to her, drawing something with a bunch of crayons it had.

"Ah, you're awake." Spy said. "Good. That means we can finally begin." Spy looked over to Pyro.

"Pyro." Pyro looked up from its drawing of a happy sun overlooking a field of burning people running around everywhere. They had smiles on their faces.

"Wake her up. She definitely does not want to miss this." Pyro leaned over to its bestest friend and tickled her awake. She made no laughing sounds since she was mute, but she looked around in a panic once she fully woke up. Once she spotted the Spy, she gave him a very angry glare.

"Why so angry?" Spy said calmly. "I said I was going to get you a sleeping bag, and here you are! There's your sleeping bag." Neo kept giving him an angry look.

"Still angry, hmm? Perfectly understandable, but please, do not try anything stupid." She started wiggling around when she noticed there was something cold and hard in her sleeping bag.

"That object in your bag? It is a bomb." He held up a detonator. "If you teleport away, I'll simply wipe you out of existence with a press of a button..." He gave her a devilish smile while her eyes went wide. Spy turned back to Torchwick.

"Now, last time we talked you mentioned someone named 'Cinder Fall'. Who is she?" Roman glared at him and didn't say a thing.

"You were with the White Fang when we captured you, does that mean they work for her too?" No response.

"You said that you worked for her as manager of operations in the city. Why?" Again, Roman said nothing and kept glaring. Spy was silent and stared back at him before continuing.

"Okay... If you won't tell us why you work for her, fine. We don't really care about that anyway, but tell us what she wanted with us then." Roman kept his peace while Spy stared back.

"Mr. Torchwick..." Spy began. "Please. I am only trying to have a nice conversation with a fellow gentleman..." He held the detonator up and waved it at Neo. "...and did you forget that I can kill her in an instant?" Neo wiggled in concern while Torchwick tensed up.

"So what? If you blow her up, you'll die too! You auraless bastard!" Roman stated.

"Yes, that is true." Spy said. "I will die, she will die, you will die, and so will my rubber suited friend over there." He motioned over to Pyro who waved at Roman.

"But did you forget that we had machines that could bring us back to life?" Roman tensed up.

"Me and my associates have died thousands upon thousands of times, Mr. Torchwick. We have seen what is waiting for us on the other side, and we no longer fear the prospect of dying." He said curtly.

"Now please..." He moved his finger over the detonator. " _Answer the question_." He said seriously. Roman gave a concerned glance to Neo before looking the Frenchman straight in the eyes.

"Okay..." He began. "Take it easy, please. I'll tell you everything, alright?" Roman tried to say calmly. His voice was a little shaky.

"Start by answering the question then." Spy moved his finger off the detonator and sat straight in his chair. This calmed Roman down a bit, but not much. At least his voice wasn't shaky anymore. A ding was heard from above and Pyro ran upstairs with a 'Mphm!'

"Right... Cinder wanted the Fang and I to capture you so we can get info on where you guys are from. That's it, I swear." Spy gave him a straight face and was silent for a couple of seconds.

"...That's it?" He broke the silence.

"Other than info on your devices, yeah. That's it." Roman said a little nervously. Spy was silent for another moment before continuing .

"So... she wanted information on where we were from?" Roman nodded.

"...And she decided to have you and some terrorists come and capture us then?" Roman nodded again. He visibly got nervous.

"You are absolutely sure about this?" Spy said.

"Y-yes..." Roman said nervously. He started sweating as Spy's tone got more annoyed. Spy face palmed and gave out a loud sigh.

"Ugh... why do terrorists always over complicate things..." He sighed. "She couldn't just come and attempt to ask us herself under some disguise? That would have been far more productive than capturing us in broad daylight!" Roman said nothing and gave Spy a nervous stare. Spy then abruptly stood up.

"Well, seems like this was an utter waste of all of our times, Mr. Torchwick." He said.

"If this 'Cinder Fall' wanted to force us to work for her and her terrorists or something of that sort, I could understand why she would want us captured, but simply wanting to know where we came from?" His voice rose a little.

"That is plain idiocy! You would think the leader of a terrorist organization would have higher priorities than wanting to know where a bunch of strangers come from!" He yelled while Roman and Neo winced. Spy then walked over to Neo and crouched by her face.

"Young lady..." He said. The Ambassador suddenly appeared in his hand and he gently placed the business end of the gun on Neo's forehead. He placed a finger on the hammer as Neo's eyes went wide as she looked up at the Spy with a face full of fear.

"H-hey!" Roman squirmed.

"Quiet!" Spy pulled the hammer of the revolver down to full cock and looked back down at Neo.

"Is he telling the truth?" He asked the ice cream girl. She slowly nodded her head lest she accidentally trigger the Spy into firing a round into her head.

"Okay... then what do you know?" She mouthed out an 'I don't know anything' because her hands were trapped in the sleeping bag so she couldn't perform sign language. Luckily for her, the international super spy could read lips as well. He has an impressive portfolio of skills, okay? The Administrator said he was the best for a reason.

"She doesn't know anything! I don't know anything either! Cinder always keeps us in the dark about her plans! We only know what she tells us! She forced us to work for her!" Roman blurted out, not able to keep his silence after seeing Neo in extreme danger.

"You know nothing about her plans?" Spy said over his shoulder. Roman nodded.

"Yes! A crook like me steals, cheats, and lies, but why would I lie now!?" The Frenchman sighed and pulled out his butterfly knife. He then rolled Neo over on her belly.

"Damn the both of you..." He jammed the knife down on poor Neo's back, right where the knot holding all the ropes together were.

"NO!" Roman screamed. He was going to keep screaming when he noticed that the ropes around Neo simply fell apart.

"W-what?" He said. Neo laid there on the floor, eyes staring down at the floor, trying to understand what just happened. The Spy then helped her sit up, and Pyro was coming back downstairs with a batch of muffins. It gave her a huge hug once it noticed she was free.

"Special Chinese knot tie I learned in Shanghai." He picked up the ropes and quickly tied it into the know that held Neo earlier. "No matter how rigid the ropes are, just stab it right through the center and the whole thing comes apart. This technique makes it far easier to get my... _subjects_... out of their ropes." He then pocketed the ropes. "Saves me rope too."

Roman was at a loss for words. The level of _what the fuck_ Roman was feeling right now is equal to when someone gets jumped by the police in their own house only for the police to reveal that 'it was just a prank bro!' after beating him up and searching his house for contraband.

Neo was still aghast when Spy opened her sleeping bag up to reveal that the 'bomb' was actually his cigarette case. Pyro giving her a hug did nothing to stop her confusion.

"I need this back if you don't mind." He said curtly to Neo as he walked back over to Torchwick. Then he began to free him.

"I... don't... understand..." Roman said after standing there dumb for all that time.

"What? You thought I had a real bomb against her chest? Ha! I wish, but our explosives expert is out at the moment and I don't want to have to clean your bloody remains up." He held up the ambassador. "I'd rather kill you with this, but I needed a way to make sure _she_ doesn't escape so easily."

Roman was still aghast. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you serious?" Spy looked up at his face.

"Yes." He said simply. "I'm letting you go." Roman was still dumb.

"I bet you're wondering why I'm letting you go, yes?" Roman nodded his head.

"It mostly has to do with her." He pointed over at Neo who was struggling to get out of the Pyro's hug.

"Pyro promised her team that she will be back by morning." He glanced over at Pyro who gave a thumbs up.

"It's bad enough that she's having a sleepover with grown men, but a female student suddenly disappearing at a teacher's house? That sounds significantly worse."

Roman was then fully released from his restraints and immediately fell to the floor. He struggled to get up for a moment because a few days of not being able to use your feet does that to you. He needs to get used to walking again.

"Under normal circumstances, my team and I would have killed the both of you, but since we have an arrangement with this girl, and you're a hapless idiot forced to work for someone, I'll let this slide." Spy then reached into his pocket and grabbed a cigar box containing the finest illegal Cuban cigars, in the States at least.

"Cigar?" Spy offered Roman. "The finest from Cuba. Stole it from Castro's stash myself." Roman didn't know what he was talking about, but he gingerly took a cigar and placed it in his mouth. Spy lit both of their cigars. These really were some good ass cigars.

"Ms. Tremaine, or should I rather say, Neo?" Spy said over his shoulder at the girl. She jumped at hearing her name.

"I trust you will stay here tonight as promised?" She hesitated before slowly nodding 'yes'.

"Good, good. I won't turn you two in then." Roman and Neo were surprised and were still speechless.

"Did I say something that offended you? I may technically be a huntsman now, but I honestly care little about whatever this Cinder Fall is planning." He puffed out of his cigar. "As long as it has nothing to do with us... Otherwise, their is going to be some trouble between this Cinder Fall and I."

"This whole ordeal was a complete waste of time, so I suggest _you..._ " He poked Torchwick's chest. "...get out of here before I change my mind." He placed his arm over Torchwick's shoulder and walked him towards the stairs. Neo and Pyro followed suit.

"If Cinder asks you anything about what happened to you..." Spy began. "...tell her the truth." He puffed on his cigar.

"If she doesn't believe you then that is her problem."

"What if she asks about you?" Roman asked.

"About where we're from and our machines? Tell her nothing because you know nothing. It's fitting since you don't know anything about her too." They were now in the hallway leading to the living room. Scout just ran down from the second floor with Engineer following behind him.

"Come on hardhat, we're gonna miss the fight!" Scout said. That's when he noticed Torchwick.

"Huh? No gun to the head, no ropes, and lit cigars? Spy, you lettin' this shmuck go?" Scout asked.

"Oui." Spy said simply.

"Why?" Engineer asked.

"I'll tell you later. For now just get to Heavy and Yang's fight." Engineer and scout said their goodbyes and hurried out the door. Spy walked Torchwick out to the gate. He waved a hand back once he saw a red laser dot shine on Torchwick's head. Spy looked over his shoulder and shook his head at the Sniper. Sniper shrugged and turned the laser on his rifle off, returning back to his nightwatch. It was a hobby of his. The three of them stopped just before the front gate.

"Here we are, Mr. Torchwick." Spy said as he let go of Roman. "You're free to go."

"Are you serious?" Roman asked.

'Yes. I said I was serious earlier." Spy said. "Oh, and here's your cane." The Frenchman passed Roman his cane to which Roman and Neo got really surprised. He was absolutely serious about this if he was giving Roman his weapon back. When Roman grabbed his cane, Spy did not let go of it and gave him a very serious look.

"Make no mistake, Roman. This one act of kindness should not be expected from us again. The next time we meet, I will more than likely kill you without a second thought." He held the stare with Roman for a moment before letting go of the cane.

"Thanks..." Roman said. "Uh... How exactly am I supposed to get out of Beacon without getting caught?" He asked. Spy shrugged and closed the gate to the mercs' property.

"Not my problem, Torchwick." Spy said simply. "You said you were a master thief so I assume you're good at sneaking. Figure it out." He took the cigar out of his mouth and flicked it away.

He turned away from the gate when Roman reached through the bars to grab Spy by the shoulder.

"Hey! Wait!" He said as Spy looked over at him. "Can I... talk to you for a minute?" Spy brushed his hand off of his shoulder and shook his head.

"Not in plain view. Besides, I'm done talking with you for the moment. Now scram, before I change my mind." His hand reached into his coat, scaring Roman into thinking he was reaching for one of his revolvers.

"O-okay!" Roman said as he ran off somewhere, trying to stay low lest someone see him. Spy watched him run off before fully pulling out his cigarette case, then he faced Neo and Pyro.

"What are you two still doing here?" He began. "Go off and enjoy your sleepover."

Pyro jumped in joy as it just remembered why Neo was here in the first place after getting lost with Spy's conversation with Roman. It then picked Neo up and jogged off into the house. Neo and the Spy exchanged looks with each other as she was taken inside the house and Spy remained by the gate, lighting a fresh cigarette.

* * *

 **The Mercs' Ruined Classroom**

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Nora's voice boomed across the classroom while the gathered students simmered down. She was standing in the middle of the sparring ring with Heavy and Yang facing across from each other in their own corners. A bunch of ropes and poles were hastily set up to give off the impression of a boxing ring.

"Are you ready for the biggest, bloodiest, and most action packed fight in Beacon history!?" The crowd gave a loud cheer while she jumped onto the ropes, standing up on them with her body pressing against the higher ropes. Ren, Pyyrha, and Jaune had to hold the ropes straight lest she fall flat on her face.

"I can't hear you! :D" She cuffed a hand by her ear to hear them cheer even louder, much to her delight.

"Ah ha! Much better!" She hopped off the ropes and pranced back to the middle of the ring.

"Okay! We are starting this baby in a couple more minutes, so hold on to your butts until then!"

Yang was currently being tended to by her team as she was sitting down on a stool. Blake and Weiss were massaging her muscles while Ruby was giving her some 'advice'.

"Alright Yang! This is the big fight!" Ruby began. "Everyone in Beacon is counting on you to kick his butt and keep our honor as Beacon students intact!"

"Yeah!" Weiss and Blake cheered from the sides.

"Remember, he's big and fat, so he's got to be really slow! Just run around him and dodge everything until you can get some good hits in, like pow, pow, boom!" Ruby adorably punched the air like she knew what she was talking about. She then started massaging Yang's neck, more like strangling her since she has no idea how to properly massage stuff.

"It's okay! It's okay! No pressure Yang, just calm down and relax, and you will win!" Yang then shoved her off.

"Hard to relax when you're choking me, sis!" Yang said with an annoyed look while Ruby gave out a sad 'sorry'.

"Besides, I got this!" Yang said confidently. "No way an old guy can beat me, especially since he doesn't have an aura!"

"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Ruby cheered. Then she realized something. "Oh! Don't go too rough on him then! Oh... poor Heavy! He must be like a baby without an aura!"

"It's okay Rubes!" Yang stated. "He's pretty tough without it. I think he'll be fine." She looked in front of her to see her Russian opponent directly across from her in his own corner. She gave him a playful wink while Heavy smiled back. Heavy was being tended to by Medic and Demoman right now, doing the same stuff that Team RWBY is doing for Yang.

"Argsh-beet 'em... en mash 'em...an'..." Demo went all drunkenly as his hands went all over Heavy's face in an attempt to find his shoulders and massage them. If Heavy wasn't so focused right now he would have thrown Demo right out of the roof so he just reversed head butt him instead.

"Listen Russisch (Russian), you are my ultimate triumph in ze medical field! You are about to fight a teenage girl..." Medic said.

"Ja... I know zat sounds very embarassing, but she has superpowers! So it's perfectly even! Uh... more or less, but regardless! Make me proud!"

"Da." Heavy said. Then Nora came running over to them.

"Alright big guy, are you ready to begin!?" She said all excitedly. Heavy nodded and Nora then ran over to Yang to tell her the same thing. She then ran back into the center of the ring to announce the beginning of the fight.

"Alright boys and girls! Our two fighters are ready!" The crowd cheered as the two combatants waved to the crowd. Nora ran over to Heavy and raised his hand first, or rather tried to raise it up. Since she was so short compared to him his hand was uncomfortably raised to the height of a Nazi salute. Heavy then raised his hand all the way up with Nora still hanging on with one hand.

"Woah!" She gasped as she was lifted off the floor. "Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you... _Professor_ _Heavy Weapons Guy!"_ Their were cheers and boos from the crowd since a lot of the students were rooting for Yang cuz she's known for her brawling and for being hot as fuck, if you're a boy at Beacon that is. She dropped down from Heavy's hand and went over to Yang.

"And in that corner over there! You know her, you love her! She's the blonde with the massive chest, the fist of Beacon, the girl who'll fight anyone and anything... _Yang! Xiao! Long!"_ Everyone cheered wildly as Yang stood up and waved at everyone, blowing kisses into the air sometimes that the lonelier sods in Beacon would try to catch.

"Haha! Okay! Fighters! Come to the center of the ring!" Both did as she had asked.

"Alrighty! Now here are the rules, no weapons or aura allowed!"

"Let blonde use this 'aura'." Heavy said while Nora and Yang gave him slightly worried looks.

"Are you sure? You know it'll be hard since you don't have one." Nora asked. Heavy nodded his head while Nora smiled.

"Ooooo! Brave guy! I like it! Anyway, that's it for the rules- oh wait! Almost forgot! No killing each other, okay?" Both nodded their heads

"Come on Nora..." Yang said. "This is a friendly fight, right Heavy?" Heavy nodded his head.

"Yeah! We won't hurt each other to badly. Don't worry about it." Nora nodded her head and ran out of the ring to where the teacher's desk was.

" _Alright... Ladies and gentlemen of Beacon, let's get ready to rumble!"_ The crowd cheered like how they usually do. Right before starting the fight officially, Heavy and Yang bumped gloves with each other and assumed their fighting stances. Then, a bell was dinged, and the fight was on.

"Don't go easy on-" Yang got punched right in the face, but her aura made sure she was fine.

"Hey! Cheap shot!" Yang pouted while Heavy smiled.

"Fight started. Now fight!" Heavy said while Yang returned the smile.

"If you say so!"

Yang went in with a right hook as Heavy was still very close to her, but the Russian raised his elbow up to his face to block her attack then countered with an uppercut up the chin since she was wide open. The moment she stumbled back, Heavy punished the shit out of her with multiple, simultaneous (not really, but it was fast as fuck), devastating offensive strikes on the open areas of her defense. He finished up the combo with a headbutt that sent her out on her back. She jumped up to her feet and looked at Heavy aghast. Yang clearly was not expecting Heavy to be so... _professional,_ when it came to boxing. This was not her expectation at all. She knew he was strong, but what she did not see coming was how good he actually was at fist fighting, thinking that he rather let his miniguns do the fighting for him. Still, he's definitely slower on his feet than she is, and he's probably at least as strong as she is by default.

"Lucky! You got me by surprise!" Yang yelled out to the giant.

"Do not underestimate opponent." He replied simply.

Instead of roaring forward like he normally would, Heavy steadily advanced with his arms raised for defense. Clearly, he intended on playing this smart. Yang smirked, and got a running start to perform a powerful running kick on him. Heavy attempted to block by raising his right, but Yang's foot came at such force that it smacked the hand back in his face along with her foot. He did not stumble though, and quickly whipped his head to the side as Yang tried to go in for a punch to his face, then responded by throwing some of his own punches back at her. Yang blocked most of them and returned the favor, though she found it difficult to actually get at him since he's so tall and his arms are so long and thick. Seriously though, Heavy's arms are like tree trunks, and they took blows like tree trunks too. Still, every now and then Yang would slip a punch through Heavy's arms, but she had to get dangerously close to him every time she wanted to land a good hit. Finally, after exchanging and blocking hits that would have put lesser people on their rears, Yang managed a good hit on Heavy's belly. Heavy dropped his defense as he got the air knocked out of him and one arm went down on his stomach to cradle it. Yang took this moment of weakness as a chance to fuck him up, and fuck him up she did. Soon, Heavy was laid out on the floor as he was unable to recover from Yang's hit and defend himself from her further attacks. The blonde stood proudly over him with her gloves on her hips.

"Geez, is that all you got?" She smirked. "Sure, you got me by surprise, but come on! I expected more from an ex-killer!" Heavy did not answer her, but he did bite one of his gloves off and raised a hand up to her. Yang grinned at him.

"Gave up already, huh?" Heavy nodded and Yang moved in to take his hand. "Don't worry, I'll get you back on your feet, you big baby." She giggled. Right before Yang could grasp his hand, Heavy's hand formed into a finger gun. It took Yang way too long to realize where this was going...

 ***POW***

Yang flew back from the insane force of the unseen energy shot out of Heavy's finger. Heavy laughed as he pulled out his sandvich then ate it.

"Sandvich make me strong!" He laughed as he got up to his feet.

"What the heck was that!?" Yang yelled before looking over to Nora. "Judge! Do something!"

"I don't see anything wrong Yang." Nora said. "I don't count that as a weapon." She grinned as she high fived a drunken Demoman.

"Hahaha! There is no rule against sandvich or gun finger!" Heavy said. He then pointed the business of the finger gun at Yang, and started to lay down some rapid powwing.

 ***powpowpopowpowpowpowpowpowpowpow***

Yang tried to dodge, but it was hard to dodge something you couldn't see and something that had perfect accuracy, or at least perfect in the sense that it will always hit at the exact point the finger is pointing at so its more of an issue of how straight Heavy aims his fingers, but eh, whatever. Yang was hit with a few of the pows and was dazed, leaving her wide open for a Russian to slug her right in the face. She was knocked on her back, but before she could even hit the floor, Heavy kneed her back up to face level, then slammed her into the floor with a downward smash. He moved in to kick her in the belly, but Yang had rolled underneath him and back to her feet.

"That wasn't fair." Yang said, then she grinned with her eyes closed. "Least this is getting interesting though- ah!" Heavy socked her in the face again, but did not follow up with a combo.

"Do not talk in middle of fight!" He chastised her. Yang had her hand over her face as she gave him a questioning look.

"Consider this my lesson." He said as he raised his fists back up.

"Okay..." Yang said as her hair started glowing. She grinned once more. "Come at me then!" Nora was going so wild this whole time, that she couldn't even focus on commentating. She had the mic taken away from her when she devolved to making hooting noises and gibberish.

She ran at him with a fist cocked back, while Heavy did the same from his standing position. You see, what was supposed to happen was that their fists were supposed to smash together and make a big shock wave. Instead, what had happened was that their fists missed each other by only an inch and they both hit each other in the faces, making small shockwaves instead of one big one. Both fighters held their ground and proceeded to lay into each other, each punch had such power as to make a mini shock wave. It eventually became a grinding stalemate as neither seemed to want to break from this and kept on taking and giving out damage. That is until the Heavy decided to break it. Heavy grabbed her arm with his gloveless hand and pulled her in to get some extra damage in with a powerful hook to her face. Yang's head shot to the side when she was hit, then she recovered to duck under a punch from the Heavy and gave him a blow to the gut. Heavy scrunched up and retreated backwards with his hand in finger gun form, but Yang was ready this time.

She quickly closed the gap between her and him, and slapped the Russian's arm aside to deliver five punches to his exposed chest, and then a hook to his face. Heavy's entire body spun around from the force of the strike, but he made sure Yang didn't get away with that without a scratch. He swung his gloved arm around wide as he fell back, slugging her right in the face since she was not anticipating this. Yang kept her stance, though now she was starting to feel the hurt. At least she had her semblance though. If Heavy can use his sandvich and finger gun then its only fair that she could use her semblance, even if its vastly more powerful than what he's pulled out so far.

Unfortunately for Yang, she totally jinxed it. Heavy powwed her as soon as he got up and pulled out this huge raw steak, a sandwitch, and a chocolate bar. He combined it into one big mash up of chocolate, beef, and sandwich materials, then ate it. His fists began to glow a bright red and he seemed to be perfectly fine and refreshed. He laughed heartily as Yang got back to her feet, feeling more powerful from the damage Heavy just gave her. He was still laughing when Yang came at him with a fist full of-

"PROFESSOR GOODWITCH IS COMING!"

Ah fuck, are you serious?! Damn I need to beat the shit out of myself for this one, _oh boy!_ I can feel the rage buildin' up... Fuck it, so yeah, some random guy called, sounded like the same guy who called it out from the party, that the witch of Beacon is stomping her fine *slap*... angry... ass over here. It almost sounded like something huge was stomping its way over here as massive tremors were felt in quick succession in a manner similar to footsteps. Might as well have been a giant since fucking everyone scurried off like bugs running from someone lifting the rock they were hiding under. Heavy and Yang were no exception, and they rushed out the back entrance of the class, knocking aside everybody in the way for them and their friends to follow through unhindered. Scout and Engineer had just arrived only to be forced out by the fast moving wave of students or get run over by them.

As for the students remaining in the classroom, a purple glow suddenly enveloped every opening and slammed it all shut, all except one. The front door she was approaching from. It slammed shut once she walked in, and not a single sound was heard as all eyes were on her. She, in a very menacing and threatening way, was slapping her riding crop into her hand repeatedly.

Clearly, there was no denying it, the few students who didn't get out in time were going to face hell tonight in the form of a very angry woman.

* * *

 **Cinder's Room**

"Yes. I see. So you've successfully got rid of Saxton Hale for us? Thank you, mistress. It makes carrying out your will much easier." Cinder opened her eyes, and stood to her feet.

"You can come back inside now." She said over to the door before Mercury and Emerald entered the room.

"I'll never get why you tell us to get out whenever you meditate..." Mercury said.

"Meditation requires focus, Mercury." Cinder replied. Then all in the room heard the sound of a stampede outside. They all got up to the window and saw a metric fuckton of students scattering outsided and Heavy, Medic, Demoman, Scout, and Engineer running out towards their staff house with their tails between their legs. Something had spooked them, but that wasn't really a concern on Cinder's mind right now.

"Strange." She said upon witnessing the students disperse into the campus.

"Any word from the Fang?" She asked without looking away from the window.

"Adam says there's been some trouble sneaking the paladins past Atlas security." Emerald replied. "That and their has been some trouble moving the Fang into Vale since Roman isn't there to get them settled in."

"I heard an entire hideout was busted yesterday." Mercury added. "That got the kingdom really spooked."

"Yeah." Emerald said. "All the Fang's attempts to hack into the airships failed too. Every single one was caught" She shook her head. "How are we going to keep the airships from tearing the Grimm apart? I don't know about you Cinder, but it looks like we don't have a lot of time left until this whole operation falls apart.

"True, but we stay the course." Cinder replied. "The Vytal Tournament is beginning soon. We need to start our attack then or else we'll never have the momentum to take this place down, but until then we must keep a steady head."Something caught her eye in the distance. A single, white coated figure was sneaking around the air docks area.

"Hmm... Go to sleep you two." Cinder said. "I believe I'll have our logistics problem solved by tomorrow..."

* * *

 **Hi guys. I guess this is the end of the chapter. There wasn't an update last weekend because of various reasons, so I'm going to explain it now.**

 **On top of being a lazy, high school fuck, I started doubting the hell out of myself for writing this story. I think I said before, that I wrote this story because ATTF's _The Five New Men_ got me inspired enough to actually do this, and that's true, but their is one important thing I forgot to mention. You know that feeling you get where you're like "I feel like doing something today" for no reason? That's what happened to me. Like this story was never supposed to be as long as it was now, or maybe it was and I just didn't realize how long it was actually going to be at the time. I don't know shit about writing and I have no aspirations to be a writer, yet one day I randomly made a fan-fiction account just because... well because. I've been reading fan-fiction on this site since like ehhh... 2014 or so, and after seeing one I really liked, I went "Fuck it, let's do this." The feeling is similar to walking past the same mailbox every day for the last three years and deciding one day to punch it on your way past it because why not? Well, it died down in me... and I started feeling "Oh God, what the fuck did I just do?" at my work. I felt like it was really shitty, even though the reviews say "Hey mang, dis shit is straight fire, dawg" and you're probably right, but that did not stop me from almost dropping this story like a burning propane tank. I considered retiring from writing after only one unfinished story and just help others out on this site because that felt good to me, I like helping people. Then after moping about it for the last week, I told myself to shut the fuck up and keep going, or forever be known as that fucking bitch who couldn't even finish one story. So yeah, I will continue this story, but I will say right now, that I am ridiculously paranoid and sensitive. I always feel like I do everything wrong and I'm horribly afraid of offending people. It's so bad, that I considered taking the shout outs of the earlier chapters because I was afraid I offended them... for helping them out. I'm terrible.**

 **After all, he said to "Keep moving forward."**

 **Here's another tidbit that bothered me about my story. It's a good thing, mind you, but what the fuck!? My story is (at least from faves and follows) the third most popular story on the TF2 X RWBY crossover page in only two months of existence. Is it really that good? I mean, this is my first time writing, and I'm paranoid as fuck about everyone on the internet, and if the explanation of my absence above was any indication, this story was literally written just be-fucking- cause. Let me add something else too, something that might drop my viewers, but I'm going to say it anyway. You ever wonder how people write their stories? Course you have if you've ever had a favorite author, as for how I write... Uh... There's no easy way to put this... other than I don't know what the fuck I am doing. Remember how I said I have no previous experience writing, aside from essays in school n' shit, but still? That was no exaggeration. Every single time I sit down to write a chapter, everything is thought up at the spot. Meaning, that literally everything in this story is me bullshitting, and it somehow holds well together. It might be because I've read so many fan-fics here that I picked up a basic understanding of how a story should be structured. I see no other way if my first story is already so popular.**

 **So now I'm going to shout them out again, because since then I have pretty much made friends with them:**

 **Cadaver1041's _Leaving a Dead World_ : A darker take on a TF2 X RWBY crossover. Pretty good, especially since my distrust of myself makes me think anything anyone else makes is better by default, but really though, go check him out.**

 **ATTF's _The 5 New Men_ and _The 5 Mercenaries_ : The original gangster himself, the shredder from Malaysia, the one who made this story a thing to begin with, ATTF. Those two stories are part of a series he's got going on about 5 of the 9 mercenaries in Remnant, because unlike me, he realized right away that managing all nine mercenaries in one story all at once was really fucking hard and tedious. Anyway, check him out he's really good.**

 **And we have a new guy on the scene, Goldenspartan86's _The Mercs Through Time_ : He just started this story and its still on chapter 1, but I reached out to him and encouraged him to keep going so I'm going to hopefully send some support his way.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Battle9921: Well thanks man, that's good to hear! Any reason why though? Gives me an idea of why people like my story.**

 **Guest: First off, thanks. Second, put a name for yourself next time. You're lucky you were the only one posted as 'Guest' this time around so it wasn't confusing for me.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: I'll edit that sometime.**

 **dandaman115: Thanks, you dandy son of a dandy guy from a dandy country!**

 **ATTF: Ayyyyyyyyyy lmao**

 **Salty Diamond: Lol. I might add the HHH, breadmonster, and other stuff like that. I don't want to add the actual freak fortress 2 bosses cuz dat would be wierd as all hell for this story. Sorry :(**


	14. Mission Compromised

**Notes:**

 **In my story, a company of troops or robots consists of 100 members. My unit sizes are based off Second World War army unit sizes.**

 **I'll explain why the camper van is here next chapter so don't bitch and moan please. Not trying to sound mean here.**

 **The M1 Garand is the standard battle rifle for all U.S. troops during World War II. It was a semi-auto battle rifle chambered in .30 caliber rounds, and is famous for being made the first semi-auto rifle ever to be made standard issue by any army. General Patton called it "The greatest battle implement ever devised" because squads of riflemen armed with this weapon can lay down some serious firepower from mid to long ranges. I let Soldier have one because it only makes sense the first weapon he would get upon sneaking to Nazi Europe would, other than a M1911A1 Colt .45 pistol, would be the most common U.S. infantry weapon during the war.**

 **Medic in between chapters 9 and now has successfully built a working prototype of the healing sphere he lied about. Just like the auto-reanimators, the power it generates to perform its functions destroys itself. While we're on auto-reanimators, they are fuck hard to make, so eventually they'll come down to using default reanimators which function like how they do in the game.**

 **The detectives are Burnie and Joel from Season 1.**

* * *

 **Mercs' House, Early Morning**

"Yes Headmaster. I understand. Yes- what? Oh, of course. It's no trouble at all. Understood." Spy closed his scroll and sighed. He then faced the assembled Teams RWBY and JNPR.

They were here because they needed a place to escape Professor Goodwitch's wrath for the night since their dorms were obvious places to hide at. Along with the disguised Neo, it became one big sleepover! But, it was a very quiet and tense one once they felt tremors outside and Professor Goodwitch screaming for the students in hiding to come out. Yeah... It was not a pleasant sleepover at all. Everyone kept quiet as the mercs attempted to get her away from their house. Scout attempted to use his charms to convince her to leave, but his efforts were rewarded with a slap to the face and being thrown clear out of the mercs' property. At that point, she attempted to force her way into the door, where her anger allowed her the strength to almost successfully pry it open, even with the Heavy, Engineer, Sniper, Demoman, and Pyro holding the door back. The only reason why everyone was saved was because Spy sneaked out back, and disguised himself as a random student. He ran to the front and threw a plastic soda bottle at Goodwitch and yelled out 'Filthy Slut!' If there's anything a man should know about the world, is that the only thing that is equal to the scariness of what lurks in the dark was an angry woman. Spy ran his behind right out of there and narrowly escaped with Goodwitch hot on his heels. Thank you invis watch! Now, back to the present.

"What'd he say?" Ruby asked.

"Not much." Spy responded. "He told us to try not to cause another disturbance again, and that our classroom will be out of commission for today."

"But why can't Professor Goodwitch fix your room for you guys?" Yang asked.

"Did she look like she was willing to do us any favors after last night?" The teens understood immediately.

"So... no class from you guys today?" Jaune asked.

"Seems like it, son." Engineer replied. He then sat himself on a couch with the Heavy, Demoman, and Medic.

"We got nothing to do today now that Demo here wrecked our classroom." The mercs gave their Scottish member angry glares.

"Wot? Was I 'sposed to let a boonch uf good bombs go te waste?" He said in his defense.

"Vell, you could've picked zem up instead of blowing zem up!" Medic said. Everyone murmured in agreement while Demo shrugged and chugged down some scrumpy.

"What did the headmaster say about us?" Blake asked.

"He said you kids are in no trouble. After all, it's not your fault that you chose to have a public boxing match in the middle of the night with a really loud and noisy crowd cheering the whole time." He glanced over at Heavy.

"I swear I could have heard the noise from here... but anyway, you kids should leave and get ready for class." The students said their goodbyes as they filed out the front door. Neo also walked out with them as this was the time she was supposed to leave them. Spy gave her a nod as she was the last out the door before closing it.

* * *

"Hey, you're that girl on Emerald's team!" Ruby exclaimed once they were by the mercenaries' front gate. Team JNPR had walked off to their dorm while Team RWBY stayed behind with their little mute friend.

"I don't remember seeing you run with us to the professors' house..." Blake said. "Did you get there before us?" Neo nodded her head.

"Oh, cool." Yang said. "At least the professors are nice to other students besides us."

"What's your name, friend?" She pulled out her scroll and showed her ID.

"Rosa, huh? Well it's nice to meet you, Rosa!" Ruby beamed. "We already know the rest of your team, and you all seem like really nice people."

Then, the mercenaries' garage opened up and Soldier came out dragging out a huge mass of cloth. He was very disheveled.

"Finally! By the power of George Washington, God, and Uncle Sam, I've finished the ultimate American flag!" He said loud and proudly.

"Bless the United States for giving me the will to work on this masterpiece for a whole day and night nonstop!" Then he noticed the students still in their yard.

"HEY!" He fumbled around in his pockets and pulled out the first thing he touched, an old M1 Garand he used against the Nazis before he permanently replaced it with his characteristic rocket launcher. He's kept onto that rifle all this time for some reason, and it has definitely seen better days. Crudely scratched into the wood on the right side of the gun is the phrase WELL THIS MACHINE KILLS ALL OF AMERICA'S ENEMIES. Sounds like a reference to something...

"OFF MY LAWN MAGGOTS!" He fired the rifle into the air one handed, making the teens scatter out of the mercs' front gate in fear, totally running over poor Scout who was left unconscious out there since last night. The rifle shot off all eight .30 cal rounds before the characteristic *DING* that happens when the magazine clip automatically ejects itself, signifying the weapon was empty.

"Ha!" He reloaded the gun and took a look at it.

"Oh... I remember this gun!." He kissed the gun. "Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes, old girl!"

The old veteran took a moment to reminisce about the early days of his time in Nazi Europe, the first time he was ever in an actual battlefield. He missed the salty smell of the cargo hold of the troop transport he stowed away on to get to Europe, and the smell of fresh guns after breaking into U.S. Army supply caches. After a couple of moments, Soldier put the gun away, and attempted to drag his huge flag up the flagpole.

* * *

 **Beacon Cafeteria, Lunch Time**

Team RWBY walked into the cafeteria for lunch. They didn't notice that everyone was abuzz about something until they sat down though.

"Excuse me, but what is with all the fuss around here?" Weiss politely asked a female student from Shade academy.

"Someone stole a bullhead last night and flew off to Vale." She replied.

"Really? Any idea who it was?" Weiss asked.

"Rumor has it that it was that criminal Roman Torchwick. At least that's what I heard."

"Roman TorchwicK!?" Blake said aloud. "That's impossible! How would he even sneak into Beacon in the first place?"

"Beats me." The female student shrugged. "Now do you guys mind? I'm trying to eat some lunch here."

"How did Roman manage to steal an airship?" Blake mused.

"Oh please, Blake!" Weiss said. "It's just a silly rumor. Besides, it's far more likely that it was some drunken pilot taking it for a joyride or something like that."

"Yeah, Blake! Weiss is probably right." Ruby added while her sister nodded.

"Of course I'm right." She said proudly.

A chiming noise was heard as Ruby's scroll received a message to which she quickly opened it up. It was from the Headmaster.

 _Meet me in my office._ Ruby typed up a message back.

 _Can we eat first?_

 _Yes._

 _Yay :3 Kitteh Face X3_

* * *

 **Ozpin's Office, Thirty Minutes Later.**

"James, could you be a little more subtle, about having your army comb the streets of Vale?" Ozpin asked as he waited for Team RWBY to show up. He was watching a news report from the Vale News Network about increased Atlas military presence in the streets.

"Sorry Oz, but as you know, the White Fang is growing more active, and after my raid on that little hideout of there's, I can't take any chances." The director of Vytal Festival security said.

"Yes, but please, your men are scaring the people. They were already weary that an army from Atlas was here to begin with, but now they're afraid something is amiss in Vale."

"That's because something is wrong, Ozpin."

"True, but still. It's the Vytal Festival. A time of celebration and joy for the peoples of Remnant." Ozpin took a sip of his coffee. "Nobody wants to see patrols of soldiers and combat robots out in the streets in a joyous time such as this."

Then, Team RWBY came up from the elevator with Professor Goodwitch following behind them.

"Sorry for taking so long!" Ruby exclaimed.

"We were watching Professor Soldier pull some weird, giant flag up a flagpole from the cafeteria."

"Oh. Well, did he succeed?" Ozpin asked.

"Uh... not exactly..."

* * *

 **Quick Flashback**

"What is he doing?" Weiss said. The majority of the students in the cafeteria were looking out the windows right now, watching a single, barely noticeable figure from this distance, inch his way up a skinny flagpole that went high into the sky with a huge flag of white stars on a blue background and white and red stripes.

"I think he's trying to hang that flag up there, Weiss." Ruby chimed in.

"I can see that, you simpleton." Weiss said. "I meant why is he doing that?"

"I dunno." Yang said. "What does that flag even mean anyway?" No one answered as the figure just got to the top and was about to set the flag in place when the skinny flagpole started leaning over to the side... then snapped. The students winced at the sight of the figure falling from a 50 foot or so drop with the flag falling down with him. They didn't know it, but the sheer mass of the flag made sure he was fine, more or less, when he hit the ground with the huge flag acting as a bunch of cushioning and padding. That wasn't enough to stop his legs from getting broken though, but hey, at least he was still breathing, albeit heavy breathing in pain.

The students swore on their souls that they heard someone yell **MEDIC** from the direction of the giant flag.

* * *

 **Ozpin's Office, Now**

There was a short silence.

"Okay... now, onto business." Ozpin said to break the silence.

"I'm sure you heard about the hijacking last night?"

"Yes, headmaster. Some students are claiming it was Roman Torchwick who stole it, but that's ridiculous!" Weiss said.

"Ridiculous, eh?" Ozpin pulled up footage from last night. It showed Roman making a mad dash for a bullhead while its pilot wasn't looking. "This is the only footage we managed to capture of our little hijacker. Not so ridiculous now, is it?" The girls jaws dropped.

"So he really was here!" Blake exclaimed.

"But how!?" Weiss exclaimed also.

"We don't know." Ironwood said. "All we know is that he had somehow snuck into Beacon without alerting security, then left last night."

"Where was the military when this happened, General?" Yang asked.

"Right here in Vale, but if you're asking where my dropship units were, they were out in the frontier helping the Vale Defense Force hold the walls against Grimm attacks."

"Well why didn't you have your airships shoot him down?" Weiss asked.

"Ms. Schnee, I understand you're young and you're quite rash, but does firing on a single bullhead flying through a populated area sound safe to you?"

"No..." The heiress admitted.

"Right... anyway, the bullhead in question was last seen touching down in the industrial district, but when the VPD arrived on the scene, there was no sign of Torchwick anywhere. Only the stolen bullhead he left behind."

"I assume you know what we are going to ask of you, correct?" Ozpin said.

"Yep!" Ruby beamed. "You want us to find Torchwick and kick his butt!" Ozpin chuckled at her response.

"That is absolutely correct, Ruby. Just make sure you bring him back to Beacon after you 'kick his butt'."

"Will do, professor!" Team RWBY started moving towards the elevator.

"Wait." Ozpin said. He took another sip of coffee as Team RWBY looked back at him.

"What?" Ruby asked.

"Please stop making disturbances across campus, girls. Our good Professor Goodwitch is getting tired of cleaning up your messes every other day.I'll be sure to tell the new professors this too." Goodwitch gave the girls a very cold stare, making them shrink back in fear.

"O-okay bye!" Ruby yelled in a rush as they ran to the elevator.

"Excellent." Ozpin said. He softly smiled at the girls' terrified expressions as the elevator door closed.

* * *

 **Industrial District**

The girls landed near where Torchwick left the stolen bullhead. It was in a middle of the street, right next to the same abandoned factory complex he was captured before, and the VPD had blocked the whole area off. They were still investigating the scene when the girls got there.

"Excuse me." Ruby tapped on the shoulder of one of two detectives standing next to the stolen bullhead. They were both wearing black pants with suspenders over white dress shirts, and both were wearing sunglasses.

"Yeah?" The one with the beard said. "What are you kids doin' here?"

"Uh, hi! We're Team RWBY from Beacon Academy. Professor Ozpin sent us to-"

"Beacon Academy!?" The bearded one exclaimed.

"Yeah, we're students-"

"What, Ozpin don't think the police can handle this one?" The bearded guy kept going.

"What? No, I'm sure you guys could take-"

"Course he don't, Burns!" The other detective said. "The huntsmen think that 'cuz they got all these scary weapons and semblances they're better than us!"

"Um-" Ruby tried to talk, but was interrupted again by the detectives.

"Yeah, yeah, that's some smart thinking, Heyman!" The one known as Burns said.

"I know! I'm pretty smart if I do say so myself!" The one known as Heyman said in response.

"Could you please-" She was interrupted again. Team RWBY was starting to get impatient.

"Damn huntsmen, taking all the fame when we regular cops get the low rate scum of the city..." Detective Burns said.

"Oh, I'm sorry you think-"

"They think they're hot stuff just because they go out and fight evil monsters... well I got some news for you, kid!" He faced Ruby.

"The police are heroes too! We fight evil just like you do! Only on a much smaller scale, alright? Now why don't you go back to school and-"

"WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP!" Ruby yelled at the top of her lungs. The detectives went silent as the rest of Team RWBY nodded in approval at their leaders action.

"Sorry for yelling at you, but please listen to us!" Ruby said.

"Alright, shoot kid." Detective Burns said.

"Professor Ozpin sent us here because that bullhead was stolen by Roman Torchwick."

"Yeah? And?" Detective Burns said.

"Uh... and its Beacon property, and... uh... Torchwick stole it! So its our responsibility to-"

"Stow it kid. We got it." Detective Heyman said annoyed. Both the detectives still seemed salty about huntsmen intervention.

"Now what do you need?"

"We need to know if you found anything about where he went." Blake said. "Any leads?" The two detectives looked at each other before answering the question.

"You want leads, huh?" Detective Burns said. "Sorry girly, but its a cold trail."

"He's good, that Torchwick. He left absolutely nothin' behind to tell us where he went." Detective Heyman said.

"Ahh...okay..." Ruby went sadly.

"Yeah, sorry girls."

* * *

Team RWBY left the scene soon after that little disappointment, and were now walking around the city.

"Well this blows..." Yang said with her arms crossed behind her head.

"Yeah..." Ruby went, still sad.

"It's not like this was going to be any easy task anyway, Ruby." Weiss said.

"Yeah Ruby, did you seriously think we were going to find him right away?" Blake added.

"Um, no... but I was just thinking strategically!" She said in her defense.

"Strategically?" Blake raised a brow. "Really Ruby?"

"Yeah! All part of my plan!"

"What's the plan then, oh dear leader?" Weiss asked.

"Simple! The police were supposed to tell us they didn't know where Torchwick went so the enemy thinks they're safe! Then...then... Then we're supposed to meet a secret agent-"

"There was no plan, was there sis?" Yang said unconvinced. The rest of RWBY had the same expression.

"Yeah..." Ruby said in defeat. Yang patted her on the back to make her feel better.

"Oh, cheer up sis! So what if we don't find Torchwick right away? We still got plenty of time- oh wait! I know just the place to look!" Yang exclaimed.

"Really?" Ruby brightened up. "Where?" Yang gave a quiet laugh.

"You'll see..."

* * *

 **Junior's Nightclub, forty minutes later.**

*Shatter*Hei Xiong just dropped a perfectly good glass of strawberry sunrise on the floor and placed a hand on his head.

"What's wrong boss?" A random henchman asked.

"I, I felt a disturbance..." Junior said.

"BOSS! BOSS! SHE'S BACK!" A henchman yelled out as he and a few others ran through the big entrance to Junior's club. They started shutting the giant door.

"Stop! Stop you idiots! That door cost me a lot of money to replace, and I am NOT buying another one!" He yelled out across the nightclub which was completely empty except for him, his henchmen, and the Malachite sisters. "Let her in!"

The henchmen hesitated before quickly opening up the door and scurrying away from it. Team RWBY was right behind it with Yang's arm cocked back, ready to break it down.

"Oh! Really? Ahh..." She said in a disappointment.

"Yang, is this a nightclub?" Weiss asked as all of Team RWBY looked around.

"Yep! Nice place, right?"

" _Yang!_ " Ruby whined. "Dad told you not to go to these places!"

"Hehe... sorry sis! But a girl like me's got to have fun every now and then!"

"What do you want, blondie?" Junior asked.

"Oh! Junior!" She said as she walked up to where Junior was. He was at the bar.

"Long time no see! Say, did you remodel this place? It looks so... _undamaged_..." She giggled. "I don't remember it not being in shambles last time I was here" She smirked.

"You were here three weeks ago..." Junior face palmed. "You saw I fixed it up already."

"Oh, my mistake! Silly me, my memory is all out of wack. But there is one thing I do remember... and that's that you know everything going on in Vale." Junior sighed.

"Look, kid, if this is about Roman Torchwick again, I told you already I don't know where he is! Seems like you don't remember that either..." He poured her a drink.

"Strawberry sunrise, right?" He asked in an unenthusiastic tone.

"Oh, how sweet of you!" She blew him a little kiss once he passed over the drink. She raised the glass up to her lips, but had it quickly slapped out of her hands.

"Wha- Ruby! What was that for!?" She looked at her sister with an angry expression.

"Yang Xiao Long!" Ruby began. "Look at you! Drinking alcohol in a filthy nightclub! Dad would be so ashamed of you!"

"Ahh... Come on Rubes!" She grabbed Ruby and started rubbing her fist into her hair, messing it up. "You know me, I do these things for fun!"

"Argh, let... go of me!" Ruby tried to struggle out of Yang's crushing hold to no avail. Blake and Weiss face palmed.

"Look...um, Junior was it?" Weiss asked while Junior nodded. "If I heard my friend correctly here, you have eyes and ears all over the city, right?"

"That's right." He replied.

"If that's so, then you surely have had someone report him landing in the industrial district. It was hard to miss."

"Yeah, I heard about that. What's it to you?" Junior said. Weiss pulled out a fat stack of lien.

"Woah! That's quite a bit of cash you got there girl. It's a little much for a student don't you think?"

"Well if it were any other student, then yes. This would be a lot of money. But you see Junior, I'm not just any other student... I am Weiss Schnee." Junior's eyes widened, but he kept largely the same unamused expression.

"Weiss Schnee huh? I heard you were in Beacon, but didn't believe it. Don't know why the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company would want to go to school in Vale instead of Atlas, yet here you are."

"That's right." She said proudly. "And this stack of lien here says you know something about where Torchwick is now." Junior gave her a small smile before taking the stack of cash.

"And so it does, alright, listen up ladies." Ruby and Yang stopped fighting to listen in on what Junior was about to say.

"I do have an idea of where Torchwick is, but I tell you, it's not much."

"Say it then." Blake said. "We have to find him."

"I'm sure you do, and my contacts in the docks say they saw him walking into one of the warehouses by the docks."

"Which one?" Blake asked, remembering the dust heist she stopped a couple months back. Junior turned his head to the henchman with the bear mask.

"Yo DJ Deadb3ar!"

"Yeah?" The DJ replied.

"What warehouse did the boys say they saw Torchwick go into?"

"I think they said warehouse 12."

"Alright thanks!" Junior turned back to the girls.

"There you have it, Warehouse 12 by the docks."

"Thank you." Weiss said politely as the girls got up from their seats and turned to leave.

"Ah ah ah! That would be another 3000 for the extra info ladies." Junior said.

"What!? 3000 just for a warehouse number!?" Weiss exclaimed.

"Yep. It's how I do business around here, Schnee." The girls all looked at each other and then at Weiss.

"Well, you heard him Weiss, pay up." Blake said.

"What? Blake!? Come on that's hardly fair!" She then held her little purse upside down to reveal nothing was falling out.

"Besides, I'm out of money."

"Come on Junior." Yang said as she leaned over the counter.

"Will you let us go just this once?" Her eyes started glowing red. "You wouldn't want to make me angry now, would you?" She said in a sweet, but scary tone.

"U-uh, no ma'am!" Junior quickly replied. Yang's eyes returned to their normal color and she smiled.

"Good boy." She patted his head. "See you later!"

* * *

 **Streets of Vale**

Team RWBY was now on their way to the docks since they finally got a good lead. Then they heard a honking noise behind them, and up came Sniper driving by in his camper van with Scout, Demoman, and the Medic. Medic and Demoman were looking out the side window.

"Oy! What are you ladies doin' out of school, huh?" The Australian madman asked.

"Hey professors!" Ruby beamed. "We're out because the headmaster sent us out on a mission!"

"A mission? Schools in this world send their students out on jobs?" Sniper wondered.

"I don't see why not, mate." Demoman said as he stuck his head out the window so Sniper could hear him. "They got bloody powers 'n stoof!"

"Good point..."

"Hey professor, do you mind if we hitch a ride with you?" Blake asked.

"A ride? Where to?"

"The docks please! It's right up ahead!" Ruby chimed in.

"Yeah, sure! Hop in ladies!" Scout yelled before Sniper could say yes. Well he was going to say yes anyway. Scout jumped up the window and sat on the roof while Ruby and Yang sat in front with Sniper and Blake and Weiss rode in the back with Demoman and Medic.

"Are you okay with riding up there Professor Scout?" Ruby asked from below.

"Don't worry 'bout it." Scout replied simply.

"Where's the rest of you guys?" Yang asked.

"Ah, the blokes are back at the house doing whatever they fancy." Sniper replied. "As for me and the lads here, we're here to take a look around the town since we been here only once."

"Cool." Yang said. Then a honking sound came from behind them.

"Hey asshole!" An angry driver yelled. Ha! The lack of profanity worried you, didn't it?

"Move this piece of shit offa' the road!" More angry drivers started honking their horns as it was revealed that Sniper was backing up traffic.

"Pipe it down, you wankers! I'm talking here!" Sniper yelled back.

"No, you shut the fuck up, you fucking bitch!"

"Excuse you, kamerad (comrade)! Ve have young ones in zis vehicle, so I suggest you vatch your language!" Medic yelled after opening up the back door of the camper van.

"I don't give a fuck, you foreign fucks!" The man raged, noticing the weird accents they had. "Hurry up and move your shit!" The man was going to keep yelling at them when Scout hopped on the back and knocked him the fuck out with a baseball shot from the Sandman. Then, Sniper pulled out The Cleaner's Carbine and expertly shot out the man's tires. Needless to say, a lot of the honking stopped when the drivers behind saw what happened.

"Ha! Bloody piker!" Sniper yelled. He then threw a jar of Jarate all over him and his car, then quickly sped off. All four mercs were sticking middle fingers at the man as they drove off.

"Haha! We sure showed that mongrel, didn't we girls?" Sniper laughed to his passengers.

"Yeah...but, that was a little mean though..." Ruby said a little sadly.

"Yeah professor, that was a little much." Yang admitted.

"Ahh... you're just kids. You'll understand when you get older." Sniper laughed. "Now, what is this mission you're on anyway?"

"Oh! The headmaster sent us out to find Roman Torchwick after he stole that bullhead last night." Sniper seemed to tense up a little when she said that, but he otherwise kept his calm. He didn't want to get into another mess with Torchwick so soon after the stress he caused them when he was kept at their house.

"Yeah? Is that right?"

"Yep!" Ruby replied.

"Well, I wish the best for you ladies then." Then Scout jumped on the roof, laid down so that hid head hanged upside down in front of the front window.

"Hey! We're here you dummy! Stop the van!" Sniper screamed in fear after seeing Scout's head pop up from above and swerved all over the road. Everyone screamed, especially Scout since he was hanging on for dear life on the roof, and everyone in the back to as they were crashing all over the back compartment. The van came to a screeching halt once Sniper miraculously managed a perfect parallel park between two trucks parked by the pier. Sniper's heart was beating furiously and he looked like he had seen a ghost. Well, he has seen ghosts before, but you get it.

"Ah... erm... I meant to do that. It's a show of my skills as a professional."

"Sure..." Yang said as she shakily unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Thanks for the ride..." Ruby said queasily. She looked like she was ready to hurl.

"Yeah, yeah, your welcome. Now get out of my van, this is your stop." The girls unloaded from the van. Weiss and Blake looked pretty banged up.

"Oh... my head." Weiss whined.

"You're not coming with us professors?" Blake asked as she rubbed her head.

"Nah, you lasses seem like you got dis 'andled." Demoman said in his thick Scottish accent.

"Ja, we'll be on our way now." Medic then reached out the window and banged on the side of the camper van.

"Onvards, Australisch (Australian)! To ze black market! I need some new bodies for my experiments!" The professors then sped off in the opposite direction with Scout screaming for them to wait so that he could get back in the van. They didn't listen.

"He was kidding when he said he needed body parts for experiments, right?" Blake asked. She didn't get an answer.

* * *

 **Warehouse 12, Vale Harbor**

The girls successfully snuck into the building from an open window to find warehouse was teeming with White Fang, and it was filled with all sorts of goodies. Actually, that would be bad goodies since it was in the hand of the baddies. There were cargo containers filled with dust, a couple companies of Atlesian Knight 130 models as well as a couple of Atlesian Knight 200 companies painted in the colors of a regular Fang grunt, stockpiles of weapons and explosives, and even a couple of paladins. How they were able to hide here without getting busted by Atlas was anyone's guess. There was no sign of Torchwick though- oh wait! Never mind. He just came walking out from a backroom talking to someone on his scroll. The girls couldn't hear what he was talking about.

"Alright team," Ruby said as her team huddled together behind a window overlooking the main floor. "This is it! We have Torchwick right where we want him! Now let's go kick their butts!"

"Wait!" Weiss said as the rest of RWBY pulled Ruby back down into cover. "Hold on a second, you dunce! How are we supposed to take on all of _that_?" Ruby peeked her head over and took a look at all the heat the Fang is packing.

"Uh... good point..." Ruby said a little embarrassed like.

"Guess we should call for back up then..." Blake sighed. She pulled out her scroll, but before she could even think about who to call, a White Fang grunt came walking in from the side.

"Hey, I heard whispering up here- OH SHIT!" The Fang started wildly shooting his dust smg at the huntresses, to which they immediately scattered.

"We got company!" He yelled over to the rest of the warehouse, as if his gunfire wasn't enough of a warning. In a rush, the Fang immediately activated the combat robots and ran over to do battle with huntresses in training. Roman panicked as well when he saw who was here.

"Oh for the love of- Not you girls again!" He yelled as he started firing some explosive rounds from Melodic Cudgel at the girls. The teens immediately retreated after they noticed that the Fang were getting their pilots into the paladins.

"TACTICAL RETREAT!" Ruby yelled at the top of her lungs as they broke out the windows and out of the building. This was going to be a hard fight...

* * *

 **A Morgue, Not too far away from the Harbor**

"Okay sir, that would be 10,000 lien for each corpse." The morgue owner said to the Medic, who giddily passed him the appropriate amount of money.

"Pleasure doing business with you, sirs. Do you need any help loading the cadavers?" The owner asked politely.

"Nein, ve have zis under control, Mr. Todnight." Medic replied. The mercs started loading bodies into the van as the morgue owner went back inside.

"Hergh! Geez doc, did you really have to buy **_twelve_** corpses for your god-forsaken experiment's?!" Scout yelled as he struggled to pull a male Faunus body into Sniper's van.

"Yes! Ve vere lucky zis morgue happened to have bodies donated to science on sale! I vas getting tired of looking for a black market dealer anyway."

"Yeah, black markets, morgues, right..." Sniper grunted in an annoyed tone as he had a corpse hoisted over his shoulder. "Come lads, lets hurry and get these bodies in the van before someone recognizes us."

"Oh, come now Rick!" Medic said cheerfully. "Zese bodies vere donated in ze name of science anyway! No one will complain if ve tell zem the truth!"

"Eh, but still, Fritz, it looks bad to see huntsmen loading bodies into a damn camper van.

Then an explosion was heard in the distance.

"Oy, lads! Look!" Demo yelled. The explosion came from the direction of the harbor. The same spot they left Team RWBY not too long ago...

"Ah, piss." Sniper grumbled. "Willy, climb up to the roof and see what's happening. Oh, and take this." Sniper gave Scout his sniper rifle before he climbed to the top of the morgue. After climbing to the very top of the five story morgue building, Scout looked through the scope, and saw Team RWBY battling the White Fang back at the harbor where they left them.

"Holy crap..." Scout went after seeing the true scope of the Fang presence there. "Hey fellas! It's Team RWBY! And they're getting their asses handed to 'em!"

"Well get back down here so we can leave then!" Sniper yelled up. Scout pulled out the Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol, stepped off the edge of the building, and was completely unharmed. Some claim the soul of a man cursed to not ever be able to die or take damage from falls is imbued in that gun...

"Vait! Vait! Vat about my bodies!?" Medic yelled.

"We'll come back for 'em latur, doc!" Demo yelled as he ran to the van.

"Oh! Sir! Oh please, good sir!" Medic said to the morgue owner who came back out with his wife to see what the fuss was about. "Please take care of my bodies! I vill be back for zem later!" Medic yelled as he ran over to the van. The morgue owner nodded his head.

Then the mercs sped off to assist Team RWBY, making the bodies that were already loaded in the back fly out of the open door of the back compartment that they forgot to close.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Medic yelled as he watched his corpses fly out. Demo had to hold him back lest Medic jump off and seriously injure himself.

It took only three minutes of weaving in and out of the streets and unbelievably high speeds and insane maneuvering to get in sight of the harbor.

"Scout, take the wheel." Sniper said as he moved over to Scout's side of the van and Scout did the same. Sniper propped the Bazaar Bargain up against the dashboard.

"What!? But Rick, I can't drive!" Scout said. "I never learned how!"

"See that pedal there? That's the gas, now floor it!"

"But-"

"FLOOR IT!" The van then went faster than it did before as now it was a straight shot over to the docks. Speaking of shots, Sniper started pulling off headshots as fast as he can load bullets into the chamber.

* * *

 **Warehouse 12**

"CHECKMATE!" Ruby yelled.

Weiss and Blake than quickly attacked one of the paladins in rapid succession while Ruby and Yang were fighting off the grunts and robots. Yang shot some explosive rounds at a bunch of robots coming her way when she was struck by the other paladin, making her crash against the wall of the warehouse.

"Yang!" Ruby screamed before getting knocked on her back by Roman Torchwick, followed by a couple of elite Fang in full combat armor.

"Little Red, Little Red, surprised to see me?" Torchwick smirked.

"Torchwick!" Ruby growled. She tried to get up, but was easily knocked back down by another blow from Roman's cane.

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled after she stabbed Myretenaster through one of the legs of the paladin she was fighting. She was also knocked aside when the paladin swung its body around and punched her too. Blake was a little luckier, but she was getting swamped by an absolute maelstrom of bullets and explosives and was now running out to find some cover.

"Looks like this is the end, Red!" Roman pointed Melodic Cudgel right against her face, and the little sight of the cane opened up, meaning it was ready to fire.

"It was a pleasure knowing you..." Before Roman could even think of pulling the trigger, both elites at his side got a single bullet that went straight through both of their craniums. Roman's head snapped to the side and saw a camper van coming right at them in high speed, and saw flashes of red on it.

"No..." He went. The camper van had the mercenaries in it. After seeing the mercs, Roman ran inside the warehouse, remembering what Spy said yesterday about what they'll do to him should they get to him first.

Back to the camper van, Sniper was getting headshots left and right , while Demo started raining explosives down once he was in range, and Medic waited until they stopped to start fighting. The van smashed into the chain fence of the warehouse and knocked aside and ran over any Fang or robot unlucky enough to be in the way. It didn't stop until it crashed straight into a Fang paladin, doing significant damage to it, but not enough to take it out of action. The paladin then grabbed the van while taking fire from its occupants, and threw it at a smaller utility building right next to the warehouse, making it crash through it and out of sight for the moment. The Fang wouldn't wait one second to see if the mercs were okay, and they started unloading all of their weaponry onto the building. The onslaught was so intense, a massive cloud of smoke enveloped the area to the point where the building simply was not visible.

"No!" Ruby yelled over at the mercs as some grunts were coming to take her prisoner. Tears welled up in her eyes as the Fang had managed to defeat them and were now pulling out with the girls as their prisoners before Atlas could arrive.

"Let's go-" The grunt was immediately silenced when a bullet bored its way into his skull. All heads snapped back to the smoke cloud, and were in absolute shock to see the cloud dissipate to reveal a huge dome of red energy had shielded the mercs and camper van from further harm. It seemed to be healing them too.

"Ha! My latest triumph, ze healing sphere!" Medic laughed hysterically while the other mercs at his side got ready for battle. Both sides were very tense as, they waited for the shield to come down. The mercs weren't firing for some reason, probably because they wanted to get a good idea first of what they're facing. Then the shield faded, and all hell broke loose...

* * *

 **I believe that is called a cliffhanger. Sorry boys and lasses.**

 **I would like to thank all you guys for the support last chapter, it means so much more to me now that I know you guys really care about me and my story. Thank you, and I'll try and get over my self-doubt over this story. As a matter of fact, I think it's already gone! This is going to sound like some sappy shit here, but my heart legitimately feels better now that I stated my problems last chapter and the overwhelming support I got as a result. And to celebrate, this time of good feelings, I already have another chapter out!**

 **But, uploads like this shouldn't be expected that often and it will most likely come back to being a new chapter a week again. That's one of the reasons why I uploaded this now, actually, so that I could get back on track. I forgot to say this in the last chapter, but I'm not as busy with high school as it may seem like I am, and I actually have a lot of spare time. It's just that I use a lot of that spare time to dick around on steam or on the internet in general so... yeah, I'm lazy. :P**

 **Last thing before the review responses. Battle9921 was kind enough to actually list the reasons why he likes my story, and that is fantastic! I would like for you guys to do the same while you type your reviews. You could list whatever you like as long as I get a good idea of why people like my story.**

 **Review Response: There's a not a lot of them since I uploaded a new chapter so quickly, but here they are. Also, a reminder, when posting as a guest, please put a name for yourself.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J and Darth Pestilence: Since your reviews are practically the same thing, thank you guys! The support you guys exhibit is amazing!**

 **Dude: Thanks man, and are you absolutely sure that you're a bad writer, or did you just never try? I said in the last chapter I've never written a story before, and according to you, it turned out great! Why don't you make an account and give it a shot? Tell me when you do so I can help you out if need be.**

 **Guest: Thanks, but again, you don't have an actual name for yourself. Is it because you forgot or you can't think of one? Anyway, it's all good so lets get to your review. Absolutely, is the answer to it, and thanks for believing in me. By the way, I am 100% certain you read LE MAO XVII's TF2 VS RWBY story since I'm a creep who likes monitoring everyone's reviews. I know, I'm weird like that, but it's only because it feels good to see people like everyone elses' stories too. I'm a nice guy like that, and I saw you already read the only two chapters he has so far. They're not too bad, huh? I support him too, but it seems like he's more focused on his other fics and college life. Personally, it hurts my soul to see characters I like fight each other. I know what you're thinking, I have characters I like fighting each other in my own story, and I know that. It's just, for some reason it hurts when I see other people do it. It's one of the reasons why I cry when I watch Death Battle sometimes and the characters are both ones I like. It's likely because they always end with one dying. Yeah, that's probably why I cry. I cry when they die.**

 **Mr. G37: Spy is Tzeentch follower confirmed? As for the students... they're just lucky she's not an actual giant. That would be actual reason to fear being alive.**

 **ATTF: You... the only reason why this story exists in the first place... have warmed my heart up. It's really nice to see you care, dude. It's also a surprise to see the circumstance for why you wrote your story and why I wrote my story are largely the same, huh. Guess we're not so different then... Other than you probably speak fluent Malay or Chinese even, might be of even darker skin color than I since I'm pretty dark in coloration myself, and is probably above 20 since you're in college. I speak only English and am still in high school.**

 **MCZ: Thanks, and is what you said one of your little phobias too? I sort of have the same problem too, and plz, don't eat my brains or else everyone will jump you for killing the dude who writes this story.**

 **MarkJosh340: Maybe someone else will step up and make Painis Cupcake. Hope they do, that would be awesome. But considering the nature of most Freak Fortress bosses, I will probably cry during the events of the story.**

 **Battle9921: Wow. You actually listed the reasons why you like my story! Awesome! Thanks for giving me an idea of the possible reasons why people like my story!**


	15. Hard Fought Truths

**Notes:**

 **The first trailer announcing to the world that TF2 was in development had a moment where Demoman destroyed a sentry with a bundle of dynamite that had all the fuses tied together. When thrown, it took a couple of seconds to blow up. Upon blowing up, it breaks into individual sticks of dynamite that also blow up after a couple of seconds. It was never in the final game as it was replaced by the sticky bomb launcher.**

* * *

 **Warehouse 12**

The moment the shield went down, all Hell broke loose. Scout drank a can of Bonk, while Medic ubercharged Demoman as they ran forward, Sniper stayed behind with his camper van inside the ruined utility building and started popping off headshots as the Fang was more concerned with the three fucking indestructible men charging at them to focus on the van. The Fang grunts panicked when they realized their weapons were doing absolutely dick to the incoming mercenaries, and started falling back while the androids stayed their ground, leaving the girls open.

"Get the girls!" Sniper yelled as he was taking out some of the more important targets from his cover.

The three mercs in front nodded and prepared to close in with the Fang. Demoman equipped his Chargin' Targe and charged forward while firing off all four grenades into the cluster of Fang just beyond the girls. After doing so, he switched out the grenade launcher for the Eyelander and proceeded to whoop almost as much ass as a mother would to a bad child. Uh, okay, maybe nowhere near as much as that, but still, you get it! All the mercs in front were whooping ass, especially since they switched out all that pussy non-lethal shit with real ordnance! And now they didn't have to worry about killing anyone in melee!

Demoman was busy slashing with his sword and bashing with his shield while Medic healed him up now that his ubercharge was over. Meanwhile, Scout was running along, grabbing the injured members of Team RWBY, bringing them all back to Sniper's location before running back to the front to help kick some ass.

"Oof! Thanks Professor..." Ruby groaned as Scout laid her next to the rest of her team. The girls were lying against the camper van while Sniper was up against a hole in the ruined building, still popping heads as he usually does. "Just call me Scout, girly." Scout said before joining Demoman and Medic in combat against the Fang.

"Okay..." Ruby said after him. This is when she noticed how violent the mercs can actually get. Sure, she'd seen what they've done before, just not while they're doing it to people at least.

"Oh my gosh..." Ruby said in shock at the brutality and efficiency of the mercenaries. Her whole team was aghast, really. They have never seen such ferocity and viciousness in combat before...

Currently, Demoman was too swamped in combat with the Fang to even have time to reload his grenade launcher. So he was stuck in melee with the Medic also stuck in a tar pit of Fang keeping him locked in combat so he couldn't heal anyone. That was okay though as Demo was awesome with a sword. A grunt with a sword thought his balls were of sufficient size to face the Scot in combat, only for Demoman to slap his bitch-worthy sword aside and grab him by the neck. A few grunts and androids opened up on Demoman who was coming right at them with poor grunt as a meatshield. The grunt's aura was depleted right away as bullets smashed into him, and soon, tore through his flesh. That was okay though as Demoman was close enough to this cluster of Fang to throw his meatshield at them and continue whooping ass. He quickly whipped out the Ullapool, jumped up, and smashed it into the ground, knocking all away from him. A single Fang's aura took the blast well as he was not knocked off of his feet, but he quickly panicked upon seeing Demoman wasn't at the spot of the explosion. He scanned the area desperately, looking for the Black Scot before looking up to the sky. The grunt screamed, but was immediately silenced when Demoman landed on him with the Eyelander stabbed right through his eye.

"Haha!" Demo laughed as he pulled out the sword. "EYE'm sorry mate!" He laughed some more before he got shot in the gut by a Fang AK-200. Demo's face scrunched up in pain, but he has been shot with much worse than whatever the fuck the Atlas rifle is chambered in, and he angrily roared at the AK-200. He ran over to it, ducked under the gun as it fired, but did not get a chance to slash its head off when a bullet went through its metallic head. Demo could hear Sniper laughing in the distance.

"Oy!" Demo yelled before bashing a Fang aside with his shield arm. "Stahp steelin' me kills, ye damn camper!" Sniper kept laughing as he fired a shot just next to Demo's head, nailing it into another Fang grunt while Demo growled in anger.

"Listen here, ye damnable- AHHHH!" Demo screamed mid-sentence as one of the paladins got off of its ass and decided to join the fight.

"Ah, cripe!" Demo yelled as he was dodging the punches and stomps from the Fang vehicle. The paladin reared its metallic foot high to crush Demoman, but Demo rolled away to safety, not before grabbing a grunt and throwing him where he once was. The grunt screamed before he was crushed by the paladin as Demo quickly reached into his pockets for a special something...

A bundle of dynamite he never used because fucking Valve thought that it wouldn't be as cool- *punch* VALVE HAS NO MEMORY OF SUCH A WEAPON EVER EXISTING, NOT EVEN IN TF2 BETA

Oww... so anyway, Demo lit the bundle of dynamite and waited for the paladin to swing at him again. It did, and Demo grabbed onto it and climbed right on top of the heavy combat walker. The paladin swung around wildly as it tried to get Demo off of it, and Demo was holding on tightly as he was looking for a place to stick the dynamite into. He spotted a little nook between the machine's main body and its right arm. Demo shrugged and stuck it in, then jumped right off.

"There gonna 'ave to- Argh!" Demo screamed as the machine swatted him away when he was falling to the ground. The pilot apparently didn't realize what Demoman just did, and started charging its weapons up to fire upon him. Demo stood up, bitch slapped a female grunt who tried to get at him, and smiled at the paladin. He flicked a middle finger at it before it blew up into a huge blossom of red and orange since the dynamite and charging weapons combined into one super explosion which wiped out multiple nearby Fang out of existence.

"Hahaha! As I was sayin' laddy, der gonna 'ave to glue you back together, IN HELL!" He took a swig of his scrumpy in celebration before it was suddenly shattered and a grunt coming at him from the side with a shotgun got headshotted. The Australian was heard laughing again...

"Ahhh, I'm sorry mate!" Sniper laughed as Demo raged. Before Demo could shout any insults at the Sniper, he got knocked away by the other paladin. Medic was hiding behind some cover as he the Fang was focusing fire on him since he was the healer.

Scout was busy weaving in and out between the militants, blowing holes in them with his scatterguns or bashing skulls with his sandman. He ran up to a female grunt while taking fire, and jammed both barrels of the scattergun up to her neck. She gasped before her head was blown right off the neck. Scout flicked his arm around to blow a hole in a hostile Knight coming his way. An AK-130 ran at him with its wrist blades out, but Scout flipped it over his back when he ducked under it. The robot landed flat on its back as Scout smashed its head to scrap metal with the Sandman.

"Haha, you got owned!" Scout taunted.

"Help meh!" Demo yelled as he ran past Scout with a paladin following him. Scout smirked and jumped right on top of the paladin.

"Hnnrrghh!" Scout groaned as his weak arms tried to open the hatch into the cockpit to no avail. It would have helped if he was using both arms as one arm was holding onto the hatch, the other had the Winger in it shooting some rounds off at whatever was shooting at him. At this point the Fang had gotten over their initial shock and were now returning in force.

"Break its legs!" Scout yelled. Demoman obliged him by turning around and filling the knees of the paladin with sticky bombs as he ran. He then detonated the bombs, crippling the paladin. Demo breathed a sigh of relief as he was no longer running, but that relief was quickly ended when the Fang began swarming him. He threw whatever bombs he had loaded in his weapons before facing the Fang in melee once more.

"Ah crap!" Scout yelled as some rounds flew dangerously close by him.

The forces of the Fang were crawling on top of the paladin to fight Scout while others stayed on the ground to shoot at him. Scout dual wielded the Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol and the Winger as he lit up the fuckers shooting at him, dropping a few of them. That's when he noticed the Fang crawling on top of the paladin with him. The first to get up there was a female grunt who managed to peek her head over the edge. She tried to bring her pistol to bear before Scout kicked her back down. They were coming in from all sides now, and Scout was forced to fight them off up close. A grunt with no weapon for some reason tried to rush him, but was quickly dealt with when Scout sidestepped, making him fall back down to the ground. Another grunt with a sword came in and slashed at him, getting a good gash across his chest. Scout held strong and slipped a stab from him to knock him the fuck out with an elbow to the face, his sword flew up into the air as Scout laid him out. Scout ducked under a swing from a grunt with an axe and bashed another with his sandman before bringing it back down on the guy with the axe. He then grabbed the falling sword and used it to slash at a couple of throats before throwing it off at an android down on the ground.

"Help us out here, Sniper! Argh!" Scout yelled as some rounds were starting to hit home.

For all of his prowess, Sniper couldn't snipe fast enough to help his friends out, especially since they were split up. If he stopped covering Medic, the German will get overrun. If he stopped covering Demo and Scout, then they'll be overrun. His own situation was starting to crumble when the Fang started advancing on his position and he was running low on ammo for his rifles.

"Damn it all..." Sniper whispered through clenched teeth. He looked around him for anything useful, then saw the four girls behind him. That's when he got an idea. He turned around and faced the girls while laying his rifle down and pulling out his smg.

"Hey girls..." He began before blindly firing a burst of rounds behind him, somehow still dropping a grunt.

"Want to help your professors out, do you?" He asked. The girls nodded their heads.

"Of course we do! Ugh! But we're too hurt right now..." Weiss groaned.

"She's right Professor. Unless you got some kind of miracle medicine lying around, we can't help you out here." Blake said. Sniper took a quick look at the bad situation they were in and cursed it all. Then he remembered something, and smiled.

"Miracle medicine, eh? Stay tight girls, I'll be right back." Sniper ran to the back of his camper van and quickly came back out with three blue coolers with white lids. Each had a red cross on it.

"Right then! Here we are ladies!" Sniper said as he raised a cooler above his head as if he was gonna smash it over Blake.

"Wait! What are you doing!?" Blake yelled before closing her eyes when the cooler was brought down on her, only to feel absolutely nothing other than really refreshed as if she was never injured!

"What." Blake said in total confusion along with the rest of Team RWBY. They all had absolutely confused blank faces on. The cooler had disappeared upon contact with her skin apparently...

"Haha, what's wrong ladies? Don't like some of Mann Co.'s instant health kits?" Sniper teased before blasting off a full magazine from his smg off at a group of grunts and androids moving up on them, dropping them all.

"I...uh...wha?" Ruby said in total confusion as she looked over her entire body.

"Don't question it! I don't know how it works, but it's some damn fine medicine! Now get out there and help us!" Sniper commanded before running out of the relative safety of his cover and out to fight the Fang close up.

The girls nodded and ran to assist the three mercs swamped by the numbers of the Fang. They ran to help the Medic first since he was the closest. He had ran out of needles for his Blutsauger and was facing down the Fang in melee, saving the bolts in his Crusader Crossbow in case he needed to use it on his allies. Even with his automatic self-healing, he was beginning to falter as the accumulated damage from shot and slash was becoming too much for him. That's when Team RWBY came in to save him. Now that they were completely refreshed, they easily swept the Fang away from him. Ruby stayed behind with the doc as the rest of her team went to engage the Fang.

"Danke..." Medic wheezed as Ruby helped him stand. "Go and help ze others..."

"But professor, what about you?" Ruby asked worriedly. Right after she said that, Medic shoved her aside and threw his Ubersaw directly at an elite Fang with a great sword, killing him instantly.

"I'll be fine..." Medic assured her. Ruby was shocked after seeing someone die up close. The German walked over to the corpse and pulled the surgical blade out of the body. He swung the saw to flick the blood off while Ruby kept staring at him. Medic noticed this.

"Vat is wrong? Can you not stand ze shade of crimson zat blut is?" He questioned.

"I can..." Ruby said. "It's just... it's just that I'm not used to it yet..." Medic smiled and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Zon't vorry about ze blood, Ruby." He pointed at the corpse. "You vill be facing many like him, and if zis huntress job is anyzing like I heard it vas, not all of those times of facing ze villains can be resolved with non lethal means." He raised his ubersaw. " _Zat,_ I can assure you..."

"Heads up doc!" Scout yelled. Medic took hold of Ruby's hand with his right arm and pushed her away with the other while leaning back himself. The Flying Guillotine flew past where their heads once were and planted itself right into the skull of an AK-130 with its wrist blades out. Medic pulled Ruby back in before taking hold of the knife and pulling it out as the android fell to the ground.

"Zank you, Scout!" Medic yelled as he threw the Flying Guillotine back over to the Bostonian.

"Goodness me! Ve really shouldn't be talking in ze middle of battle like zis anyway!" Medic said as he adjusted his glasses and laughed embarassedly.

"Right..." Ruby said.

"Gut, gut, now go and help your friends!" Ruby nodded and ran off to do as had asked, but stopped upon looking up at the sky. Atlas was finally here. Dozens of dropships had converged on the harbor area and were now dropping off Atlesian Knights everywhere.

The last of the Fang were in full retreat now that Atlas was here, but it was all for nothing as they were immediately surrounded and forced to surrender. Even the pilot in the last, but severely crippled paladin, surrendered. The mercs didn't want to be questioned by no damn military so they gathered the girls and immediately left in their camper van, which was somehow still operational despite getting thrown into a fucking building.

* * *

 **On the way to Beacon**

Everyone was silent as they hit the road leading between Vale and Beacon. Ruby and Weiss sat in front with Sniper while Yang and Blake were in the back with Scout, Demo and Medic. It was a forty minute drive to get to Beacon since the road leading up to the academy had to wound around the cliff that academy is built on. As you can imagine, it got pretty awkward when no one said a single word after some time of driving in silence, with nothing but the scenery of the City of Vale behind them, the distant Emerald forest to the west, and the ocean near them. The scene was especially picturesque now that the sun was setting behind the ocean.

"I'd say that went well." Sniper said to break the silence. Ruby and Weiss said nothing and Sniper did not take his eyes off the road.

"You girls did nicely out there." Sniper said, waiting for a response.

"I guess..." Weiss said. "We didn't get Torchwick though..." She said dejectedly.

"Ah, so what?" Sniper said. "The military probably got him after we left."

"True..." Sniper nodded at Weiss' response, but he noticed Ruby was still silent.

"Something wrong, miss?" He asked. Ruby was still silent as her eyes stared straight ahead as if she was lost in thought.

"Give her a lil' shake for me, would ya?" Sniper asked Weiss.

"Hey, hey Ruby!" Weiss shook Ruby back to awareness.

"Ah! What, what?" Ruby said upon snapping out of her thoughts.

"Sniper asked you if something was wrong." Weiss stated to which Ruby looked at her professor.

"I-it's nothing professor..." She said.

"That so? Then why are you so down like a kangaroo mum losin' its wallabee?" Sniper questioned.

"What's a kangaroo-" Sniper hushed Weiss, and looked back at Ruby.

"Well... it's just that... that..."

"That what, girly?"

"How... could you guys get used to killing people like that?" Ruby asked. Sniper gave a soft chuckle.

"That's all?" He smiled.

"Y-yeah. What's so funny?" Ruby asked.

"Ah, it's nothing. But, to answer your question, it's just how the life of a mercenary works." Sniper said. "Guys like me and the blokes aren't hired to do jobs where we tend to the garden or anything like that. Nah, a mercenary's life is driven by one thing."

"And what would that be?" Weiss asked. Sniper smiled at her and raised a stack of lien.

"Money."

"Money? So you just kill people all for money?" Ruby asked shocked.

"Yep. Though if it makes you feel any better, the majority of the people I killed either deserved it, or were my current teammates." The girls gave him a confused look.

"Mann Co. Remember? We used to kill each other."

"Oh." They both said.

"Right. I assume you have a problem with the idea of killing people?" Sniper said.

"Yeah, yeah I do." Ruby said. "How'd you know?"

"Your behavior is making it very obvious." Sniper chuckled. "Well lay it on me then. Ask away whatever you have for your professor here, _least it will break the quiet around here..._ " Sniper whispered.

"I know that people do kill each other..." Ruby began sadly. "It's just that, why would they?"

"Well, there's multiple reasons..." Sniper began. "Say we have a guy here, and another guy here. Saw guy 1 shagged guy 2's wife and now guy 2 wants to get revenge on him. So... what does guy 2 do?"

"K-kill guy 1..." Ruby answered. She was blushing a little since Sniper just mentioned sex.

"Well, he _could_ kill him, but he could also have him beat, tortured, and whatever unpleasant thing guy 2 wants to do with him... But let's say he does kill guy 2. Do you know why?"

"It was because guy 1 had... _sexual_... relations with guy 2's wife. So he decided to kill him in rage." Weiss answered.

"Precisely." Sniper said. "I have a firm and steady belief that even if there's two people left standing in the world, someone's gonna want someone dead." He knocked a finger against the little bobble-head on his dashboard. He made a boom sound when he hit it.

"But that's so, so... _wrong!_ " Ruby yelled.

"So it is, Ruby. So it is..." Sniper said softly. "That's just how the world works though, even more so in this world it would seem."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"Look here, so these Creatures of Grimm that are such a huge problem in your world are literally everywhere right? Not including cities and such?"

"Yeah..." Ruby said.

"And these Creatures of darkness and evil stuff get powerful by negative emotions in people, right?"

"Uh-huh..."

"And all attempts by Humanity to expand out in the world usually end in failure even with all this technology against their claws and fangs?"

"Yeah... what are you getting at?" Weiss asked.

"What I'm getting at, is that this here 'time of peace' this world is in must be pretty filled with hate and stuff if it still all got these Grimm everywhere." The girls mouths dropped.

"Surprised you didn't realize it sooner..." Sniper said.

"B-but... that can't be true!" Ruby said. "Sure, there's the White Fang, but people can't really hate each other that much! Can they? I-I mean, look at Vale! It's one of the nicest cities in Remnant!"

"Oh, you'd be surprised at how good people are at hiding their griefs..." Sniper said. "Like I said, as long as their are two people left in the world, someone's gonna want someone dead. And having a world with a population of millions sure don't make that any less true. If anything, it makes it worse." Sniper took a look at the girls, and realized he did not make them feel any better.

"Look ladies..." Sniper sighed. "Don't mean to sound insensitive 'ere, but you're training to be huntresses, right?"

"Uh, duh. That's why we're at Beacon Academy. You know, one of the finest schools for training huntsmen on Remnant?" Weiss said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know all that. It's just that the job a huntsman here is to protect the innocent and keep the peace and all that good guff."

"Sound about right." Weiss said.

"Yeah...well, I hope you kids realize that sometimes, keeping the peace means you just got to put someone six feet under, or some other morally gray action..." The girls were silent before Ruby spoke up.

"Earlier, at the docks, Mr. Medic killed someone right in front of me, and all you guys were killing them, the Fang..." She said solemnly.

"Why?"

"Because we could." Sniper said simply. "We didn't have to kill them, but the situation required some more... _sure_... means of making sure we got out of that mess alive. Personally, the boys and I prefer to kill whatever bloody piker wants to kill us." He shrugged. "Don't know if you noticed, but those terrorists back there wanted to kill you."

"They were going to take us prisoner!" Ruby yelled.

"Which would lead to a fate worse than death." Sniper shrugged once more. Ruby quieted down after he said that while Weiss kept her silence.

"You girls, so young, so naive... You'll understand as the time passes by. The world ain't rainbows all the time, mates. People kill each other, and there ain't always a happy ending." He then patted Ruby by the back.

"Don't worry, you'll grow up and get used to it eventually."

"That's exactly what Medic said..." Ruby said.

Soon after they were in sight of Beacon Academy, and everyone had quieted down again now that Sniper just told them some truth about the world they live in. They passed through the front gate after Sniper showed the Atlas Soldiers keeping watch their he was a teacher, and drove the van all the way to their house.

"Here we are ladies." Sniper said. "Sorry we couldn't take you to your dorm, don't feel like driving around just to get there."

"It's okay, professor." Weiss said. Yang, Blake, and the three mercs in the back came out as well.

"Thanks for the ride, Sniper!" Yang said.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks to me, I know. Now, head off to Ozpin and tell him how the mission went. I'm sure he's itching to hear from you girls."

* * *

 **Somewhere in Vale, A Derelict Building**

A manhole cover opens up to reveal a suave ass motherfucker to the world.

"Ugh! Oh, geez!" Roman gasped for breath. "Damn sewers!"

 _"Hello, Roman."_ A familiar female voice said in the darkness.

Roman's head snapped back to the direction of the voice to find it belonged to no other than Cinder Fall with Neo following closely behind her.

"Evening, Cinder." Roman said. "Couldn't you have sent Neo or something to come get me instead of having me crawl through the damn sewers?"

"Stop whining, Roman. You're in one piece, aren't you?" Cinder teased as she walked up to Roman, running a finger down his chest.

"Where have you been for the past couple of days?" Roman hesitated a moment, remembering what the even more suave Frenchmen said.

"At Beacon... held up in those new huntsmen's house."

"Is that so?" Cinder questioned.

"Yeah."

"What did they do to you then?"

"Nothing. All they did was hold me in the basement with a bunch of chains, ropes, and I think some bubble wrap too." Roman shrugged.

"They did ask me about you,but I didn't tell them a damn thing."

"You expect me to believe you?" Cinder said unconvinced. "Especially since you somehow escaped from them without causing a disturbance on campus?"

"Not really, and for your information, they let me go." Roman said.

"What?" She said. Roman started to tense a bit.

"You heard me, _they let me go_." Cinder gave him a look for a moment.

"Roman, I do not like being toyed with..." She said as her eyes started glowing. Her hands were placed on his shoulders.

"Tell me the truth, you trust me, don't you?" Roman could feel his shoulders heat up and her eyes boring into his.

"T-that is the truth..." Roman said, trying to resist her touch. After a moment of looking directly in his eyes, searching for the truth in his mind, Cinder's eyes stopped glowing and she let go of Roman. Roman immediately felt his shoulders in some attempt to cool them down.

"Well, seems like that is the truth then..." Cinder said. "Did you find anything out about them?"

"Nope. I didn't say a damn thing about you, they didn't tell me a damn thing about them either. Only thing I for out of them is that they say they don't care about you at all."

"Hmm..." Cinder mused. "These new men are far more interesting than previously thought..." She looked over her shoulder to looks at Neo. "Neo here told me the exact same thing..."

"Doesn't matter how interesting they are..." A voice in the dark said. Roman looked over behind him, and saw Adam Taurus walk from the shadows.

"They've killed a lot of my men, and I intend on making them pay..." Adam said menacingly. Cinder walked up to him and placed a hand on the side of his face.

"And so you will..." She purred. "Not now though. For now, we must stay hidden until Atlas cools down. Until then, no moves unless I say so. Understood?"

Roman and Adam nodded their heads.

"As long as I personally see to their deaths..." Adam said as he walked off.

"Good." Cinder said after him. "Roman." She nodded at him before leaving herself. Once Roman was alone, he breathed a long sigh, and pulled out a picture of a younger Neo and himself. He was holding young Neo as she was giving him a big hug. After looking at the picture for a couple of seconds, he walked over to a blown out window and looked over to Beacon Academy. Neo walked up to his side and put an arm across his shoulder, also looking at the picture.

"This one act of kindness should not be expected again, huh?" Roman said to no one in particular, keeping his eyes on the distant glow of Ozpin's tower.

"Too bad. I still need to have a word with you..."

* * *

 **And they all died. LOL, no. It's the end of chapter, mah bois and like 8 girls. I feel like it's a little short for what I normally do, but eh. I'm busy alright? I'm building some barely safe padded swords so my friends and I can beat the fuck out of each other on my friend's birthday. I'm poor, alright? I ain't gonna get him no damn gift that costs like $80 when I could give him a better gift, the gift of manhood and the rush of a fight. I'm literally taking these barely safe swords to his place instead of bringing an actual present because I find it more enjoyable to run and fight from and with your friends. We even have a fucking scythe that I will personally use only because it has range like a motherfucker.**

 **THE BREAD MONSTER IS ON ITS WAY, I DON'T KNOW WHEN, BUT IT'S COMING! I PROMISE!**

 **Review Responses:**

 **An Peepul: Thanks man. I looked it up, and it said both spelling are okay, but 'hippie' is generally more appropriate.**

 **Christopherprime22: YOU MADE A FAN-FIC ACCOUNT! And thanks mang!**

 **MCZ: Thanks for teh input.**

 **Darth Pestilence: Wow! Didn't know I managed this story that well! As for you, why not? Find the motivation then, go ahead and write one and I'lll be there with you. I should say this now, but I'm connected with Cadaver1041, ATTF, and Goldenspartan86 right now, okay? And they each, except for ATTF because I keep forgetting to ask him, have allowed me to fix their chapters up for any mistakes since I'm such a nice motherfucker. I'll do the same for you if you want me to.**

 **Shaneman17: Yeah, but Scout already got a girl, sort of... I know about the M1 Garand because I like to study weapons and the logic behind them.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: Uhhhhhhhh... Glynda, only because she will go up to you and fuck you up. The Administrator is more terrifying on a non-personal level because you wouldn't know it was her if she sent a hit on you.**

* * *

 **Okay, so before you leave, I promised I'll explain how the camper van got here. Since I didn't want to scrunch it up above, I'll tell it here.**

 **Mercs' House, The Garage, Not Long After Team RWBY Left**

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Engie growled as he was working on his teleporter. All of his attempts so far to get a way back home wasn't working.

"Argh, darn thing!" Engie said as he got up. He kicked his teleporter before walking over to the little refrigerator they had in their garage. He reached inside, and pulled out a bottle of sarsaparilla instead of an alcoholic drink. The last thing he needed now was to get drunk and potentially ruin all hopes of getting home because his drunken ass wrecked the teleporter. This is when the teleporter suddenly activated. There was no other teleporter it was connected to. A bright red glow filled the entire garage.

"What in Sam Hill?" Engie said. He took a single step towards the teleporter, only to jump backwards when the Sniper's camper van appeared and drove through the garage door, wrecking it. It kept going for a dozen paces or so after breaking down the garage door, destroying Soldier's new, sturdier flagpole.

"What in the name of General Patton-" Soldier yelled before he was hit by the camper van, knocking him out cold. Fortunately, the van stopped right before straight up running over him, so he was still alive. Engie got out his shotgun and went along the side of the camper van until he reached the driverside door. He abruptly opened it and stuck his shotgun inside, only to find nothing was in the front seat. Only a black cloak, a pair of shorts, a crocodile dundee akubra hat, a pair of safari boots with socks in them, and a note. The Texan holstered his shotgun, and took the note.

 _Dear lads,_

 _It's your boss, Saxton Hale! If you're reading this right now, that probably means my attempt at sneaking back to this "Remnant" by using the kiwi's van and a cloak I found didn't work. Damn all knowing beings!_

The note ended there.

"Hey, Rick!" Engie shouted.

"Yeah?" An Australian voice was heard somewhere within the house.

"Come 'ere! Got a surprise for you! It's from Mr. Hale himself!"

* * *

 **The Void, A few minutes ago**

"OH COME ON!" A manly Australian voice echoed across this endless dimension.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!" Hale raged from the driver's seat of the camper van. He was yelling at O-money and Gaben in absolute RAGE right now as the two beings had stopped the van in its tracks. O-money simply held his hand up as they all were in front of the portal leading to Remnant.

"Uh, no..." Gaben said.

"Can't let you in here, friend." O-money said.

"Please mate! I don't do this often... but I'm beggin' ya! Let me get back to that world and beat that pale whore up! Please!" The voidmen shook their heads.

"No can do." O-money said.

"What are you, dimensional border control!?" Hale yelled in anguish.

"Nah." Hale suddenly felt his body lock up.

"You're banned from Remnant." O-money said while Gaben nodded.

"Now go away..." O-money snapped his fingers and Hale disappeared back to Earth, leaving all of his clothes and the black cloak he was wearing in the car. As for the camper van, Gaben and O-money looked at each other, wondering what to do with it.

"What do you want to do with it?" Monty asked Gabe. Gaben shrugged.

"Well... It's not banned..." O-money said.

"Yes I do." Gaben said. An awkward response...

"Eh, I'll let it through..." O-money stepped to the side, and put his hand down, making the car shoot straight into the portal.

"You ever think we're making a mistake crossing over our series?" The Asian man asked Gaben.

"Yes I do." Gaben responded in exactly the same tone he said before.

"Dude, seriously, you got to stop talking in those lines the memes always have you say." He said to Gaben.

"Yes I- ugh... yeah, yeah I do..." Gaben went ashamedly.


	16. Arrogance and Grain

**Mercs' Classroom**

"Woah... What is that?" Yang said when she walked into the classroom. Everyone was surprised to see a strange device painted in the same shade of red that the mercenaries wore in the middle of the combat ring. The mercenaries were nowhere to be seen, and the repair crew had done a mighty fine job fixing up the place. You could hardly tell it was destroyed to begin with. This time around, Mercury and Emerald were here. Whatever fuckery they did to get into the class for today was anyone's guess.

"I don't know... But whatever it is, that can't possibly be good for us." Weiss warned.

"Agreed..." Blake said. There was a short silence before Nora yelled out.

"LET'S CHECK IT OUT!" She yelled excitedly. She was about to run down there when she was stopped by everyone in Team RWBY and JNPR as their combined might was needed to stop her.

"Wait Nora!" Jaune warned. "It could be a trap! Like a bomb or something!"

"Oh...right." She said sadly which made everyone sad too. When Nora's sad, everon'e sad.

"Don't worry Nora!" Yang beamed. She hastily looked around for something to make her feel better. That's when she spotted Team CRDL. "I know just how to cheer you up! I'll be back!"

"Hey boys!~" Yang teased them.

"What do you want, Yang?" Cardin growled though you can tell he was a little afraid, Beacon's resident angel of anger and destruction was smiling at him right now.

"Oh, I was just wondering if you brave boys would do something for a girl like me..." She cooed.

"W-what would that be?" Dove shakily asked.

"It's nothing really, I just want you nice boys to check that thing over there out!" She pointed a thumb back at the device in the ring.

"And what if we don't?" Russel asked defiantly which Yang did not appreciate.

"Well... it would be a shame then." She walked up to him. "Saying no to a nice girl like me. You'll never know when a girl might... SNAP!" Yang smiled evilly when she firmly grasped Russel's balls like she did Junior's a couple of months ago. This time, however, she grasped it to the point where she couldn't squeeze it anymore, and Russel was screaming though no noise came out of his mouth.

"Don't think I haven't caught you staring at my boobs before, you little perv!~" She teased. Russel did not respond, there was too much pain right now.

"Normally I don't mind when I get the boys' attention, but I know you like to peep on us girls too!" She did the impossible and squeezed harder, making Russel look like he was dying. She went up to his ears and whispered.

" _This is for all us girls. I'm going to break every single bone in your body. Starting with this one!"_ She kept breaking the laws of nature, and somehow squeezed it even harder. She then let go, and Russel collapsed on the ground. Yeah... Russel pretty much died, much to Yang's displeasure.

Fuck me, why am I writing this?! I'm a guy too! THIS SHIT HURTS ME EVEN IN WORD FORM! I keep spewing the fact that a man's balls are equivalent to how brave they are, but the truth is that real balls are the weakness of any man, not the metaphorical ones. Before I go any further, I will tell you right now that guys have a sort of unspoken rule of fighting that the vast majority of them will follow, and that is do not go for the balls. If you're a guy and you do this, you will be severely dishonored. Girls don't follow this rule however...

"Ah man... I broke him too early." Yang pouted. "Oh well, at least I still got three more chumps to play with!~" She grinned. "That is if you don't get your butts over there and mess with that thing!"

"Y-yes ma'am!" The three remaining CRDL boys said in a rush as they flew down over to the device. Even if they did blow up, it would be a way better fate than dealing with her.

Nora jumped up in glee when she saw Yang convinced CRDL to go over and check it out.

"Wow Yang! You got those jerks to do it for me!?" She asked.

"Yep!" Yang replied to which Nora gave her a hug for being awesome.

"But Yang..." Blake began. "What if they do blow up?"

"Come on, Blakey!" Yang swung an arm across the kitty's shoulder. "It's not like the professors would make it a dangerous explosion if that thing did blow up!"

"Yeah Blake, Yang's probably right. Besides, I don't think the professors would want to ruin their classroom with another huge explosion." Weiss added.

The CRDL boys had just walked up to the device and were now checking it out. They took a moment, but that was one moment too long for Nora.

"BLOW IT UP ALREADY!" Nora yelled with Yang nodding her head next to her. Yang winked at them with a scary blood red eye, making them frantically look for a way to make the thing blow up. Cardin stepped up on top of the thing in the hopes that the two weird yellow hole on it would do something, only for nothing to happen. At first...

Then it started spinning around rapidly while glowing red, and Spy suddenly appeared from it, telefragging Cardin. Cardin screamed when Spy sudden appearance made him shoot up into the ceiling, and Sky and Dove ran back to the safety of outside the ring, thinking the device was going to blow.

"What the Hell-" Spy said before he was also telefragged by the Scout. By some miracle of nature, the Frenchman survived the dreaded telefragging, but was in very critical condition.

"The Hell was that?" Scout wondered when he heard the screaming. That's when he saw the class, and smiled. He kicked the teleporter over to the side before talking to them.

"Hey-hey-hey! What's up people?" Scout smiled. "Don't got to worry about a single thing! The Scout is here!"

"How'd you do that!?" Weiss yelled.

"Do what?" Scout said.

"Pop out of nowhere!"

"Ohhhhhhhh... Yeah, this thing here is a teleporter." Scout replied.

"A teleporter?" Blake wondered.

"Yeah, yeah, now pipe it down will ya? I'm talking here!" Scout looked around at all the faces in the room before continuing.

"Hey, where's the applause? Don't you know who're you talking to? I'm the greatest their ever was! I am, the one and only Scout is here!" The students seemed very underwhelmed by him. He was by far the least interesting of the nine new professors, at least as far as they were concerned.

"Boo!" Mercury yelled mockingly from his front row seat with Emerald by his side.

"Boo? The Hell are you booing for?" Scout looked behind him. "I don't see no chumps up here for you to boo at."

"That's because I'm booing at you, loser." Mercury said smugly.

"Loser? Oh man, come up here and say that straight to my face you smug sonuva bitch!" The class gasped when he cursed in the middle of class. "The Hell are you waiting for, pally? Get that smug look of yours up here!"

" _Merc, what are you doing!?_ " Emerald whispered to him. " _You trying to get us caught!?"_

"Take it easy Emerald. I'm just gonna have some fun with the professor here." Mercury said before getting out of his seat and walking up to the Scout, stopping right before him.

"Got something to say, tough guy?" Scout taunted.

"Me? Something to say? Sure, I think your a narcissistic asshole." The class gasped again when Mercury just said that to a teacher! Granted a teacher who's only a couple years older than them since he's 21 and most of them are in between 16 to 19.

"Really now?" Scout smiled. Then, quick as lightning, Mercury was punched straight in the face, making him fall to the ground from the completely unexpected attack. "Come back those words up then, chump!"

Mercury got back up and walked back to Scout, stopping right before his face. They both stared into each other's eyes, both looking confidently at the other. Mercury then tried to kick Scout, only to hit nothing as Scout stepped backwards.

"Too slow!" The Boston boy said. Mercury then started chasing him around the ring in an attempt to hit him, only to miss every single time.

"Wooooo!" Scout cheered as he double jumped over Mercury when he tried to fire a blast kick at him.

"I'm not even winded!" Scout said as he felt his pulse, much to Mercury's discontent. Mercury kept his cool, and kicked at him again, but this time, Scout caught it instead of dodging and swept him off of his feet.

"Man, you suck! I didn't even hit you yet and you're still losing!" Scout taunted once more. Mercury responded by sweeping him off of his feet while he was still on the ground, and quickly got back up. Mercury tried to smash down on him, but Scout quickly slipped away and rolled up to his feet.

"Alright, at least you don't completely suck!" Scout still taunted. He pulled out his Sandman as Mercury jumped back up to his feet.

"Let's start this thing for real, huh?"

"Couldn't agree more..." Mercury growled.

Scout ran up to him and took a swing which Mercury swiftly dodged. Mercury countered with a strike to Scout's back, and tried to follow it up with a knee to the face if Scout didn't strike him in the gut with the Sandman. Scout swung away with the Sandman as Mercury defended himself. Eventually, Mercury found an opening, and kicked straight at Scout's side. Scout caught it however, and swung around so that Mercury flew away with with the momentum of his own kick, but he blasted some shots off as he flew at Scout. The Bostonian was caught by surprise, and was hit by a single blast as he jumped away from the hits. Scout was knocked over, giving Mercury the perfect chance to come and stomp him to the ground. Scout screamed like a girl when he saw Mercury coming, and he wriggled around on the ground to narrowly dodge Mercury's attacks. Eventually, Mercury stopped stomping and kicked him, making him slide over to the edge of the ring, in front of Team RWBY.

"Ladies." Scout said before rolling away from a stomp from Mercury.

He quickly got up to his feet, and blocked a few kicks with the Sandman before smashing the bat across Mercury's chest and grabbing him by the collar. Mercury tried to bring his legs forward to strike Scout, but Scout had already smashed the knob of his band into his face, and then kneed him, and then he kicked both of his legs inward so that Mercury fell on his knees. Scout was going to slam the bat down on Mercury's head when Mercury recovered and shot himself upwards with his leg guns, tackling Scout and sending the both of them skidding across the ground. Mercury repeatedly kneed Scout in the gut, but Scout held strong and repeatedly punched him in the face. Mercury stood himself up on top of Scout when they stopped sliding, and was going to shoot off of him when Scout quickly used his legs to tie him up and make him trip over to the side. Scout rolled to his feet and pulled out a baseball.

"Better hope you didn't ruin my face, buddy!" Scout pointed at his face with the hand containing the ball. "This here is my most valuable asset!"

"Thanks for letting me know." Mercury said back. "I'll be sure to aim for it!" Mercury raised his leg for a kick blast.

"You ain't aiming for nothin', sucka'!" Scout yelled as he knocked a ball over at Mercury, heading straight for where the blast from his leg guns come from. Mercury realized it to late, when he shot off the blast and it collided with the ball right next to him, making him fly backwards from the explosion. Scout smiled when he saw it actually worked, and he pulled out his Winger to put some rounds down on Mercury. Mercury felt three out of the five bullets fired at him before he landed back on his feet. He angrily looked over to where Scout was, only to see nothing was there.

"Hey hair gel!" He heard an annoying Boston say behind him.

Mercury swung around to land a kick on Scout, when he was suddenly stopped with something cold and metallic pressed against his stomach. Scout then fired both barrels of the Force-A-Nature simultaneously, knocking Mercury back again. Scout ran forward as he reloaded the double barreled shotgun, and quickly switched it out to dual wield the Shortstop and the Winger. Mercury rolled back up to his feet and swung a kick around at Scout, which landed square in Scout's face, messing up what he had planned for Mercury. Scout stumbled back from the hit and Mercury proceeded to kick the Winger up into the air and through the skylight, and Scout responded by unloading the Shortstop on Mercury. Mercury was unsuccessful at trying to block the shots as the pellet spread was too great, so he took quite a bit of damage. Still, Mercury held his ground and grabbed Scout before he can load the Shortstop, and elbowed him in the face, making him drop the Shortstop. Scout then headbutted Mercury so that he would let go of him, only for Mercury to kick him away with both legs once he was let go.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Mercury taunted.

"Brother, you ain't never seen a guy like me before!" Scout smiled. "I will mess you the Hell up!"

"Prove it then you auraless bastard." Mercury smirked. "I'm going to wipe- Ah!"

Quick as lightning again, Scout decked Mercury right in the face, and whipped out his Sandman again to get some hard hits off on him. Mercury blocked a couple of them, but still took quite a few hits from Scout before the Boston slugger suddenly dropped his bat. Mercury looked at him as if he was stupid, and Scout simply waved him forward. Mercury yelled as he roundhouse kicked Scout, only for Scout to dodge and launch his own roundhouse kick on him. Mercury stumbled back and felt his head now that he was feeling the hurt, and blasted some shots at Scout. However, Scout was too close and he simply slipped underneath the shots until he was right on top of Mercury. Mercury reacted quickly and rapidly kneed and kicked Scout at close range. The Bostonian took all the hits and grunted in intense pain, but he managed a small smile through bloody teeth. He caught a spin-kick from Mercury and threw him off using his own momentum.

At this time, the Winger was falling back down to the ground, and Scout caught it and pulled out the Shortstop again. Mercury landed with a loud thud and grunted as he did so, only to grunt even louder when Scout jumped on top of his chest. Before he can do a single thing, Scout stomped on his chest and kicked him square in the face before unloading both weapons in hand on Mercury. Once he was done, he double jumped up, got the Force-A-Nature out, and blasted the first shot so that he flew higher. He got out the Sandman before firing the last shot up into the air, making him fly down faster with enough force to shatter the ground around Mercury when he slammed the Sandman on him. Mercury gasped loudly when he felt the massive impact, and kicked Scout off of him before weakly standing up while clenching his chest.

"Stop! Stop!" Mercury said in between gasps. "I forfeit..." He wheezed, completely oblivious to the fact that Scout didn't give a fuck.

"Catch this!" Scout yelled as he threw a bottle of Mad Milk at Mercury's face.

"Ah! What!? I give-" Mercury was silenced when he was struck with a baseball traveling at 200mph in the face as well. Mercury's aura was flickering now, and Scout came walking up to him, laughing his ass off. Some of his wounds seemed to have disappeared since the effects of the Mad Milk healedd him from the damage he just gave Mercury.

"Still feel like a smartass now, you smug bastard?" Scout laughed while Mercury had an angry look on his face. Mercury couldn't do a thing however as the force from that impact stunned him, and Scout smiled deviously.

"Listen here, captain hair gel..." Scout got up to his face, grabbed him by the collar, and socked him in the face one last time. "I'm the Scout, and that means I'm the best! Ain't ever will anyone be better than me!" Scout let go of him, and then raised the Sandman to striking position, getting ready for a Home Run...

"Allow me to show you why they call me SLUGGER!" Scout swung the bat with such force, that time seemed to slow down. Mercury gasped and coughed out spit as he felt every inch of his body hurt, and Scout grinned the whole time. The moment lasted for only a single second, but it felt like it lasted for minutes before Mercury was promptly sent flying far out of the classroom and landing in some field right before school boundaries. Emerald screamed after him and promptly ran out of the class to pursue him.

"Oh yeah, baby! Yes! I am the best!" Scout celebrated, performing some flashy dance moves in the middle of the ring. The class was in total shock. A teacher just showed absolutely no fucks and knocked a student far off into who knows where and was now dancing in victory.

"You see that boys and girls!?" Scout pointed at the class with both hands, jogging in place. "That is why I am the best!" The class started applauding. Some clapped because they were afraid he was going to do the same to them while others did it because that was genuinely impressive.

"Awesome!" Nora yelled from the cloud.

"Nice job!" Yang yelled.

"Hey! Hey! Thank you, thank you!" Scout said in appreciation of the applause. "That was pretty good wasn't it? It just goes to show that not even you 'Remnantese' or whateva' the hell you people call yourselves ain't invincible with your fancy auras." He pointed both thumbs at himself. "Especially against me!" He got some objective looks from the students who would beg to differ, but that was still admittedly impressive.

"Mr. Scout?" Velvet timidly said from behind him. She was tending to Spy this whole time, as he was losing a lot of blood. "Mr. Spy is losing a lot of blood! We have to take him to a hospital!" Spy wasn't moving, other than the low breathing indicating he was still alive.

"Eh, leave him." Scout said.

"But he's seriously hurt!" Velvet cried. Scout tried to look tough, but Velvet's cute look convinced him he probably should help his teammate.

"Give 'em some of this." Scout pulled out a couple of medkits and threw both on top of Spy. They sort of melted into him and all his wounds disappeared! Spy gasped loudly once he got a steady supply of oxygen back in his lungs, and quickly looked around him. Then he saw Scout, and got an angry look on his face.

"'Bout time you're awake, crouton!" Scout said. "While you were sleeping on the job, I was showin' some bozo what happens when you cross with the best aroun here!" He said proudly.

"Shut your mouth, you twitchy hooligan!" Spy yelled as he stood up with Velvet's assitance. "You were supposed to wait a moment before using the teleporter! You telefragged me!"

"Did I?" Scout said. "I would be sorry right now if it ain't for the fact that you're still alive, _dumb bastard..._ " Scout whispered under his breath. Spy fumed.

"Go back to the teleporter now and tell Soldier and Heavy to get the bread ready!" Spy ordered.

"The hell are you yelling at me for? Besides I ain't got to listen-" Scout's earpiece was expertly shot off of his head as Spy blew some smoke off of his revolver.

"Okay I'll go get them!" Scout said in a rush as he stepped back onto the teleporter. Spy watched him as went, and once he was gone, he started yelling a lot in French.

"Merde Boston bastard! Si seulement je ne l'avais pas baisé sa mère cette petite merde ne serait pas un gros problème dans ma vie! Pourquoi ai-je de prendre ce travail d'assassinat sur cette mafia patron quand je aurais pu prendre un avion pour l'Italie à la place !? Au moins, je l'aurais baisé quelque maîtresse italienne raffinée et peut-être eu un fils qui est pas un salaud absolu! Quelqu'un qui est pas arrogant, sarrasins, narcissique ..."

Google Translation: (Damn Boston bastard! If only I hadn't fucked his mother this little shit wouldn't be such a big problem in my life! Why did I have to take that assassination job on that mafia boss when I could have taken a plane to Italy instead!? At least I would have fucked some fine Italian mistress and possibly had a son who's not an absolute bastard! Someone who's not arrogant, brash, narcissistic...)

It was a good thing the students couldn't understand him, otherwise this uncomfortable moment of someone shouting in an unknown language to them would be even more uncomfortable if they knew what he was saying.

"Uh... Mr. Spy?" Pyyrha tapped his shoulder. Spy stopped yelling when he suddenly remembered he was in a classroom.

"Yes?" He said. He wiped his brow in appreciation of the students not being able to understand him.

"You've been yelling for a full five minutes." She said. All the students looked at him worriedly.

"I don't think we want to know what you were saying..." Jaune said next to Pyyrha.

"Yes, yes... You really don't." Spy said as he straightened out his suit. He looked around him and took in all the students surrounding him, the generic ones, our heroes, Neo, Velvet, and...where's Ruby?

"Where is your sister?" Spy asked Yang.

"She didn't feel like going to classes today..." Yang said sadly. Spy saw her tone and decided not to push it, he had a class to teach after all.

"Hmm, we have enough time left..." He mused as he looked at his wrist watch.

"Alright, listen up everyone!" Spy got their attention. "I was planning for what our class should do today last night when I realized something, this is a school where you combat monsters." The students agreed.

"Well, let's go fight some monsters then." He started walking down the way out of the class, but not without picking up the teleporter. "We're going on a field trip to the Emerald Forest."

* * *

 **Edge of the Emerald Forest**

Spy had taken the entire class out to the Emerald Forest, but not into it itself. No, they were standing out near the treeline, waiting for Spy to do something. Team RWBY and JNPR were sitting together on some logs, minus Ruby of course. From this location, they could see Soldier had finally managed to fly the American flag on a sturdier flagpole.

"Why are we here?" Jaune asked.

"The professor said we were going to fight some monster Nora." Ren said

"I know, but why aren't we going into the forest?"

"That, I do not know." Ren said.

"Maybe it's because he's going to have a trap set for us. You can never be too sure with our new professors." Blake said.

"I don't see anything hiding in the forest though..." Yang said as she scanned the treeline.

"What if it's not in the forest?" Weiss questioned. "What if they have Mr. Sniper somewhere with his gun trained on us?" That was a legitimate worry, and everyone hastily looked around the rooftops for any sign of the Australian.

"Maybe they got some of those turret things hidden in the ground!" Nora yelled. That made them fear even worse, until Spy walked in the middle of their little circle, setting down the teleporter.

"Maybe I'm setting this teleporter down." He said coolly.

"Oh." Nora said in disappointment.

"Is something dangerous gonna come out of this thing?" She asked in hopes of something else exciting happening. The Scout V. Mercury fight earlier got her energy up and she was really excited now.

"You'll see..." Spy said as he walked away.

"So this is the teleporter..." Pyyrha said. "What a marvelous piece of engineering... I don't think there are any machines on Remnant like it."

"Yes. I've only heard of teleportation through semblances, but not through a machine." Ren said.

"Guess that's just the professor's world for you..." Jaune said. "This 'Earth' place sounds pretty cool if you ask me."

Then, the teleporter activated, and all the teens cleared away from it in case they got telegragged like Cardin. The machine glowed a bright red, and out came the Scout, Heavy, Demoman, and Soldier, all carrying piles of bread one at a time.

"Hey guys!" Yang beamed. "What's with all the bread?" They didn't answer her as they quickly walked back into the teleporter, one by one.

"Uh...okay..." Yang said in confusion.

"That was weird... Where-" Blake was interrupted when the mercenaries came back out, and back in. They kept going in and out until the bread started having multiple green lumps and tentacles pop out of it.

"Now boys! Smash this freedom grain together into one big freedom bread!" Soldier yelled. His friends did as he asked, and smashed all the bread together into one big lump with Soldier holding it.

"That's...good!" Soldier groaned. "Fall back! I got this..." He smiled, and looked at the students as they jogged away, but not without taking the teleporter. The students stared at Soldier in fear as the bread was mutating some teeth...

"Hear me, fellow followers of freedom!" Soldier yelled as he raised the mutating mass of grain high. "Uncle Sam himself had told me that you poor warriors are hungry! So he sent me with some of his good ole' freedom bread to shove it down your throats! Therefore, murdering your hunger in a delicious massacre of bread!" He reared the mass of bread back when the tentacles started whirling around everywhere.

"I HOPE YOUR HUNGRY!" He yelled at the top of his lungs as he threw the giant mass of bread high into the sky, in an arc going straight for the students.

"What the fuck..." The boys of Team CRDL said in unison right before the monster landed right on top of them. This monster was a little different from the first one the mercs fought because now it had smaller bread monsters of various sizes popping out of its green boils. Reminds me of a certain greater daemon of Nurgle...

Team CRDL screamed in agony as the bread monsters were beating the absolute shit out of them, and they soon converged on the other students as well. Can you even imagine this? Huntsmen and huntresses in training, in a field with the Emerald Forest just over to the left, fighting monsters, but not just a monster like a Grimm. No, I mean fucking bread monsters, living pieces of bread were currently fighting these students right now! The level of what the fuck the students were feeling right now was very high, as you could imagine. Anyone, be it yourself, an OC, or RWBY character would go WTF when they saw a horde of monsters made out of grain coming at them.

"What is this!?" Pyyrha said as she was wrestling with a few smaller bread monsters clinging to her.

"Those are bread monsters." Spy said after puffing out a smoke. He and the other mercs in the scene were standing off to the side, laughing their asses off.

"How is this possible!? Gah!" Weiss yelled before getting dog piled by a bunch of bread monsters. Blake and Jaune ran to assist her.

"It just is..." Spy said as he flicked away a cigarette. "Everyone! Your job today is to kill all these bread creatures without our assistance! I trust all of you are more than capable of such a task?" He got no response other than the screams of terror and agony as the students were battling the living bread.

"I'll take that as a yes! We'll be back by the time class is over." Spy said before he and the other mercs walked away from the battle unfolding behind them.

"Their goin' to 'ave a bloody 'ard time, eh?" Demo laughed as Dove from Team CRDL landed next to him, head stuck in the ground.

"Da." Heavy laughed back.

"You said it, fellow patriots!" Soldier said, getting in between them and putting his arms around both of their shoulders. "What say you we go and visit the General's army, huh boys?"

"Sure, I'm down fer it." Demo said, and Heavy nodded his head. They then went off to find the staging grounds for the Atlas force here, leaving Scout and Spy behind.

"Hello, headmaster..." Spy said as he typed a message up in his scroll. "If you're seeing students fighting a bread monster, that is part of the course. Please do not send anyone to interfere. Sincerely, the Spy."

"Well, now that that's done, I'm headin' off to the city!" SCout said. He took a step forward before Spy grabbed his collar.

"No, you will stay here in Beacon." His French, totally not his dad, coworker said.

"What?! Why!?" The Bostonian yelled.

"That little incident with the Fang yesterday painted a giant target on our heads, especially yours and whoever else was with you." Spy replied. "You do not leave unless I say so, got it, Willy?"

"Don't call me that, you shmuck!" Scout yelled. "I'm the best, alright? I don't need to-"

"William..." Spy put a hand on his shoulder. "It's only for your safety. Remember, if you go out there alone and you're killed, Medic won't be there to revive you. I honestly don't care if a disrespectful, classless, arrogant fool such as yourself were to die alone in some alley, but you are a member of my team, and I am responsible for you all here in Remnant." Scout stared him straight in the eyes before shoving his hand off his shoulder.

"Yeah, I get it." Scout said before walking off.

"Good." Spy then turned around and checked the students progress with the bread monsters. They were doing... not well, but they weren't doing bad either. The bread monster was pumping out an insane amount of smaller bread creatures and was whipping everyone with its tentacles, but the students held their ground for the most part.

"What is the meaning of this!?" A female voice boomed from behind him. Glynda Goodwitch stomped over to Spy and gave him an angry look. Then she saw the bread monsters.

"What in the name of Remnant are these things!?" She yelled.

"Bread monsters." Spy responded. "We weren't lying when we said we fought living creatures made out of breath."

"Why are you having the students fight them then!?"

"Gives them much needed experience. That and Pyro bought a ridiculously large amount of bread and we needed a way to get rid of it."

"What if the students get hurt or worse!?"

"They will, but they won't be killed. For all of its ferocity, the bread monster is a surprisingly non-lethal creature. It's tentacles and bites may hurt, but every part of it is still made of bread. Plus, the students have aura. Trust me, it's practically harmless."

"Oh!" Glynda fumed. "I never liked you men from the moment you came to this academy! First you cause multiple damages to campus that I had to fix! And now you created a monster out of bread!"

"I did say it was practically harmless."

"Well that thing is practically beating our students senseless!"

"True, but that's to be expected. It may be practically harmless, but it's really ferocious."

"UGH! You... why are you having them fight out here then!?"

"Because I don't want to have you getting angry at us for causing any damages to school property." Glynda's face stopped looking angry when he said that.

"I maybe a trained killer, Ms. Goodwitch, but I am also a gentleman at my core. And I see no reason to make a pretty woman like you angry at me anymore than I already have."

"Oh, well... thank you, Mr. Spy." She said, no longer as angry as she was before. "Well... I'll be off then." She started walking back towards the academy.

"Just make sure no one dies!" She yelled back.

"Of course." He replied. Shortly after Glynda left, Professors Port and Oobleck, as well as some students who didn't have classes at the moment came to see what was happening.

"My stars, what is that beastie!?" Port yelled when he saw the bread monster trying to shove Cardin down its mouth.

"A bread monster. Would you like to watch? It's part of their training in my class." The professors looked at each other and shrugged.

"Okay."

* * *

 **Okay guys, looks like I fucking lied about update times. It's only because I had a surprising amount of free time this week that I chose not to waste playing video games. I will say right now that the reviews suggesting stuff to do were a great help in writing this chapter. I think I said before that I don't know what happens next until I sit my ass down on the computer, so when someone suggested Mercury vs Scout, and the imminent return of the bread monster, I took it cuz I had no better ideas. I made it work to the best I can, so I help you guys stop bitching about the monster now, no offense.**

 **I'm still itching for you guys to list out why you like my story though, any flaws to while you're at it. Those of you who already did don't have to no more, obviously.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Christopherprime22: Your welcome, bro. I never heard of Critics united until now though, but don't worry. A relatively obscure and unsuspecting crossover page between RWBY and TF2 probably are not a priority on these guys' list.**

 **Cadaver1041: Yep. Go read his shit guys. He tells me himself I can stop shouting him out, but I'm too nice. He's going to bitch at me tomorrow for this...**

 **Freddo5: Awesome. Thanks for ideas and the appreciation by the way. And also, could you not put your name as Freddo5? There's a little box that says 'post review as' above the box you type the review in. Does that not work? Oh, and guess what? Remnantese is in this chapter just for you! Challenge accepted and completed, now where's my reward? :D**

 **Shaneman17: How about a fight between an arrogant asshole with robot legs and an arrogant but lovable asshole? And yes, it did write itself. It was fun writing that fight.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: Yep. A pep talk and a life lesson, he did give them.**

 **ATTF: If Engie got telefragged, the team would be like "eh" and revive him with a regular reanimator like nothing happened. Are my fight scenes really that good? And it's good to see you like my humor, boi.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: I have no response to that, other than he's still banned from Remnant. Sadly enough.**

 **Dude: Thanks Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddde.**

 **Mr.G37: Intensely correct and rightly true Sniper was.**


	17. Grainy victory

**Notes:**

 **For those of you who don't know, the "Expiration Date" animated short features Spy teaching SCout how to woo Ms. Pauling, and at the conclusion of the short is a battle with a bread monster. This creature is retardedly tough in terms of its durability. Despite being made of bread, it can take whatever the fuck Heavy's minigun is chambered in (Heavy said it was bigger than .50 bmg in _Poker Night at the Incentory_ , which is pretty big for the ones who don't know a lot about guns) sustained fire and rockets from Engineer's sentry, as well as getting charred by Pyro's flamethrower. It wasn't until they set off a payload cart to explode that the beast was killed, and even did it was largely intact despite being shot at with FUCKING everything the mercs had. Let me remind you it's still made of bread, and as a result no one seems to have been seriously harmed by it despite its ferocious appearance. You can say that's only because Medic healed them, but eh.**

 **I'm gonna call the mercs estimated ages right now:**

 **Officially, Scout was born in the 1950's so he could be anywhere from 23 to 14 at the current date of 1973. It's unlikely he's younger than 18, so I made him 21 in this story.**

 **Soldier has to be in his fifties or forties at the least.**

 **Spy has to at least be in his fifties too, if he is indeed Scout's father.**

 **Pyro is anyone's fucking guess.**

 **Heavy is probably the oldest at around sixty since he was born before he was placed in a Siberian Gulag by the Soviets at the end of the Russian Civil War.**

 **Sniper is like forty.**

 **Demoman might be forty as well**

 **Engineer ought to be in his forties if he was a little kid during the events of Team Fortress Classic, which took place in the 1930s. His dad was the classic engineer. kinda makes you wonder how the comic is gonna deal with them meeting each other...**

 **Medic might be in his fifties. If he was studying medicine in Germany during the events of World War II, he had to be near his twenties at the least.**

* * *

 **Edge of Emerald Forest**

"My! What a story that was, Mr. Spy! Hahaha!" Port laughed a jolly laughed with his coworker. This was the first time any of the other staff in Beacon, other than Glynda, interacted with the mercenaries. Port, Oobleck, and Spy were laughing as they stood about 50 feet away or so from where the bread monster was wrecking the students' collective shit.

"Wish I could have used such a beast in my own class!" Port said. "At least it constantly makes more of itself, unlike the Grimm. Though I do enjoy a good hunt, it gets rather tedious to go out and find more every time I have a student fight one."

"I understand you bring live Grimm in for the students to fight?" Spy asked the jolly professor.

"Why yes I do! Such a practice ensures the students know the enemy they face firsthand!" Port said proudly.

"Hehe, I assume that's why two don't mind a giant monster made of bread fighting the students then?"

"Precisely!" Port said as a matter of fact.

"Well, Mr. Spy..." Oobleck began. "I understand that you and the other eight men here are from another world."

"Correct."

"Interesting, interesting. Well! As a professor in history, it is always a pleasure to learn more about new places! So tell me, what is your world like?" Oobleck asked with a smile.

"I'm honored to inform you two gentlemen. Humanity is the only intelligent race that inhabits our world, our world is called Earth. There are no Creatures of Grimm there, and Humanity has spread around all corners of the world with the only thing stopping them being the climate of whatever land they're in."

"Fascinating!" Oobleck said. "Continue please!"

"There are countless thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of different cultures, languages, and people on our world. Though the technology of our world is not quite up to par with Remnant as a whole, we have made it to our moon before." The professors were shocked at Spy's statement.

"To the moon!?" Port yelled.

"Oui, our moon is not shattered like yours, and people have set foot on in before."

"That is incredible! For all of Remnant's dust based technologies, no one has ever been able to even break the planet's atmosphere! Not even Atlas! How did you do it!?" Oobleck eagerly questioned.

"I don't know how we did it. The technology is beyond a man such as myself, but we have done it." The Frenchman pulled out a newspaper dated July 20, 1969. Oobleck took the newspaper and read the headline with Port at his side.

"MEN WALK ON MOON" Oobleck read the headline aloud. He took a moment to read some of the below information before looking back up at Spy."This is incredible! The people of your world must have brought together their finest to achieve such a feat!"

"Hehehe, no." Spy said simply.

"No?" Oobleck questioned.

"Yes, I said no." Spy said. "Since there is nothing like the Creatures of Grimm to keep mankind trapped in kingdoms such as Vale, there was no foe uniting our race as one. As a historian, I assume you know what happens next?"

"Conflict." Oobleck said solemnly. "I suppose Earth has seen a Great War such as Remnant's own?"

"Yes. Two, to be precise." Spy replied, much to the two professors' shock. "On top of other, more localized conflicts of course."

"Two?" Oobleck quietly said.

"That's fact. Both have taken place in the last century. A mere thirty years apart from one another."

"Why? Why were these wars fought?" Oobleck asked. "Please tell me! Such an insight into the people of another world will improve our understanding of Mankind!"

"The first one, the one known as THE Great War before it was called World War I, was fought because the leader's of multiple empires grew too sure of themselves and jumped at the opportunity to gain glory. Unfortunately, new technology and old tactics insured millions died for nothing. The war to end all wars, ended nothing in the end. Only the lives of those millions lost during its time." Oobleck and Port said nothing, only giving solemn looks and nodding their heads in understanding.

"The second one, World War II, was so much worse than the first. But if it makes you two feel any better, this war was not fought over pointless nationalism. It was a war against oppression and tyranny. A war that would decide the fate of mankind. A mad dictator who believed he could rule the world set forth on 'righteous' crusades and genocides against those he deems inferior. The countries of the world banded together, and in the end, this madman and absolute idiot, was ultimately defeated. This conflict took place only a couple decades before the current date on our world, so some of my companions were affected by it."

"Like who?" Port questioned.

"For one, myself. I was a secret agent for the Allies in my younger years, and my job was to steal information or assassinate anyone of importance. Hence why I do what I do now. Soldier, despite his name, was never an actual soldier in the army as no one would take him in due to his... special nature. But his pigheadedness and sheer determination allowed him to somehow sneak over to the fighting, where he did not leave until four years after the war when he finally found out it was over. I believe the war allowed my large friend, the Heavy, to stay hidden in the snowy wastes of his homeland as it kept the Soviets occupied with dealing with an enemy army boring into its territory instead of worrying about some escaped prisoners. And Medic, hmm... he lived in Nazi Germany during the war, that was the country that started this madness by the way. But he seems to care little about the politics of his homeland. Only in his own special brand of 'medicine.'"

"Interesting..." Oobleck said. Feminine screaming was heard when the professors looked up and saw Weiss Schnee flying towards them. They took a step to the side when she landed right where they once were.

"Oof!" Weiss grunted upon contact with the grass. "Ow..."

"Ha! I see that monster is giving even the best of my students a hard time!" Port cheered, trying to break the solemness of the moment earlier.

"It would seem so, Peter!" Oobleck laughed.

"Why are you laughing!?" Weiss yelled. "That thing is tearing us apart!"

"No it's not. I see severed limbs anywhere." Spy mockingly said with a smile.

"Grr! This isn't fair! It keeps making more of itself! How are we supposed to fight it!?" She yelled as she angrily stared down Spy, who didn't seem to give a fuck as his expression hadn't changed a bit.

"Figure it out, Ms. Schnee. Work together, coordinate attacks, tell it it sucks, do whatever." Spy smiled trollishly. "Remember, you do not pass until you kill it." The Schnee heiress growled angrily before stomping off back towards the bread monster.

"My, Weiss Schnee ought to calm down or else she'll pop a vein, eh gents?" Port joked.

"Quite, Peter, Quite." Oobleck responded. Screaming was heard again as a random student crashed into Oobleck after being thrown by the bread monster. Port laughed heartily at his friend's expense, but was quickly silenced when the disguised Neo crashed into him.

"Hmm?" Spy went as he looked down at Neo. She gave him a shy smile as she lay on top of portly Professor Port.

"Ms. Tremaine." Spy greeted her. He gave her a wink, reminding her he knew who she was to which she nervously nodded and slid off of Port. She remained on the ground because she was faking being seriously hurt, not wanting to keep fighting something that was way out of her league. Spy scoffed at her antics, and walked off as he was getting bored of watching his class get their asses whooped.

* * *

 **Bread Battle**

"Hey! Where's Mr. Spy going!?" Jaune yelled as he spotted Spy walking off into Beacon. He had to strain his eyes to spot him through the growing crowd of students gathering to watch the battle.

"Who cares!? We got bigger problems vomit boy!" Yang yelled before firing off some explosive shots at the main bread monster. The shots hit home, but the beast was largely intact even though it was made of delicious whole grain. It angrily roared at her, and then it grabbed a few man sized bread monsters to throw at her. They were stopped by a glyph from Weiss though, and speaking of glyphs, Weiss summoned a bunch to tie the monster's tentacles down.

"Now! Give it everything you have!" The heiress yelled as she struggled to hold all the glyphs in place. Everyone with ranged weapons unloaded everything they had down on the pinned monster while everyone else held the smaller bread creatures back. The monster whirled around and roared in rage as it was unable to move away from their attacks.

"Yes! We're doing it!" Jaune yelled in joy while holding the smaller bread monstrosities back from his fellow classmates shooting at the main one.

His face then changed to one of firght when a bunch of the smaller, normal loaf sized bread creatures came at him with angry fangs ready to nibble on his body. Jaune gulped before putting on a brave face, and he blocked and slashed at the little creatures as they came at him. He looked very valiant while doing this, but admittedly, these small loaves were mostly harmless so it wasn't all that impressive.

"Good work, Jaune!" Pyyrha congratulated him, not wanting to make him feel embarrassed for killing a bunch of loaves of bread.

" _Ah, thanks!"_ Jaune blushed, totally dropping his guard for a single loaf to chomp down on his leg. "Ah! Hey! Off of me!" He swung his leg around wildly to get the creature off of him, leaving him open for even more creatures to pile on him.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Jaune yelled whilst being completely covered by a swarm of living bread loaves. He was no longer visible except for him swinging his sword up in the air.

"Jaune!" Pyyrha yelled. Her eyes went wide with horror upon realizing that Jaune going down meant that there was now a gaping hole in their defense, and the creatures were making full use of that. The generic students as well as Team CRDL screamed as they attempted to fight off the bread that was now encircling and overruning them, and said monsters were coming straight for Weiss.

"Don't worry Weiss! I'll protect you! Come at me motherfuckers!" A random student with a great double headed axe fearlessly yelled as he jumped to protect Weiss. His courage soon shrank like his balls did when a bunch of man sized bread monsters surged forward in a ten foot tall wave of whirling green tentacles and fangs.

"Uh, on second thought! I don't like you that much anyway!" He yelled as he tried to run away from the wave, only to crash into Weiss and fucking everything up.

"No! You idiot! AHH!" Weiss yelled before she and the generic admirer got drowned by bread. The glyphs disappeared, and now the main bread monster was free. It slid forward at a speed that did not make sense for a creature of its size, especially considering it has no legs, and immediately attacked Yang, Ren, Nora, and anyone else who was still standing.

Ren performed all sorts of acrobatic fuckery that he normally does in combat to dodge all the monster's attacks as well as to attack it from multiple angles, and Blake did the same. Nora and Yang went for that head on approach they're both known for, and Pyyrha ran off to help Jaune. They were doing pretty okay now that their initial shock has worn off, but then the monster did something totally unexpected. It turned into one big shade of green and temporarily stopped attacking, only for it to split into TWO, fucking **TWO** , bread monsters of equal size. The teens were in awe as the two monstrosities 'fist bumped' each other with their tentacles before opening up their mouths to spit out giant globs of green goo that formed into smaller bread monsters at them.

"Come on!" Yang despaired. "Give us a break!" The monsters would not give them a break though, and they quickly swarmed them. Ren blasted swaths of them away with StormFlower, but was soon knocked the fuck out when one of the monsters stopped spamming smaller creatures and formed its goo into a LOT of tentacles to make jumping in the air unhindered impossible. Nora, Blake and Yang retreated while blasting off some explosive rounds at the advancing bread monsters.

"Come on guys! We got to do something about those two!" Yang said between breaths. They were all tired. Who knew fighting bread would be so exhausting? Actually... That sounds pretty embarassing. People would look at you weird if you told them you fought a loaf of bread and killed it with all of your might.

"Why is this even happening?" Blake sighed.

"Oh come on, Blake!" Nora cheered. "Don't let the BREAD of the situation get you down!" Nora punned.

"It's okay if we're too WHEAT to fight it! :D"

"Not now, Nora..." Yang sighed. Even she wasn't in the mood to pun around. She looked over at the rest of the class to see it was not going well at all. So much of the class had fallen, that the creatures were now going after the bystanders. Some of the bystanders had their weapons while others left them in their lockers.

"Look out!" Nora yelled as she jumped in front of Blake to take a hit from a massive tentacle, sending her flying out into the forest. Blake and Yang hastily dodged a bunch of rapid tentacle strikes and incoming bread loaves.

Yang held most of them off in melee while Blake zoomed around, dicing and slicing at whatever she could. She managed to get face to face with one of the main bread monsters, and attempted to find a weak point on it. To her utter dismay, the monster had no visible weaknesses. The entire thing was made up of bread and these green tumor things that nothing worthwhile happened when you hit them other than make more loaves pour out. In the midst of her moment of despair, the other bread monster somehow snuck up on her despite being as a large fucking tank, and formed its tentacles into one giant bread fist, and smashed it down on her.

"BLAKE!" Yang yelled after her partner. She ran over to help Blake out, punching and kicking at loaves that tried to bite at her and hit her with their tentacles. Unfortunately, this led to her easily getting tangled by the main two's tentacles, rendering her completely defenseless as they held her up in the air by the limbs.

"Herg! Let go of me!" She yelled. The monster responded by forming itself into one again, and growling at her. It then slammed her into the ground a bunch of times before throwing her off into the crowd of bystanders who were currently fighting off loaf sized bread creatures. Her impact decimated them as they were thrown around everywhere, leaving them wide open for the swarm.

"Ah... This isn't fair..." Yang grumbled as she crawled out of her crater. That's when she saw a pair of black boots walk up to her. She looked up, and saw it was the Pyro carrying a huge bag of candy.

"Mphm-mphpmhp?" It muffled.

"I don't know what you're saying, but please help us!" She begged. "That thing is way too much for us to handle!"

Pyro looked at the bread monster and stood there for a moment. In its mind, the Pyro saw a bunch of friendly pieces of toast playing with the students. It clapped his hands and took a step to play with them when the big one waved its bready hands. Pyro had dropped the candy bag and was now holding a flamethrower.

"Uh-uh, Mister! No fire aloud! We wouldn't want anyone to go blind from how ugly those nasty things are, huh?" It smiled. Fire? Nasty? UGLY!? Pyro muffled a loud roar, and had completely ditched its flamethrower in favor of its fire axe. Then, the little pyromaniac ran off to do battle with the horribly mean bread people.

Fire appeared beneath Pyro, and then he shot up into the air with a brilliant pillar of flame trailing behind him. The bread monsters and any students still standing watched in awe as the Pyro fell back down in a huge fireball with its axe raised high. A giant shockwave of flame engulfed the whole area when Pyro planted its axe firmly into the 'forehead' of the main bread monster. Any student who was down was knocked away to relative safety by the shockwave, with only minor burning to their clothes. The monster roared in pain as Pyro dropped down to the ground with its axe still stuck in it. It retreated back while the smaller bread creatures moved in to swarm Pyro. Pyro responded by pulling out its flamethrower and roasting them all to death. He like crispy bread! The main beast had pulled out the axe with one of its tentacles and was now swinging it around at Pyro. It saw it coming however and used the last of its gas to blow the swing right back at the monster, getting it stuck in it once more. Pyro threw its flamethrower at a group of loaf sized vreatures before pulling out its trustee shotgun and conjuring fire in its free hand.

The most myserious of the mercs was holding off dozens upon dozens of bread creatures by using a shotgun one handed (that means pumping the action back with one hand too) and was spitting fire out of its other hand. The bread creatures were killed in droves until the Pyro got close enough to the main beast to continue battling it, but then was sidetracked by a shouting voice.

"Help me!" Little baby Pyyrha cried as the mean creatures were kicking her poor friend silly. Pyro growled at how mean the toast people were, but it couldn't run over and help them with this big baddy right in front of it so Pyro pulled off one of its incendiary grenades and threw it straight at them. Pyyrha saw it, and scooped up Jaune before leaping away from the fiery blast, shouting a thank you to Pyro as she retreated into the trees.

Meanwhile, the bread monster was getting sick of this fuckery, and called all of the bread loaves back inside it so that it grew in size. Pyro watched defiantly as the creature doubled in size, easily being as big as a house. Once it was finished growing, it 'looked' or rather implied it was looking since it had no visible eyes, at Pyro, and roared. Pyro stood still as any knocked out students or whatever wasn't heavy enough to get blown away from the monster's roar flew off. While it was roaring, Pyro responded by firing off a single explosive flare with the Detonator into its open mouth. In response, the creature ate Pyro whole, and when it was done doing so, it turned its attention on Beacon. However, the creature does not understand that it has no organs of any sort, and that in the inside its just a lot of hollow space.

"Mr. Pyro!" Velvet yelled in joy when Pyro landed in the creature. She and a few other students were trapped inside it.

"What do we do!?" A random female student yelled in a panic.

"Oh, we're gonna die in here!" Another student cried. Pyro bitch slapped him, and looked for a way to fuck this creature up since it stupidly place him in its most vulnerable area. He pulled out the Lollichop and began looking around for something.

 _"Is that a fucking giant lollipop?"_ A student from Shade whispered to an Atlas student.

" _Looks like it."_

"How is that giant lollipop gonna help us, Mister?" Velvet asked with a tear in her eye. Pyro responded by Mphming and raising a hand for to be quiet.

It was looking for a magical slab of bread for them to hide under. Soon, it was found simply by cutting off huge sections of bread for the students to hide under. If Pyro remembered anything about the first one, it was that the outside of these things were retardedly tough. His team shot everything at it and it did jack shit to it, only with something like a big fiery explosion would destroy it from the outside. So with that knowledge in mind, a big colorful rainbow blast from the inside should show this meanie what for!

Pyro quickly covered all the students with giant sheets of bread, laughing as it did so, and then got out all sorts of gasoline and easily flammable items out from somewhere.

"Are you crazy!? You're gonna kill us!" A rude little boy from Haven shouted. Pyro responded by throwing an empty tank of liquid rainbows at him. Give him something to play with, you know?

Once the inside was soaked with gasoline, Pyro conjured up fire all over itself and set fire to the whole interior while the students cowered under their protective bread sheets. All the fire suddenly was sucked into Pyro, and with a little chuckle, Pyro blew up into a huge fireball.

Students ran away from the huge creature as it closed in on them, but suddenly it stopped. Those who actually stopped to see why saw it started spewing a huge column of flame out of its mouth. At first, they feared this was some kind of new ability this creature had, but that was soon put to rest when its green tumors popped open with more fire spilling out of them. The creature writhed and roared in pain as everything burned before its body started failing it. After a moment, all the flames went away, and from out of its mouth came out Pyro and the students trapped in it. There were absolutely no marks of damage on Pyro, but the same cannot be said for the students. They seemed largely unharmed though, that bread sure does wonders!

Pyro walked up to the 'face' of the dying bread creature, and gently stroked it while giving it a hug.

 _Shhh... It's okay now. I forgive you now! Don't you see how pretty fire is now?_ Pyro mmphmed while its hands started heating up and the monster caught on fire once more. The creature was soon incinerated on the spot with nothing but ashes being where the monster once was.

"These guys are impossible..." Yang groaned before passing out. Spy was coming back around this time, and he saw what had happened.

"Hmph!" Spy scoffed when he walked up to Pyro and surveyed the state of the students and the area. "Guess this creature really was too much for you all."

He got no response other than angry glares and curses thrown at him.

"Calm yourselves now, class. Now that creature is dead, you can leave for lunch now. However, since you didn't kill it, no credit for anyone!" That got even more angry groans as the students picked themselves up to leave.

"And as a reminder, The Vytal Festival Tournament begins next week! I wish all of those who participate good luck!"

"Ugh..." Port and Oobleck were waking up at this point of time, and were shocked to see the burnt area around them.

"My word! Did a meteor strike the very ground we stand on!?" Oobleck shouted.

"Not quite..." Spy pointed a thumb towards Pyro, who was now passing out candy to the students as they walked away.

" _It_ happened..."

* * *

 **Beacon Cafeteria, Lunchtime**

"Uh... what happened to you guys?" Ruby asked when she got to her friends' table. She had just arrived after getting a call from Yang to come down and eat with them. Teams JNPR and RWBY, minus the R in RWBY, were all exhausted after that fight.

"Ugh... Mr. Spy forced us to fight, and please Ruby, do not laugh at me for saying this!" The heiress warned. "He made us fight a giant, living, loaf of bread..." Ruby stared at her blankly. Then, she started to snicker.

"What?" She snickered.

" _Ruby..._ I told you not to laugh!"

"I'm not laughing, but what did you say?" She was barely holding it in right now.

"She said we fought bread, Ruby..." Ren groaned from his JNPR's side of the table. He was lying face first since it really hurt when that thing whipped him out of the sky. Ruby couldn't hold it in anymore, and she burst out laughing.

"HAHAHA! That's the silliest thing I've ever heard!" She gasped between laughs.

"Ruby! I said no laughing!" Weiss fumed.

"S-sorry! W-weiss! I can barely hold it in!"

"I think you meant, BARLEY hold it in!" Yang chimed in.

They all cheered up once they realized how silly the predicament actually was. I mean come on now, they legitimately fought bread, and lost horribly even though the creature itself could do little more than whip them, smash them into stuff, and bite them with its surprisingly soft teeth. It's still made of wheat, remember? Even if it was insanely resistant to attack.

"Yang! Come on, that was a serious situation! That thing could have eaten a whole person!" Weiss fussed.

"The only thing whole about that thing, is how it was made of WHOLE grain!" Yang kept punning, and this time they chuckled at it. Weiss was feeling a little embarrassed before she too realized how silly it was.

"Okay, okay. I guess it is a _little_ funny. But believe me please when I say that we really did fight bread!"

"W-what did you do!? St-sta-stab it with a butter knife!? HAHA!" Ruby kept laughing.

"For your information, Ms. Laugh-a-lot, we hit it with everything we got, and it did nothing to it!" Jaune tried to say seriously, but he still had a smile on his face.

"It's true, Ruby!" Pyyrha said.

"Hehe... I'll believe it when I see it..." Ruby said. She was getting out of her laughing fit now. "Oh... I hope Mr. Spy doesn't mind me being gone..."

"He'll probably let it go just this once, Ruby." Blake said.

"Now that we've gotten ample time with our new professors, what do you guys think of them?" Ren asked as he raised his head up.

"I think they're awesome!" Nora cheered. "That's the most fun class I have here!"

"I wouldn't exactly call it 'fun' Nora." Pyyrha said. "But that is indeed the most...interesting, class I have also."

"I think they're curriculum is ridiculous." Weiss stated. "Even if it is called 'Unusual Combat Scenarios 101' or something like that, the situations they put us in are too bizarre!"

"Ah, come on Weiss! Nora's right! Sure, there was that time we had to watch that _boring_ documentary, but all the other stuff they had us do were sort of fun! Right guys?" Yang beamed. She got all sorts of approvals from everyone.

"Anyways, it's good to see you laughing again sis! With you and your moping and all..." Yang hugged her sister.

"Ack! Yeah, Yang! Let go!" She let go. "Ah! Yeah..." Ruby sighed sadly. Her team looked at her sadly while JNPR seemed a little confused. Blake filled them in on the events at the docks and what Medic and Sniper had told her. They understood immediately.

"Ahh, Ruby..." Yang gave her another hug, but much softer this time. "It's okay..."

"I-I know..." Ruby said at the verge of light tears, to which she got a gentle slap from her sister.

"Hey! Come on Rubes, just forget about it. Besides, you're totally killing the mood now!" Yang wiped a single tear off from her sister's face and looked her straight in her silver eyes.

"You're right." Ruby smiled. They then took their lunch in peace, having a merry time with each other until it was over.

* * *

 **Team RWBY's Dorm, End of Classes**

"Goddamit Soldier!" Scout said to himself while he peeked over the window.

Soldier was patrolling around Beacon looking for anyone to teach 'proper' discipline to since he couldn't reach up to any of the Atlesian cruiser to teach the battalions stationed there how it do in the U.S. Army. That didn't stop him from beating up several students and soldiers on the ground, however, and a lot of people were running away from him. Scout was hiding up in the girls' room for this very reason, even though he didn't know it was there dorm.

"The Hell do you love the States so much anyway?" He said to no one in particular as he watched Soldier walk down the campus with his rocket launcher ready to fire. He had a can of BONK! in hand in case he was discovered.

"Hope that Goodwitch pounds you real good! _Ah yeah..._ I know I would love to _pound_ her real good..." Scout laughed at his little perverted joke. That's when he heard a voice behind the door, panicked, and then jumped out the window, leaving the BONK! on the windowsill.

"Today wasn't that bad at all." Yang sighed happily once she flopped on her bed. The girls dispersed in the room to do whatever the fuck girls do. (I'm a guy. The fuck am I supposed to know these things?) This was right about when Ruby noticed the can of unopened atomic soda on the windowsill.

"What's this?" She said as she picked it up. "'BONK! Atomic Soda?'" She read the label aloud.

"Hey Weiss, what does 'atomic' mean?" She asked the heiress.

"Never heard of it. Why are you asking me?"

"I don't know... I just thought you knew just 'cuz you're like the smartest here." Ruby admitted.

"Me? Smartest here!? Well... I am pretty smart if I do say myself!" Weiss said proudly. She got a pillow thrown at her face.

"Stow it, Ice Queen!" Yang teased. "I don't want to hear another lecture today, especially not one about how great you are!" While Yang and Weiss bickered and Blake read her books, Ruby opened up the can, and took a whiff of it.

"Hmm... cherry!" She delighted. She took another look at the can before deciding it was probably harmless, then she took a sip, and then a drink, and then a gulp, until finally, she gulped the whole thing down. Weiss and Yang stopped bickering once they noticed Ruby had been standing perfectly still for a whole minute.

"Uh, Ruby?" Weiss asked worriedly. "Are you okay?" No response. Weiss looked at the rest of her team before they motioned for her to go and touch their leader. The Ice Queen tapped on Ruby's shoulder, then shook it when she got no response.

"Ruby? Ruby!? HEY RUBY!?" Weiss shouted as she shook her leader. She was going to shout one last time before getting a hand placed on her mouth at the speed of sound. With a face full of shock, Weiss stared at Ruby to find that her eyes were as wide as plates, and she had a huge smile on.

"I'MPERFECTLYJUSTPEACHYWHYDOYOUASK?" Ruby said at near the speed of sound.

"Mphmh?!" Weiss muffled from behind Ruby's hand.

"WHAT?THIS?OHTHISISJUSTTHEBESTESTTHINGEVER!" Ruby quickly held up the BONK! can. "There is only one problem though..." Ruby somehow managed to say that in her normal voice.

"W-what would that be?" Yang asked, slowly getting up to her feet. Ruby's response was to smash the empty can against her forehead at the speed of sound. She was perfectly okay as if an object did not strike her at mach speed. The can was struck with such force, that it was flattened to the point of not being able to see it when viewed perfectly from the side. Team JNPR had just come from across the hall to see what was up.

" **I NEED MORE!** " She roared furiously.

Fearing for their friend's sanity, everyone _attempted ,_ emphasis on attempt, to dogpile her, but that ended with her teleporting over to the side. They couldn't see it, but in that little moment, Ruby just went faster than light, though that did seem to drain her of some of this unholy energy since she was now speaking in understandable English again.

"OKAY BYE GUYS I'M GOING OFF TO SAVE THE MAGICAL DOLPHIN MEN IN THE SKY! HAHA!" She screamed in joy before zooming out the window, much to her friend's utter shock and awe.

"What has just been unleashed on Remnant..." Ren said in his state of shock. He got no response from his friends as they watched Ruby zoom laps around Beacon in a matter of seconds.

Down below, girlish screaming can be heard as well as a very American laugh.

"Haha! That ought to teach you how to be a real man! Right, Boston boy!?"

"I HATE YOU SO MUCH SOLDIER!"

* * *

 **What the fuck did I just do? Thanks again for reading the story boys and a few girls. I'm fairly certain the majority of my viewership is male so please don't fukt me if you're a girl in the reviews please.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **gaming101: Well shit, if I do as you ask, I would be the first to do so! I probably won't though because I barely have any time spent on CS:GO due to how much I fucking suck at that game, so I wouldn't know the proper way to do things in a crossover like that, but I'm considering having a little something where the Valve universe as a whole gets more involved here... Thanks for the praise though!**

 **Goldenspartan86: "I have done nothing but teleport bread for three days."**

 **MCZ: K**

 **Freddo5: Your welcome lad, but that's not what I meant about the names though. You can be Freddo5. I was just saying how when you post a review, there should be this little box above, or below, that says 'post review as' that's where you put whatever name you want to go under for a review if you're a guest. You don't need an account to review with a name, I did it once when I was a gormless faggot reading ATTF's _The 5 Mercenaries_ when it first came out. If you look at the reviews, I was the guest that posted "Yey" because I was a pussy back then.**

 **pepjin30: I'm gonna take a lead from ATTF and say we need their DNA or some shit for it to work on them. I don't think he'll mind unless he starts throwing shit my way in which case I'll cry and apologize profusely before committing sepukku for much dishonor on family.**

 **Mr. G37: Testicular trauma because Yang is a beast who don't give a fuck about no damn pervert. Also, Port and Oobleck have most likely seen students in plenty of danger since they supervise stuff like that.**

 **TheExpL0DiNgaPplE: I did not forget about that.**

 **brother of kane: Pyro would proably teach them how to knit some nice shirts, bake some cute muffins, and rip heads off when the situation gets too real to handle.**

 **MrtheratedG: Thanks man, though I'm having a hard time understanding the explanation since the English order is strange. All I got was that you said it feels like RWBY chibi and something about it turning dark but not because it is TF2 and RWBY and not expecting a masterpiece. Can you explain it a little better? And also, perfectly understandable if it's not a masterpiece. This is a fan story after all, it's bound to have flaws, especially since it's a first timer.**

 **Guest: I don't know what the fuck to do with Olivia, and I think I'll have those little spin off chapters as little segments at the end of the main chapters. I don't know, we'll see. Merasmus will most definitely appear though. Motherfucker is too cool to simply not appear.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: What exactly will they talk about? I don't see too much for them to discuss, though I did imagine SAXTON HALE and Port having a Hell of a time with each other.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: Are you talking about the other, non-canon, TF2 setting where they have thousands of clones? Sorry, that's not happening in this since it takes place after a made up end to the Grey Mann saga.**


	18. HALLOWEEN: PART 1

**Notes:**

 **This chapter is going to split into two parts.**

 **Now read it.**

* * *

 **Sugary Sweet Hellhole, I-I mean Wonderland!**

Ruby was having an absolute ball of a time prancing around this magical land. Everything was so pleasant! The skies were a pretty blue, the land was made of all sorts of sugary sweets (including cookies!), and everything that lived here was so cute and nice! We got the dolphin people who live in these pleasant little castles, we got walking cupcakes, talking dogs, cats in top hats, and even an adorable baby dragon! Happy songs about happiness were being sung by a choir of cute bear plushies ever since Ruby defeated those big meanies who tried to take her away from this magical land of happiness and purity! Strange thing was, they looked a little like her friends but in Grimm form... No! That's silly! Ruby can't be friends with Grimm! That's why she showed them a right and proper butt kicking!

"I don't know how I got here but this place is awesome!" Ruby yelled happily as she took in the pleasant sights of this sugary sweet land of happiness.

"Hi clouds!" She waved at the clouds.

"Hi Ruby!" They happily waved back.

"Hi building!"

"Hi Ruby!"

She kept greeting everything with a face, and just about everything in this world has a face. She skipped around a nice little city made out of candy which oddly reminded her of Beacon's layout. Beware, lil' Rose, this may be the happiest place ever, but not all wish to see you like this...

"What was that?"

I said- wait... what the fuck?

"What's wrong?"

You can hear me?

"Yeah... I can. Hi talking voice in the sky!"

Uh... hi.

"Is something wrong mister?"

You bet your sweet tooth there's something wrong, you're not supposed to be able to hear me right now!

"What? Why not? You seem really nice though!"

Uhhhhh... that depends, but the point is that you shouldn't be hearing me now!

"Why?"

Because this is a dream! At least for you it is!

"A dream? No wonder why everything's so perfect here. Ahhh... that makes me sad... *sniffle* Hey! If this is a dream for me, then what is this to you?"

I don't know what the fuck you are talking about.

"What I'm saying is-"

SHHHHHH! Quiet Ruby! Now-

"No! You SHHHHHHHHHHH! Is this a dream for you too? And how do you know my name?"

...*shuffling sounds*

...*keyboard typing*

"Hello? Anyone there?"

 _No, no, no! What the fuck man!? Why isn't it working!?_

"Why are you whispering?"

I'm not whispering! I'm using my inside voice goddamit! _Now get the fuck back into the story now..._

"Did you say story!?"

WHAT!? NO! NO I FUCKING DIDN'T! YOU MUST BE HEARING SOME BULLSHIT BECAUSE I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT A STORY!

"Okay, okay! Geez, why are you swearing so much?"

NO, FUCK YOU! I'M NOT THE ONE SWEARING HERE! YOU'RE THE ONE SWEARING HERE! NOW GET BACK INTO THE FUCKING STORY! WHY ISN'T THIS SHIT WORKING!?

"See! You just said I'm in a story!"

OH PLEASE FUCKING EXCUSE ME LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD! I DIDN'T FUCKING KNOW I WAS YELLING MY THOUGHTS OUT LOUD! IT'S NOT EVERYDAY WHEN A FICTIONAL CHARACTER STARTS TALKING TO A FANFIC AUTHOR!

"FANFICTION!?"

Ah shit- IGNORE WHAT I SAID AND PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP WHILE I TRY AND FIX THIS STUPID PIECE OF SHIT!

"Okay, just please stop swearing and yelling at me! Hey, what's that?"

WHAT'S FUCKING WHAT!?

"That door over there! By the candy castle!"

I DON'T SEE A FU- oh, oh shit...

"It says 'EXIT'. If that's where I got to go for you to stop yelling at me then I'll be on my way! Humph!

NO NO NO NO NO, THAT DOES SAY 'EXIT' BUT IT MEANS SOMETHING ELSE IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!

"Yeah... another langauge, right. Whatever you say! Bye!" *ZOOM*

NO! RUBY, PLEASE! I'M SORRY FOR YELLING AT YOU! DON'T GO IN-

"Already here!" *Goes in door*

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

*Ruby lands on my fucking PC, in front of the shit I'm typing here*

 _Oh fuck..._

"Where am I!? This isn't Beacon! I thought that door was an exit!" *looks around and sees my whole fucking account, but not me in person*

"'chief of RAGE'? Huh, explains why you're so angry..."

SHUT THE FUCK UP! THIS SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!

"Listen Mr. chief, I want to get out of here just as badly as you want me to, but please calm down! Maybe we can work- Gah!" *She got grabbed by the mouse cursor*

 _Ok ok ok, where the fuck am I going to put you..._

"Let go of me you jerk!"

LIKE HELL I WOULD YOU STRAWBERRY FLAVORED, PETITE ASS EATING, SHIT-

"W-why are you so mean!?"

-COCK GOBBLING, DICK-

"Waaaaaaaaah! *more crying noises I can't be bothered to describe*

...Ruby?

"*still crying*"

Oh fuck me... Ruby? Come on Ruby. I'm sorry I yelled at you.

*still crying*

Ah shit... I'm terrible with girls... Hate it when they cry! I can never get them to feel better... Ruby? Don't cry, please. Please? Would you stop crying for me?

"W-why should I listen to you!?" *sniffle*

Because...uh... This is a nightmare! Yes, that's it!

"A-a nightmare?"

Yes, yes! A nightmare! That's why everything went from being sunshine and rainbows and stuff to me yelling at you! Even though it's totally your fault for somehow breaking the fourth wall...

"Fourth wall?"

DISREGARD EVERYTHING I SAID IN THE LAST SECOND!

"So... this is just a bad dream?"

... _yes?_

"But since you told me and now I know I'm in a dream... does that mean I'm now lucid dreaming!?"

Uh... Y-yes?

"COOL! I WANT A LIFETIME SUPPLY OF COOKIES NOW PLEASE! :D"

Oh- oh! Uh, well...

"And I want you to disappear!"

Wha- Ruby! W-what the fuck!?

"Why aren't you disappearing? *claps hands* I don't want to hear your mean voice anymore!"

I stopped yelling at you already! I even apologized!

"You're still a big meanie though!"

 ** _NO I'M FUCKING-_**

"There you go again! With all the yelling and insults!"

 _ **I FUCKING-**_ *stops and inhales* _**RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**_

...

...

"Uh... hello? Mr. Big jerk? You there?"

...

"Huh, guess I got my wish then!"

Lalala! Greetings Ruby!

"Oh no... you're back!"

Why, of course I am! Why wouldn't I be back? I am a nice person after all!

"Hey... what happened to all the cursing?"

I have shed that mean side of me away. I apologize for my behavior earlier. That was no way to treat a lady!

"Oh... well... it's nice to see you changed so quickly!"

Yes, now please Ruby... can we be friends? I just feel really bad for earlier.

"Sure! As long as I hear no more cursing from you, mister!"

Request granted! Now... you said you wished for a lifetime supply of cookies right?

"Yep!"

Well my little friend, I'm glad to announce that the cookies have arrived! Over there where it says _Mercs In Remnant"_

 _"_ YAY!" *happily jumps on to the cookies and munches them down while my cursor closes in on her*

"Hey, what does _Mercs in Remnant_ mean anyway?"

Oh you'll see...

"See what- Ahhhhhhh!" *Gets pushed back into the story*

HAHAHA! YES! FUCK YES! I DID IT! NOW I CAN GET BACK TO FINISHING THE STORY INSTEAD OF THIS RETARDED OFF TOPIC TANGENT! DO NOT FUCK WITH ME! I'M THE ANGRIEST MOTHERFUCKING PERSONA THIS SIDE OF FANFICTION!

* * *

 **Mercs' House**

"Ugh..." Ruby groaned softly as she was coming to her senses after fucking with me- *punches self* (I DIDN'T FUCKING SAY ANYTHING) -coming back to her senses after the BONK! sugar rush.

"W-where am I..." She looked through her haze vision, but was unable to make anything out other than she was inside a white room. Her hearing, however, indicated that there was someone else in the room with her. She also heard what sounded like a heart beat monitor. It was also apparently nighttime as she can hear crickets and stuff outside.

"Hmm-hmm..." She heard someone hum.

" _Hello?"_ She croaked, making the unknown person jump up in fright apparently because she heard something crash.

"Scheisse! Mein herzen! (Shit! My hearts!)" Someone yelled.

" _Mr. M-medic? Is that you..."_ She asked in a still hoarse voice.

"Ja! Ja! It is me, my dear patient! How are you holding up?" The now identified German replied. Ruby could hear he was picking something squishy up off of the floor.

" _Where am I?"_

"Oh-ho! You are on my operating table, dear frau! In my room! I'm just cutting you up into tiny little pieces for soup! Haha..." Medic joked which Ruby did not find funny at all.

"WHAT!?" She instantly woke up. "ARE YOU GUYS EATING ME!?"

"Nein, nein! No! It vas just a joke! You are in my room so I can operate on you!"

"Operate on me? What happened-ah-AH!" She screamed once her eyes had her vision fully restored to her. She looked up to her chest and saw it was wide open, with all of her organs visible through a surgical tarp covering her body that Medic was currently poking into right now. The medigun was hung on the ceiling and was currently keeping her alive with a steady stream of red light with red crosses coming out of it.

"Please clam down, Ruby!" Medic politely asked the panicking Ruby who was currently whispering out gibberish and gasping.

"Wha-why- my body! Why are you-"

"Operating on you? Vell it is because-"

"LETMEGO!LETMEGO!LETMEGO! OH WHY ME!? I GO THROUGH ONE NIGHTMARE JUST TO GO THROUGH AN EVEN WORSE ONE!" She tried to struggle, but she had absolutely no control of her body. Medic quickly muffled her voice with a bloody hand over her mouth.

"Please! Let me explain, and hopefully you'll be able to calm down! Good? Vell, now zat I have your attention, I'm operating you to save your life!"

"MPHM!?" She muffled.

"Why? It's because you drank some of zis!" Medic held up a can of BONK! Not the can she drank though, it was a fresh one. "Zis is extremely dangerous, and is absolutely unsafe for consumption! I don't no where you found it, but all that matters now is that I repair your organs before zey fail completely!"

Ruby tried to scream out some more muffles, but Medic hushed her.

"Hush now! Please! Zis is a very delicate procedure and I don't need my patient to be thrashing about!" Ruby quieted down, but her eyes were still as wide as plates. This was good enough for Medic, and he took his bloody hand off of her mouth. He let it hover in front for another second to see if she was going to scream again before getting back to work.

"Good. Back to work for me then!" Medic hummed as he rummaged through her organs, much to her disgust.

"Why, why me? This is an awful nightmare! I just want to wake up now! Please, please!" She clenched her eyes tightly and wished to wake up from reality.

"Oh, zis is no dream, Ruby..." Medic hummed as he grabbed her heart and cut the little veins that held it in place. Her heart had these really unhealthy looking black things on it.

"Ooh, zat doesn't look very good..." Medic said casually as he threw it behind him carelessly into a trash can.

"W-what?" Ruby gasped.

"Zis is very real!" He responded. "Zat actually vas your heart I through back zer!"

"HOW AM I NOT DEAD THEN!?" She yelled only for Medic to place a hand on her mouth again.

"No yelling! Please, it gets quite annoying to hear such high pitched screaming! No offense, of course." He removed his hand off of her mouth. Ruby laid her head back with her eyes still wide as she took a moment to process what was happening to her right now. She then lifted her head up and looked at the madman working on her organs right now. He just got done pulling some really icky looking black goop from her stomach.

"Ack! I don't know how Scout is able to resist zis! I don't remember giving him any... hehe 'enhancements'... to resist radioactive decay!"

"Mr. Medic?" She asked for the doctor.

"Hmm?"

"If this is real, then how am I still alive?" She asked in a quiet voice, though you can tell she was scared.

"Ah, zis medigun does vonders for my procedures!" He gently tapped the device hanging above them. "Zis is vat's keeping you alive!"

"Oh..." She said in a not entirely understanding tone. "Okay..." It went quiet for a few minutes, much to Medic's discomfort since he was used to talking to still conscious patients when he operated on them. He quickly thought up of something to talk about when he remembered what he said to Ruby the last time he saw her.

"So... did you take in vat I said about ze blood, Ruby?" He asked with a smile, much to her discomfort.

"Y-yeah... why do you ask?" She replied nervously.

"Figured as much, usually patients I operate on live for the first time panic for the entire procedure when I leave them conscious. I still can't believe I didn't sedate you for zis. I zought you veren't going to wake up so I only injected you with zis paralyzing agent I made myself."

"No... it's more like I'm still in extreme shock right now after facing a nightmare with a really mean voice and now getting operated on by a nice but still total stranger from another world with a weird accent and is a doctor who likes to cut people open while they're still conscious..." Medic watched her mouth yap on while she kept talking without stooping for breath. He finally got enough of it, and slapped her across the face in a manner that wasn't too hard or too soft.

"Breathe, Ruby, breathe..." He advised as he ironically started checking her lungs.

"Right..." She gasped. She took another look at her organs and the man operating on them before saying something else. "How are you so used to this?" Medic gave her a straight face.

"What?" She asked. His face then changed to a mocking smile as if she were stupid.

"Are you serious, mein frau? Do you not see vat I am?"

"What, a mercenary? I know that already, Mr. Sniper told me you guys kill for money and stuff-"

"Nein, nein. Though zat is correct, I am a mercenary, but I am also a doctor! A trained practitioner of medicine! _Though they took away my damn medical license... Schweinhunds..."_ He whispered under his breath.

"What was that?" Ruby's eyes went wide after hearing he didn't have a license to practice medicine.

"NOTHING! Nothing!" Medic laughed it off.

"You said-"

"Ugh... I don't have a medical license! Ja, I said zat. But, that doesn't mean I don't know how to fix people!" He gave her a confident smile. "Trust me! I know vat I am doing! I have operated on plenty of people like this before."

"Really?"

"Ja, _though most vere very unvilling..._ They have all been successful procedures! I have even done zem on my own team, and look at zem! Zey are all as healthy as... vell... zey are alive at least!"

"Cool..." She said in a still unenthusiastic tone about being fully conscious while getting operated on. She did appear to get over it though, I mean fuck... bitching about you being operated live on isn't going to matter to the man who has your life in his hands right now, even if he his friendly.

"Alright, zat vas the last of ze BONK! rot. Now is time to replace your organs." Medic then went to the refridgerator, and rustled around for some stuff he needed to finish Ruby off. He pulled out a heart that was just about the right size for Ruby, and a single lung. The rot didn't get to nearly as many of her organs as he had thought. It only got to the most important ones.

"Vell, here ve are! A fresh heart ready for use." He said as he held the heart but not the lung in the medigun beam, and switched it on.

"AHAHAHAHAH!" The German laughed maniacally as the heart started turning a permanent glowing, shiny, red color. Ruby laughed nervously as well, extremely worried about where this is going as even the German stopped laughing when it seemed like the heart in his hand were going to blow up. They didn't though.

"Ooh! Zat looks good!" He said as he casually plopped the heart and lung into her open chest as if they were not vital organs.

"Excellent!You're almost done, little Rose!" He said cheerfully.

"Don't you have to like, I don't know... sow them in or something?" Ruby asked worriedly as the man literally plopped it in carelessly. "Should I even be conscious for this? What kind of doctor has his patients awake when he's working on them!?" She asked as this was a good time as any to ask.

"Please Ruby, let ze doctor vork his magic! Don't worry your little head about a single thing! Now please, stay still, I can't seem to..." He struggled as he tried to shove her new heart and lung under her ribcage.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed in pain when Medic ended up breaking one of her ribs, much to her shock as Medic held it daintily. Medic's eyes were wide as they quickly darted to the rib in his hand and back at Ruby's fearful eyes.

"Oh-ho! Don't be such a baby Ruby!" He rubbed her forehead, smearing blood on it. "Ribs grow back!" The doc then turned around and whispered something to a bunch of birds that were perched on his medigun the whole time. He whispered something she couldn't hear, and she also noticed one of the birds was covered in blood.

"Vell now..." Medic said as he bent down to see if the heart and lung were 'secure' under her ribs. "Seems secure enough... Haha, almost there Ruby." He rubbed her forehead again and gave her a pinch on the cheek before getting back to the medigun.

"Zis next procedure is absolutely painless, I assure you!" He smiled as he activated the device to full, or something like that. He put it on max power okay? Then, Ruby's body began to close the cavity as if it were never there! All the organs, blood, and even her surgical tarp fixed itself back together until she was perfectly fine!

"Woah..." Ruby gasped at the magic of Medic's device. She didn't know it could keep people alive like this, much less fix such serious injuries.

"Zer!" Medic said as he helped her get off the table to which she was shaking heavily. "How do you feel- oh!" Medic gasped after seeing Ruby fall to her knees and throwing up all over his floor. "Ugghh... why now of all times?" He groaned. "You're ruining ze carpet in my room!"

" _Ugh... maybe it was because my stomach was missing..."_ Ruby groaned.

"Ah. Your stomach was still there, it was probably just ze BONK! rot." Medic assured her.

"BONK! rot?" She questioned.

"Ja, zis stuff." He held up the unopened can of BONK! he showed her eariler. "Have you any eyes, girl? Did you not see where it says atomic soda?"

"I did, but... what does atomic mean?" She asked innocently as Medic helped her up to her feet. Medic looked at her as if she was stupid before remembering that nuclear energy doesn't exist in Remnant.

"Let's just say it's something you do not want to have in your body... You were lucky you had me to operate on you, otherwise no doctor in zis world could have saved you." Medic said, much to her fright.

"Really!? But that stuff was tasty!" She said before remembering it gave her a horrible nightmare. "Oh... but then it made me save this magical land from these evil guys, and then it made me meet the meanest guy I've ever met!"

"Ja, zose vere probably hallucinations you were experiencing from ze side effects of zis fowl drink." He smiled. "Now, stay right here! I'll be back with your clothes!" He quickly walked out of the room to retrieve her clothes, making Ruby realize she was wearing absolutely nothing after getting off of Medic's operating table.

"Here you are- Ack!" Medic shouted when he stuck his head inside the door only for Ruby to throw Archimedes at him.

"DON'T LOOK AT ME!" Ruby blushed as she kept throwing all sorts of shit at the German who saved her life.

"Argh! Ack- okay! Ow!" Medic yelled as he dropped her clothes into the room and slamming the door shut. "Whoo... vat is vrong vith girls zese days? I only cut her open to pick at her vital organs!"

Back inside Medic's room/operating room, Ruby was putting her clothes on when she bothered to take an actual look around the Medic's quarters, and it was not a pleasant place at all. He had all sorts of scary medical tools and devices hung on his walls as well as preserved organs from various living beings displayed all over the walls. To her shock, she saw a bunch of bodies stacked on top of each other right next to Medic's bed. She was going to scream when Medic peeked his head through the door again.

"By ze way! Do not touch anything! Especially zose cadavers, zey vere very expensive-Gah!" Ruby replied by throwing one of them at him because she was still getting dressed.

"I'M STILL DRESSING!" She screamed in embarassment. Well, at least she knew those bodies were bought, from where she had no clue, but she was understandably more focused on getting the fuck out of Medic's room.

"How can someone so nice be so creepy?" Ruby shook after taking another look at the stuff in Medic's room. She took a second to check herself over before knocking on the door for Medic to let her out.

"Are you done?" Medic asked from behind the door lest Ruby throw some more stuff at him.

"Yeah." She replied to where Medic opened the door fully with a medieval shield held in front of him in case she was lying.

"Oh, good, good! How are you feeling Ruby?" He asked after putting the shield back on the wall. It was part of the decorations in the house before they moved in.

"Fine, I guess..." She replied. "Can you promise me to never work on your patients while they're alive ever again?"

"HAHA! No." Medic responded. "Now, it's about time you leave. I promised your team I would be done with you before midnight. Better make good on that promise and leave our home because this time of year in our world is always a bad time."

"Uh, okay...?" She replied, not quite sure why he said that. Medic then rushed her out of his room so he could clean up the blood and stuff.

* * *

As she was walking out of the mercs' house, she noticed things were...strange. The house had pumpkins and spooky decorations everywhere. The decorations ranged from anything to fake (at least she thinks they're fake) skeletons to ghost pinups and even fake headstones made of wood. Spooky decorations weren't the only thing getting set up though...

"Come on men! These sandbags aren't going to stack themselves!" Soldier was barking out orders as he and Demo were packing up a wall of sandbags around one of Engineer's sentries.

The whole team was outside of the house fortifying it for some reason. Pill boxes made up of sentry guns, dispensers, sandbags, and wooden boards were built around the house with a trench line encircling the house. It looked like they were getting ready for war, but who they were up against Ruby can't possibly guess. There were also all sorts of traps adding to the defense as well as a wooden stakes arranged so that anyone would be impaled if they ran into them. Sniper was actually on the roof, keeping night watch as usual, but now he had a fortified little perch.

"Evening Ruby." Heavy greeted after dropping a huge stack of sandbags down for his friends to get to. He then jumped down into the trench to pass sandbags along so they could be placed on the edges.

"Evening, miss." Engineer said casually as he wheelbarrowed a bunch of mini sentries to where they got to go. "Good to see the doc fixed you up mighty fine."

"Hi guys, uh... what's this all about?" She questioned the hardhat wearing man as she walked in step with him.

"Well this display we're buildin' here is for a little friend of ours who likes to come and visit us this time of year..." He whistled out a tune after saying that.

"He likes to visit you guys? Ahh, how sweet! But why are you building all this stuff for him? Is he in the military or something?" Ruby asked innocently. Her innocence did not matter to Soldier though.

"MERASMUS!? IN THE MILITARY!?" He yelled from his trench as he crawled out of it to stare Ruby down. "I'd rather have my eyes pulled out through my ass then see the day Merasmus joins the army! That rotten magician can never be a soldier with his hippie sparkly magic crap! DO YOU GET ME SISTER!?" Soldier shook Ruby furiously to which Engineer socked him in the face.

"Back off, Soldier. This girl ain't done nothing for you to come and shake her like that."

"How do you know, Texan!? As a matter of fact, I just realized this girl uses sparkly magic too!"

"It's called a semblance-" Ruby meekly tried to correct him only for him to completely ignore her.

"For all we know she's probably in cahoots with the magician! And... and... AND SHE'S A FREAKING GIRL IN A WARZONE!" Soldier raged when he finally realized this school had female students enrolled in it. "RAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH! COME HERE LOLLIPOP! I'M GOING TO SHOW YOU HOW A MAN FIGHTS!" He roared as Ruby cowered in fear. Seeing Soldier was losing it, Engineer, Heavy, and Demo dropped whatever they were working on and attacked him in order to calm him down.

"GET OFF OF ME! SHE MUST BE THOUGHT A LESSON!"

Engineer was punching Soldier across the face several times while Demo was punching him in the gut and Heavy held the American in a tight hold. Ruby can only stare in shock when a professor tried to attack her because she was a girl. Soldier was still screaming wildly even though he was getting punched silly, until Spy had enough of his noise and pulled his revolver out. Then he put a piece right in between Soldier's eyes, dropping him instantly.

"Good night, you fool." Spy said as Soldier slumped to the ground. He then turned his attention onto Ruby, who was extra shocked now. She knew they can bring each other back to life, but goddamn! Did these guys take death like it was a joke!?

"Ah, screw this crap! What's the chances of Merasmus comin' around this time anyway?" Scout yelled from a wall of sandbags he was buillding with Pyro. "The Hell is that crappy sideshow wizard going to find us in another world?"

"Aye. Scout's got a point mate." Demo said in agreement, disrespectfully stepping on Soldier's corpse. "That damn wizard couldn't find a damn TV remote if it were placed in front of him. He's not going to find us here. *burp*" Heavy said nothing, but nod his head in agreement.

"Why are all you lunatics staring at me for? I'm not the one who ordered you to tear up our yard." Spy then pulled out a butterfly knife and waved it around. "Whoever this blade gets stuck by is the one who ordered you all to waste their time." Without hesitation, Spy threw the knife at Soldier's corpse, getting it stuck in his neck. "There's your culprit." No one replied to that when he quickly retrieved it and flicked it back to its travel form. "Now, if you had the intellect to comprehend my simple display for simple fools here, then please go off and do something else." He then turned his attention on Ruby.

"Don't worry about Soldier, Ruby. He'll most likely forget everything by the time he's walking again." He assured her as he walked her out of their place. She was eerily silent as they walked up to the gate as Spy did not start any conversation. What Ruby saw when she got to the gates shocked her.

"Oh my gosh... What happened!?" Beacon was absolutely torn up. Their were crater holes everywhere, trees were uprooted, roads and buildings cracked, and one noteworthy section of road had sticky sap for some reason all over it.

"You happened." Spy said. "Now good night." He shut the door, leaving Ruby out to walk out by herself. The Frenchman watched her leave through the gate before turning back to his team. Medic had come down to revive Soldier and everyone was heading inside, when a green portal opened up...

"COWER FOOLS, FOR IT IS I, MERASMUS THE MAGICIAN!"

* * *

 **Mann Co. HQ**

"Damn it all! What do you mean we can't throw all of our remaining money away into inventing interdimensional travel!?" Saxton Hale yelled at his two assistants, Mr. Bidwell and Mr. Reddy.

"We mean exactly that, sir." Reddy replied in his monotone voice.

"It's true, Mr. Hale. Mann Co. is barely staying afloat with what little money we have as is, and we definitely do not want to put what left of it into trying to get to some place called 'Remnant.'" Mr. Bidwell said. Saxton Hale then slammed his fists into his grill desk.

"GODDAMMIT GENTS!" Hale's Australian voice boomed throughout the tall office building and out into the surrounding desert. "Do I look like I give the slightest of craps of the financial issues in this project I'm proposing!?"

"No sir." Reddy monotoned.

"You are absolutely right, Reddy! See Bidwell, why can't you be more like Reddy!?" Hale yelled at Bidwell.

"What, and agree to your every word no matter how outlandish it sounds?" Bidwell replied.

"Precisely!"

"Sorry sir, but I was hired to be an assistant, not a personal yes man for your ego." The room went silent as the other two men were taken aback by what Bidwell just dropped on Saxton Hale, CEO of Mann Co. and his boss.

"Wow, Bidwell. Damn..." Hale said. Then, all the lights in Hale's office went out and a giant vortex of green whirling swirls opened up in the middle of the room, and out came Merasmus the magician, making a grand show of his entrances as usual.

"By my chest hair, it's that wizard that kills my boys every year around Halloween!" Hale yelled.

"Cower fools, for it is I! MERASMUS THE MAGICIAN- huh?" Merasmus wondered upon realizing the mercs he hated so much were not here. "Wait wait wait, where is that damned Soldier and his bothersome friends?" He then saw Saxton Hale.

"Excuse me good sir, but have you seen these men?" He conjured up an ethereal image of the nine mercs tinted a ghostly green.

"Depends, can you travel between worlds?" Hale questioned enthusiastically.

"Humph! Of course Merasmus can! I am the greatest wizard the world has ever known! I am the greatest practitioner of the dark magics, the filth that crawled from the primordial ooze of despair, the great-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it you're a magician and stuff, but listen here mate. I know where the lads you're looking for are, and I will gladly tell you if you promise to take me there with you!"

"Agreed! _Oh~_ Merasmus can't wait to show those annoying mercs what for!" Merasmus declared eagerly. "Now tell me my musclebound friend, where are they?"

"In this other world called Remnant!" Hale said without hesitation. "Now take us there!"

"AGREED!" Merasmus snapped his fingers and he and Hale instantly disappeared with a puff of green smoke, leaving Bidwell and Reddy behind.

"Why do we even bother with Mr. Hale, Reddy?"

"Because it's our job."

* * *

 **The Void**

"HAHAHA!" Hale laughed as he was holding on to Merasmus' hat while they zoomed across the void. "It's working mate!"

"Of course it is! Ow! But can you stop grabbing on to my hat!? It's permanently attached to my skull!" The magician yelled.

"No can do mate! I'm not taking any chances- oh! There! That's the portal to Remnant!" Hale eagerly pointed at the portal showing Spy walking Ruby out of their property. Hale's eyes went wide with happiness when O-money and Gaben weren't there, but then they went wide in shock when Gaben had left a bunch of Combine from Half-Life 2 and Left 4 Dead zombies to guard the portal.

"Speed it up mate! I don't have the time to face these sods in manly combat!" Merasmus did as he asked and sped up even faster, easily bypassing the army gathered there, but Hale did not go through with him.

"Wait come back!" Hale yelled after Merasmus. O-money and Gaben had just arrived, and they were responsible for Hale not being able to pass through.

"It's out of my hands now!" Merasmus yelled back at Hale. Hale stared at the portal with a dumb look before Gaben snapped his fingers.

"What are you doing back here so soon?" Gabe asked.

"Oh, I'm just going to ask that nice pale woman if I could borrow some sugar..."

"Really? Because it looks like you're-"

"Trying to get back to Remnant I know! Why else would I be here, you damn simpleton?!"

"Now, now Hale... that is no way to talk to your creator." Gaben said.

"Like I give a flying koala about who you are mate! Now let me into this damn portal now so I can apply my fist to every part of that hag's body that needs it, which is EVERYWHERE!"

"You're banned for hacking though." Monty said.

"That is not true! I don't even know how to use a computer!"

"Well regardless, you're still not allowed to come in here Hale." Monty and Gabe then floated upward.

"Newell, send them in." Gabe nodded at Monty and motioned for the zombies and Combine to attack Hale.

"An army, eh? Good, I need something to vent all of this stress on..."

* * *

 **Okay boys, we got to Halloween finally! Hope you enjoy the spooky thought of Medic operating on Ruby live for treatment after drinking that BONK! Oh Ruby, drinking atomic sodas of death is never a good thing, especially if no one in Remnant can treat it! Luckily, she got Medic around for the job, though his methods are questionable... Though, that scene was completely necessary because it's Halloween! The spookiest and scariest holiday of them all!**

 **Chapter is split in two because I was afraid of dragging it out any longer than it had to be, and I didn't feel like writing how they captured Ruby as what I had in mind was extremely complicated. Oh, and it looks like Ruby had a totally unintended run in with me...**

 **AND MERASMUS IS HERE. The only bad thing is that I intend on unleashing a new chapter really soon as a follow up so Halloween spirit doesn't drop right away. So I'm going to have a ball of a time attempting to get it ready by Halloween day.**

 **I actually think I might have fucked this all up, but we'll see if you guys rip me to pieces in the reviews.**

 **Fuck me! So many reviews to respond to... better get at them then!**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Mr. G37: Bread will rekt you.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: Let's just say how they stopped her is a lot more complicated than your plan entails...**

 **MCZ: To wonderland.**

 **Shaneman17: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.**

 **Tatsurion Unchained, buzzsaw935, and Christopherprime22: I'll figure something out. No promises if it'll actually happen though.**

 **MrtheratedG: Got it, thanks for clearing it up for me.**

 **Pisspot: If this story is going to be as long as I feel like it is, then it will definitely have more mad Pyro.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: She didn't save a dolphin, sort of...**

 **supergifford: Pray no more, Remnant has been saved by the efforts of Beacon's finest.**

 **Dude: Merasmus is here boyo, and as for hale... we'll see...**

 **Guest: I actually don't know if we have any more time for classes since the Vytal Tournament is right at the door and it's now the weekend.**

 **Freddo5:Ayyyyyyyyyy, you did it! Good for you! And you're welcome about the fight bro, but as for the semblances, I can't even imagine. My brain died writing this so I can't think of anything at the moment of posting this new chapter. You know, I would make an Overwatch X TF2 crossover, but I haven't played Overwatch and I'm worried about fucking it up as a result.**

 **Batmd: You'll see the true scope of the problem next chapter, even though it's already over.**


	19. HALLOWEEN PART 2

**Notes:**

 **Listen up, for those of you who don't know Scream Fortress 2, stay here and listen to ole' chief edumacate yon ignorant selves. Scream Fortress 2 is an event that happens once every year on Team Fortress 2 where for like three weeks or so, you can play on special spooky Halloween themed maps with usable magic spells, bosses (including Merasmus), among other spooky things. It's really fun, and at the time of writing, it lasts until around November 10 I think.**

* * *

 **Mercs' House, Midnight**

All the mercs gave Merasmus an angry and annoyed look as the magician kept rambling about how he's like the most evilest thing ever.

"-I am the great unclean thing that crawled out of the primordial- Oh! Oh dear..." Merasmus was cut off mid sentence when he noticed like a dozen lasers coming from several sentries were wrangled on his forehead as well as all nine of the mercs pointing there weapons at him.

"What is the meaning of this!? You cannot interrupt Merasmus when he's in the middle of listing all the facts as to why I'm the greatest evil wizard ever! For Merasmus is the great..." Merasmus went rambling on about how great he was again, much to the mercs annoyance...

"Oh, for the love of- would you just shut your mouth, knucklehead!?" Scout yelled.

"Knucklehead? Fool! I am no knucklehead, for I am Merasmus! The- OW!" Scout had enough of Merasmus' egotistical bullshit and smacked a baseball that hit the wizard right across the forehead.

"A baseball!? You expect to defeat Merasmus with sports- AHHH!" Everyone finally had enough of Merasmus, and started blasting him right back to the primordial ooze he claims he was born from.

"Ow! Ah! Stop it- Ah!" Merasmus yelled in pain a the mercenaries' attacks hit home. "Stop! Stop! I said... STOP!" Merasmus instantly froze all the mercs in place with a green aura effect surrounding them.

"Unfreeze us now, wizard!" Soldier yelled through clenched teeth. "Or else I'll be obliged to shove all of our foots into your ass! With permission from my team of course!" Soldier's eyes then looked at the rest of his frozen team.

"Can I-"

"NO." The rest of the mercs unanimously said.

"Oh-ho! Good Soldier..." Merasmus floated in front of Soldier. "The only one who will have any kind of footwear inserted into someone's bum will be you! HAHA- oh, wait! That goes for your team too! HAHAHAHAHA!" Merasmus cackled evilly before coughing hoarsely.

"*cough*-ah! What was I doing again? Oh yes! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"What do you want, wizard?" Spy said.

"What do I want? Isn't it obvious my dear French friend? I-"

"Now that you mention it, it is obvious." Spy assured him. "You probably have some ridiculous diabolical scheme set for us since on every Halloween night for the past four years or so, you've come to kill us. What is it this time? Do you owe some international crime organization money again?"

"Maybe he's got some supernatural junk that needs souls or something again." Engineer added.

"He might have evil creature for us to fight." Heavy added.

"Um, not... exactly..." Merasmus said before the other mercs kept going on.

"Mmphm!" Pyro added.

"COMMUNISTS!" Soldier yelled.

"Undead kangaroos?" Sniper added.

"Possessed eyeballs, or worse yet! Possessed scrumpy!" Demo panicked.

"That Headless Horse-guy man!" Scout added.

"Zombies with their organs largely intact for study?" Medic hoped.

"NO!" Merasmus slammed the bottom of his staff into the ground which knocked all of the mercs off of their feet.

"Fools! It is none of those things!" Merasmus eyes started glowing a fiery green. "For this time it is a combination of all those things! I-"

"You did that already!" Scout yelled.

"Yes, I-"

"Oh, he did that last year. I remember!" Demo yelled.

"Please stop-"

"Recycling the same nonsense are you, Merasmus?" Spy said.

"SILENCE! Have your mothers not taught you any matters!? No interrupting someone when they're speaking! It is very rude!"

"Yeah, says the 'evilest' wizard in the world..." Scout mumbled under his breath.

"This year, it will not be all those things at once, but instead, it will be something completely original!" He smiled evilly. "Merasmus will think about it on the way over!" The wizard then said some magic spell in some archaic language where a huge portal opened up and whisked everyone present away to someplace.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The mercs screamed as they traveled down the spiraling portal of green.

"AHHHHHH- Hey is that Mr. Hale? AHHHHHHHHHH!" Engie said mid-yell when he noticed they were traveling through the void and saw Saxton Hale fight a bunch of Combine soldiers and Left 4 Dead zombies.

"Hey! Where you going!? The fight's over here!" Hale yelled after them, but they were already on their way back to Earth.

"Ha! At least the portal is open!" Hale attempted to shove off a bunch of tanks and boomers aside, but the portal was already blocked by Gaben.

"DAMMIT!"

* * *

 **Blood Gulch, Midnight**

"Grif, what the fuck man!?" Simmons yelled. "Why the fuck are those pumpkins I told you to carve all smashed up!?"

"I don't know. Ask Caboose. He's the one I shoved that responsibility on."

"Of fucking course... Grif you lazy asshole..." Simmons face palmed.

"What more do you expect from me, Simmons? I'm a lazy asshole, just as you say." Grif said confidently.

"Shut up man! When Sarge sees this-"

"GRIF, SIMMONS!" A gruff voice yelled.

"Oh shit." Simmons said.

"Why in the blazes are all them damn pumpkins smashed up!?"

"Sorry sir, Caboose from those damn blues came over and- uh... sabotaged us!" Simmons hastily said.

"Seriously dude?" Grif said to which he got a punch on the shoulder.

" _Shut your fucking mouth!_ " Simmons whispered.

"Ohhhhh! So those damn blues came on over and ruined our defenses, eh?" Sarge walked up to an edge and looked over at the blue base. There was Halloween decorations everywhere.

"Filthy blues! Setting up some kind of cartoonishly spooky based traps as part of your defenses!"

"Sir, we've been over this already! These our Halloween decorations! Not traps!" Simmons said.

"Yeah Sarge. Listen to Simmons on this one. He knows what he's talking about." Grif said.

Before any of the lovable red idiots could mumble any more dialogue, a green portal opened up and dropped our lovable red idiots on them. Everyone, mercs and reds all, groaned from the impact.

"Ah fuck! Get off of me!" Grif yelled when Heavy landed on him and was crushing him under his weight even with Grif's power armor.

"Argh! What kind of a dishonorable son of a gun would attack us with a portal!?" Sarge yelled with his trusty shotgun reared, to which he got a shovel to the face from Soldier.

"This PATRIOTIC son of a gun!" Soldier yelled as he ran to incite unnecessary violence.

"Wait! You boys are wearin' red, does that mean you're on our side?" Sarge asked, making Soldier stop his shovel right before it smacked him in the head again.

"Oh... I suppose it does! Haha!" Soldier laughed as he lowered his shovel and took Sarge's hand in greeting.

"Good to meet you fellow soldier!"

"Pleasure meeting another soldier around these parts, especially since all the soldiers I got around here are complete idiots!"

"Oh fuck you Sarge!" Simmons yelled.

"Yeah! Fuck you Sarge!" Grif yelled with him.

Then Merasmus came down from the portal.

"HAHAHAHA! How does- Oh! This is not the right place!" Merasmus then scooped all the mercenaries back into the portal where they continued their never ending screaming.

"Sorry about that!" Merasmus waved before going into the portal himself.

"What the fuck just happened!?" Grif yelled.

"I don't know private, but I do know one thing. *sniffle* I lost a friend..." Sarge sniffled.

"Sarge you knew that guy for like a few seconds." Simmons said. "Those guys-"

"FREEZE ASSHOLES!" Tucker of the blues yelled with the rest of his team with him.

"We have you surrounded!" Church yelled.

"Trick or treat!" Caboose yelled with a wizard hat on and holding a plastic pumpkin instead of his assault rifle.

"Ah shit..." Simmons finished.

Meanwhile, Merasmus was apologizing to the mercs for that.

"Merasmus is so sorry, that was not the right place at all! The place I have in mind for you is so much worse! HAHAHA!" He laughed, but the mercs were screaming so much that he couldn't hear himself laugh.

* * *

 **Team RWBY's Dorm, Midnight**

"Okay, so to recap... you guys tried to stop me with your weapons, then failed miserably?" Ruby asked innocently.

"Mh-hmm." Everyone in RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY hummed in agreement. Everyone accept Ruby had casts and bruises everywhere.

"And, you guys were those Grimm things I thought i was fighting this whole time?"

"That's what the video shows!" Nora whipped out her scroll and showed Ruby a quick minute long video of them attempting to stop her by force.

It was not pretty. The video had everyone trying to knock Ruby out since trying to convince her to calm down wasn't an option, but it seemed like none of their attacks meant a thing to Ruby because she shrugged every single one off as if she was punched with air. Ruby was yelling some nonsense about defeating 'you evil Grimm' and 'saving the citizens of cute land'. The most damning thing about the whole video was that little old Ruby, who is not known for her physical strength, was wrestling with Yang, Nora, and Yatsuhashi AT THE SAME TIME, and was throwing them around as if they were ragdolls. The video ended with Ruby standing triumphantly on a pile of her friends and whoever else in Beacon was willing to come and help out before the video ended with her spotting the scroll, and stomping on their face at the speed of sound.

"Okay... so then you guys covered an entire road with some sticky sap, baked a bunch of cookies, and dressed up Jaune and Zwei as dolphins?"

"Yep." Jaune groaned. He was wearing a dolphin suit over his normal clothes, and so was Zwei who barked in his cute little dolphin costume for doggies.

"You had no idea how hard it was to bury you under all those cookies and keep you stuck in that syrupy stuff, sis." Yang groaned.

"Those cookies did stop her though. I think you got a tummy ache from a cookie overdose." Weiss added.

"And then the new Professor's rolled by and took you away for treatment." Blake added. Ruby shivered when she was reminded that Medic operated on her while she was still conscious only an hour or so ago.

"What did the doc do to you anyway?" Yang asked.

"Uh..." Ruby was interrupted when Sun jumped on their window. He also had bruises everywhere as he tried to help with Ruby earlier. Good thing too because she really did not want to say what Medic did to her.

"What did you guys do this time!?" He yelled.

"What are you talking about, monkey boy?" Yang said. "Only thing we did today was stop Ruby from tearing up Beacon."

"I know that, but tell me, what the hell is THAT!?" He leaned over a little so everyone can see out the window and saw that a bright green light illuminate the night around Beacon. It was coming from this swirling green portal at the professors' house. Ruby gasped when she remembered what Medic told her before she left.

"Whenever anything crazy happens is usually because of you guys." Sun held his hands up. "Just saying."

"Remember, Ruby! Zis time of year is a bad time for us in our world! _Ooooo! Spooky!_ Imaginary Medic said before Ruby waved him away.

"We got to get over there, now! The Professors' need us!" Ruby jumped out of the window with everyone else quickly following her lead.

When they got to the professors' house, several students had already arrived with Atlas Soldiers and other non-mercenary Beacon professors holding them back.

"Stand back everyone!" Port yelled.

"This thing could be dangerous!" Oobleck yelled from his side. Team RWBY and their friends gathered around Ozpin and Goodwitch who were staring at the portal, wondering what to do with it. The thing had pretty much engulfed the mercs' house, though the house itself wasn't going anywhere.

"Evening." Ozpin greeted the out of breath kids. Glynda greeted them with a growl since she got done fixing Ruby's mess, and now she has to deal with this portal nonsense.

"What's going on!?" Ruby yelled.

"I don't know, Ms. Rose. But it appears that another portal has opened up. To where we haven't the faintest clue.

"Has anything come out of it?" Blake asked.

"No, at least not when we arrived here."

"What about the professors? Did they make it out?" Ruby asked, hoping that whatever Medic was alluding to didn't get them. Ozpin gave her a sad look.

"Unfortunately, they are no where to be seen. We'll have to assume that they went into wherever that portal leads to."

"No duh! Let's go in there then and save them!" Yang yelled.

"Miss Xiao Long! I know you've students have built quite a liking to your new professors, but the possibility of something dangerous on the other side is to high! So please, it's best if you-"

"I'M COMING GUYS!" Ruby yelled when she flung herself right into the portal.

"Ms. Rose!?" Goodwitch gasped as Ruby flew by her quick as lightning.

"RUBY!" Her friends yelled after her. They then all broke through the barricade and ran into the portal. Goodwitch was not having any of this and managed to stop Teams SSSN, JNPR, and CFVY from crossing into the portal, but as for the rest of RWBY, the force of the portal was too great and Goodwitch's power couldn't hold them down. So they flew into the portal, screaming in the same manner the mercs did earlier.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The teens yelled together as they were flung across the void to wherever Merasmus had taken the mercs.

"AHHHH- Hey, it's that Saxton Hale guy! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ruby said mid-scream when she saw Saxton Hale who was still fighting Combine soldiers and Left 4 Dead zombies.

"Hey kids!" He yelled after them. He was just about finished with the zombies, but Gaben had spawned in more zombies with his godly PC gaming skills.

"DAMMIT! What does a man have to do to beat a woman senseless!?" All the zombies and soldiers gasped when he said that and stopped attacking him. They were now whispering to each other about how wrong what he just said was, and yes, that includes the zombies.

"What the hell man!? You can't just say that!" A Combine elite yelled at Hale.

"Yeah, that's sexist!" A bride witch yelled.

"Say you're sorry!" A tank yelled.

"What!? How's that sexist!? If anything, that's just gender equality!" Hale's reply just made his enemies bitch even worse at him. "Huh!? Oh come now, let's just be reasonable and let me explain. You see, that pale women-" His enemies did not care about his words and commenced attacking his misogynistic, cisgender, white male ass.

* * *

 **Somewhere in the Badlands, Midnight**

The huntsmen-in-training all landed on top of each other on a pile of gravel. They all groaned and yelled at each other to get off.

"Ugh! Get off of me you dunce!" Weiss yelled at Ruby.

"Oh! Sorry Weiss!" Ruby stood up and helped her friend up.

"Ugh! Why's this place so dusty?" Weiss complained as she dusted her clothes off.

"Forget the dust, Ice Queen. Where are we?" Yang asked when she noticed that this place was a little... strange.

They were in a desert, and where they were at specifically was full of cavernous walls and hoodoos. It seemed like they were in some kind of mining facility as there was mine carts on rails leading everywhere along with obvious signs of excavation on the sides of the caverns. There were also some buildings made out of weathered wood, concrete, or sheet metal, that were in shades of red or blue. The part that stuck out the most was that there were Halloween decorations everywhere, even though the girls did not know what Halloween was. It was eerily quiet in the desert, save for a few ghostly moans and bats making noise in the night. Actually... this place was clearly a desert, but it seemed a lot spookier than a regular old desert. There was an eerie fog covering the land and glowing green lights can be faintly seen in the distance. It seemed like there were even giant bones sticking out of the ground.

"Reliable Excavation and Demolition?" Blake read off a sign with her natural Faunus night vision. "Isn't that the name of one of the companies the professors worked for?"

"I think so." Ruby replied. "Guess that means we're on 'Earth' then." There suspicions were confirmed when they looked up to see the moon directly above them was not shattered. Before they carelessly jumped into the portal leading here, Remnant's moon had its shattered side facing the planet.

"Yep. Definitely not on Remnant anymore..." Yang whistled.

"Maybe coming down here was such a good idea, Ruby..." Weiss worried.

"What!? Weiss, our new friends are in trouble!" Ruby yelled.

"We don't know that! What if that portal was actually them successfully finding a way home? For all we know, we can be stuck somewhere far away from them on an unfamiliar world."

"She's got a point, Ruby." Blake said.

"No! You don't understand! Mr. Medic told me that bad things happen around this time of year in their world! They could be in serious trouble right now!"

It was around this time that the girls heard the highly recognizable sounds of battle as gunfire and rockets can be heard in the next canyon over. They rushed over through a big mineshaft that was full of skeletons and old destroyed robots that looked like the mercenaries but painted blue.

"Guess they weren't kidding about the robots..." Yang said as they ran.

When they got to the end of the mineshaft, they found that the wooden ramp that led down was destroyed so they stood at the edge as they watched the strange battle happening before them. It was definitely a weird one. The mercenaries were running around fighting what looked like zombified versions of themselves, skeleton warriors, giant pumpking headed axemen, giant flying eyeballs that shot out explosive eyeballs, and a tall man floating high above them shouting out gibberish and shooting blasts of energy and stuff at them.

"HAHAHAHA! Grozno rombo! Bubo Jorimgo! HAHAHA!" Merasmus the evil wizard laughed evilly as he was wrecking the mercs' collective shit with his magic.

"Dancius Te Thrillerium!" He shouted which made all the mercs dance the thriller with all the evil stuff they were fighting with them.

"HAHA! DANCE MORTALS DANCE!"

"This happens to them every year?" Yang said with a confused look. All the girls were confused, but they were more confused about how this silly, but still very dangerous, thing happens to the mercs every year.

"HELP! HEAVY DO NOT WANT TO DANCE!" Heavy yelled to no one in particular. All the mercs were yelling about their ridiculous dance right now, but luckily they had Team RWBY to help them out.

"Yes! Yes! Dance fools! Dance until your legs- Gah!" Merasmus gasped when Yang shot herself forward with Ember Celica and gave him a solid slug to the face, knocking him down on the ground with her still standing over him.

"Ah! What!? A teenage girl!?" Merasmus yelled when he saw who had attacked him.

"Make that four teenage girls!" Ruby yelled with Crescent Rose at the ready.

"Yeah!" The rest of her team yelled with their weapons out.

"What? Who are you girls supposed to be? Those costumes are ridiculous! And why are those weapons so real looking!?"

"These aren't costumes, and we're Team RWBY! Spelled with a W instead of a U!" Ruby fist bumped Blake.

"Oh- That's just ridculous! Where are your parents? Who let's their kids stay out after midnight on Halloween? In a desert no less!" Merasmus yelled. "Oh, no matter... GETO OFFA MEUS!" The wizard yelled out a spell that made all four girls fly away from him and crash into the mercenaries.

"Humph! Calling teenage girls to fight your battles now Soldier?" Merasmus laughed.

"Called my ass! I do not condone women on any battlefield! Especially not-"

"Shut your yap Soldier! They're here to help us!" Scout silenced the veteran.

"Regardless! Their mere association with you means they shall die too! MWAHAHA!"

"Why do you want to kill them so badly!?" Ruby yelled up to the wizard as he floated up into the air with a green glow around him.

"It is because I promised to destroy everything Soldier cares about for being a terrible roommate!"

The mercs took a moment to explain that Merasmus and Soldier used to be roommates, which didn't exactly help them understand the situation better but they were still guarded.

"Humph! The nerve of that Soldier! Kicking me out of my own castle of eldritch magic and making my life miserable! That was the only decision in my 6,000 years of existence that I regret! Well that regret ends tonight when I finally kill Soldier! For I am Merasmus! The great unclean beast..."

Merasmus mumbled on about how he was the greatest evil wizard ever, much to everyone's annoyance. It seemed like even the evil minions were annoyed too.

"SHUT UP!" Yang yelled when she had enough of Merasmus and flew at him with a fist ready. Merasmus saw this and conjured up a green forcefield, making Yang slam against it like a fly against a windshield.

"Ha! You girls think you can fight me? Hehe! Challenge accepted! Come at me bro!" The wizard sent his minions forth to wreck the mercenaries while he had the girls all to himself.

Merasmus started off by shouting out some spells of explosive magic down on them, and it was very effective as the girls were sent scrambling for cover. Merasmus laughed as he watched them split up, but stopped when Ruby shot her self upwards and shot some rounds at him, making him grunt in pain. he growled at the little huntress and poofed over to her location. Ruby's eyes went wide when the wizard instantly appeared in front of her, and he slammed her down to Earth with his staff. She was caught by Yang, but that didn't matter much because Merasmus blew both of them up with a bomb spell. The wizard then called in a spell that made all the girls dance the Thriller against their will, where he also blew them up with supernatural bombs.

He laughed at Ruby and Yang as they were running around trying to put the fire on them out before turning his attention on Blake and Weiss. Weiss had a bunch of glyphs for Blake to speed off and try to out maneuver Merasmus Merasmus, and to that she did. Blake ran at speeds that rivaled Ruby as she shot at the wizard with Gambol Shroud. Meramus was hit a few times, but he chuckled and summoned a portal in front of her that sent Blake crashing into Weiss. Weiss stood herself up and quickly set up a glyph to block some magic attacks from Merasmus.

"What!? A teenage girl!? With magic!? HAHAHA! How cute!" Merasmus laughed. "BOMB HEADS!" With those words, Team RWBY was instantly blinded when huge bombs big enough to fit their heads in were magically placed on their heads. Yang was the only one who managed to pull the bomb off of herself, but she was too slow to realize that what was just on her head blew up, and they all blew up.

"HAHAHA! I'm the best wizard ever!" Merasmus laughed his ass off as the girls regrouped. "Foolish girls! Merasmus outclasses you by a thousand- gah!" They started shooting at him with everything they had, and it was fairly effective. The dark wizard groaned from the damage he took, so he decided to play a game of hide and seek with them...

"COWER MORTALS! FOR YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR THE POWER OF **HIDING!** " And with that, Merasmus poofed away and multiple objects littered the area after popping out of nowhere. "HAHAHA! MERASMUS IS HEALING HIMSELF RIGHT NOW WITH HEALING MAGIC... AND ASPIRIN!" The girls were confused, but they soon realized that the wizard was hiding in one of the objects scattered around the area. They quickly dispatched all the objects until Ruby Yang discovered Merasmus was disguised as a giant rubber duck, where she then got a bomb thrown at her face. Merasmus laughed maniacally and he poofed in a giant book with a toothy mouth and a giant bomb in it.

"FEAR THE BOMBINOMICON! BOMBS FOR EVERYONE! HAHAHA! *Cough* Ack! HAHA!" Team RWBY frantically dispersed and tried to avoid the shower of bombs being rained on the entire area. It was all for nothing though as there were so many bombs that they ended up bouncing everywhere when the bombs blew up, each explosion knocking them into another explosion.

"Fools! Now die! Frobo nobgan!" Merasmus laughed out a spell. It was not the right spell however and that made the pits to hell close, but it also ended up filling the arena up with water and skeleton sharks.

"Oh! That was not the spell I intended... but it works nonetheless! HAHA! Um... I really hope that is water this time..."

The girls payed him no mind as they were panicking on getting out of the water. Beacon trained them to fight on land as it was unlikely that water Grimm needed a huntsmen to deal with them at least around the shallow waters of Vale. The huntresses managed to pull themselves up to the roof of a building where the skeleton sharks beached themselves trying to get to them.

"Ha! Stupid dead fish!" Yang yelled when she kicked one of them back into the water.

"That is no way to treat wildlife!" Merasmus yelled when he poofed right behind them. "ATOMICA BOMBIUS!" With that spell, Merasmus blew him and Team RWBY the fuck up, sending them flying all over the canyon.

"CURSES WHY DID MERASMUS DO THAT!?" Merasmus yelled when he was sent flying out into the sky in a manner similar to Team Rocket.

The mercenaries had finished up with Merasmus' undead army of spooky stuff, and they managed to regroup with the severely banged up Team RWBY. They had no time to talk to each other because Merasmus poofed back.

"FOOLS! MERASMUS INTENDED TO BLOW HIMSELF UP INTO THE STRATOSPHERE!" Merasmus screamed at the top of his spectral lungs once he returned.

"Wait wizard!" Demo yelled. "These girls haven't a thing to do with this!"

"But Mr. Demoman, we're here to help!" Ruby said.

"Hush lass! Listen here ye damnable wizard!" Demo stood strong. "I propose a bet!"

"A bet?" Merasmus mused.

"Ay! I wager me entire teams' souls for a trip back to Remnant!"

"What in Sam Hill are you doing, Demo!?" Engineer yelled to which Demo did not listen.

"Oh-ho! I'll accept your little bet as long as I get to decide the challenge!" Merasmus rubbed his hands evilly.

"Deal! Wait- what?"

"YOU SAID DEAL! TELEPORTUM EVARYWHERIM!" Merasmus yelled in a rush with a smile, and with that, all nine mercs disappeared, leaving Team RWBY and Merasmus alone.

"What!? What did you do with them!?" Yang yelled angrily at him.

"I teleported them to an EVIL LOCATION!" He laughed. "Now girls, listen to Merasmus closely as Merasmus does not like repeating himself! Those mercs you call friends are scattered across a big haunted mansion infested with the most vilest of creatures and spirits! It is your job to find them all while traversing the evil mansion!"

"What if we fail?" Blake asked.

"Hehe, then all your souls will be mine! HAHAHA!" Merasmus laughed evilly as they teleported away from the desert.

* * *

 **Haunted Mansion**

Ruby landed with a loud thud after falling out of the ceiling.

"Ow... where am I?" She rubbed her head as she looked around the long hallway she was in. Then a Headless Horseless Horsemann appeared and gave off a spooky laugh that sent chills down Ruby's spine. She quickly got over it when she remembered she had her... wait...

"WHERE'S MY BABY!?" Ruby panicked when she frantically looked around for Crescent Rose. In the middle of her panic a note appeared in her hand that read 'Weapons are scattered everywhere too! Love Merasmus, the great..." and so on.

"What!?" She screamed when she finished reading the note. A tap was felt on her shoulder, and she looked behind her to see the HHH waving at her. She screamed as she narrowly missed the axe coming down on her, and she zoomed down the hall with the HHH on hot pursuit.

"AHHH!" She screamed. It seemed like every corner, there was a jumpscare or some kind of evil entity that wanted to fuck her up. The little reaper rounded a corner where she slammed into something big and heavy, though the thing did not budge one bit.

"Ugh... huh?" Ruby noticed the figure was in Heavy's body type, but she also noticed that the head was covered in orange stuff that she guessed was hair and was wearing a pink ballerina's tutu, small fairy wings, and a tiara.

"Uh... Heavy is that you?" Ruby cautiously approached the figure.

"Hmm? Ruby? Is that little girl I hear?" A familiar voice sounded off.

"Heavy! It is you! Come on! We got to find-" Ruby stopped mid-sentence when Heavy turned araound to reveal a derpy looking bird head.

"What..." Ruby stared in shock to which she got a skull to the face. Heavy was wielding the Bat Outta Hell.

"Tweet tweet!" Heavy's bird head tweeted. Ruby backed away slowly as her professor slowly walked up to her with the skull and spine of a person as its weapon.

"Merasmus forgot to say that you're also supposed to give them a magic cure when you find them! Which you also have to find scattered throughout the mansion!" Merasmus' voice boomed from thin air.

"AHHHHHHH!" Ruby screamed as she was being chased by Heavy where she quickly ran into another familiar figure.

"AWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Demoman howled with Eyelander raised over his head. He looked like a werewolf. Ruby acted subconsciously and kicked him in the balls, making him keel over in pain. Her eyes went wide at what she just did, but she quickly got over it and ran off with Eyelander when Heavy came running down the hall, tweeting out of his bird head. Heavy ran over Demoman in his pursuit of Ruby.

"Ahh... why is Earth so scary!?" Ruby yelled to no one in particular as she ran.

"It's Halloween kid! It's spooky everywhere this time of year." Eyelander's ghostly voice said, much to Ruby's surprise.

"What..."

"I know, I know! I can talk because I'm a ghost sword. Now get over it... Look out!" Eyelander automatically moved itself with Ruby's hands still on it to slice the head off a spooky scary skeleton that popped out of a wall to spook Ruby. No spooks tonight skeleton!

"T-thanks..." Ruby shakily thanked the sentient sword.

"Don't mention it, kid!" Eyelander said back. A familiar German scream was heard in a little sideroom, and Ruby cautiously entered with Eyelander raised to find Medic clutching his head with his back turned at them. Blake was in the room with him trying to calm him down. Rubt noticed Medic had one of his birds perched on his shoulder, but something was a little off with it.

"Blake! What happened!?"

"I don't know!" Blake mewed in a panic. Medic spun around in agony and revealed his admittedly cute looking dove head to the girls.

"I HAVE BECOME ARCHIMEDES! HELP ME!" Medic screamed. The bird on Medic's shoulder was also revealed to have his head on it, but in an undead form. The zombie Medic head bird tweeted at the girls.

"U-uh! Okay! Blake help me pull!" The girls began pulling off Medic's head to no avail as it seemed like the dove head was his new head now.

"MAYBE WE SHOULD CHOP IT OFF!" Eyelander suggested, eager for more heads.

"Argh! Nein, nein! Nevermind! I'm perfectly fine with being Archimedes for the time being!" Medic said in a rush.

"Did this sword just talk?" Blake asked, examining Eyelander.

"Forget the talking sword, Blake! We got to find everyone else! And- hey, why aren't you trying to kill us Mr. Medic?" Ruby wondered.

"Why would I try to kill you?" Medic asked, though it was a little hard to take him seriously with his new silly bird head. Ruby didn't get to answer though as Heavy came crashing in with Yang in his clutches, tweeting his little head off.

"Argh! Heavy! It's me!" Yang strugggled with the much stronger Russian as he was wrestling and pecking at her with his bird head.

"Ow! Stop pecking me!"

"HELP ME!" Weiss yelled. Blake and Ruby peeked behind Heavy and Yang and saw that in the main room, the mansion foyer, Sniper had an owl head on and was somehow flying by flapping his arms like a bird. Sniper was holding her up with his legs like an owl holding a mouse after it swept it away from the ground.

"HOOT! HOOT!" Owl Sniper hooted.

"What in the world..." Blake said in awe.

"Ugh! Guys! Help! Please!" Yang struggled from Bird Heavy still pecking and crushing her. Medic helped her out and smashed the Solemn Oath against Heavy's skull, and then injected him with some tranquilizer once he was off of her.

"Come on! We got to help Weiss!" Ruby jumped in the air and flew straight for Sniper only to get knocked right out of the air with a rocket from the side.

"BEEP BOOP, MAGGOT." Soldier said whilst making the loser sign on his head. He was wearing his robot costume. "BOOP BEEP, MUST DESTROY MAGGOTS, BEEP." Soldier then started attacking them while moving in a jagged manner like how a robot does. However, Soldier was quickly stopped when an explosive pumpkin was thrown on him from a balcony above.

"Eat it, Soldier!" Scout taunted. He was wearing the full Curse-a-Nature set as well as being voodoo Scout with a zombie appearance and all.

"MAGGOT." Soldier booped as he fired a rocket off at Scout, making the Boston boy scream as he fell down, forcing him to fight Soldier.

"At least Mr. Scout is on our side..." Yang breathed. As soon as she said that, an explosion was heard and Engineer came flying in with a trail of fire following him as he knocked Sniper out of the air with his wrench. He was wearing the Brundle Bundle, and his voice was really high pitched.

"Take that you sissy!" Engie squeaked out of his disgusting looking fly head at Owl Sniper as he helped Weiss up to her feet.

"Hoot! Hoot!" Sniper hooted back. They then began fighting.

"Okay, that's... one, two, three, four, five... six! We need to find the others!" Ruby yelled out to her team. "Let's split up, and- gah!" Medic didn't fill Heavy with enough tranquilizer, and the giant easily got back up and started attacking them. Making them disperse out into the mansion while the mercs already here battled in the foyer. Ruby, Medic and Yang ran out one way with Heavy chasing them while Blake and Weiss ran another way.

"Tweet tweet! Run babies, run! Heavy will eat you and feed you to other babies! Tweet!" Heavy tweeted after them.

"Oh! What is wrong with them!? Why are some of them trying to kill us and others are not!?" Yang yelled as she narrowly dodged the Bat-outta-Hell when Bird Heavy threw it.

"I don't know! But- wait! I have an idea!" Medic whipped out his medigun and activated his medishield, blocking the entire hallway. "Okay, go on ahead! I got zis!"

"What about you!?" Yang asked.

"Just keep moving!" Yang was in no position to argue with him so she nodded and kept going with her sister.

"Heavy is going to peck you to death like bird to bug!" Bird Heavy yelled while slamming his fists on the medishield wall.

"You can try, mein freund..." The German pulled out his syringe gun and kriegsmesser right before the shield failed.

* * *

"Look out!" Weiss yelled for Blake to duck under an eyeball shot from a Monoculus. Weiss looked around for anything to defend themselves when she spotted a pair of antique rapiers crossed against a shield as a wall decoration.

"Take one!" She threw a sword over to Blake, and they started attacking the giant floating eyeball. Despite being an eyeball, it was ridiculously tough, and it shrugged off a lot of their slashes and stabs on it. Worse yet, whenever they tried to deflect an eyeball, it would just blow up in their faces. Even more worse, the hallway they were in was lined with knight armor with swords as more decorative pieces, then a green glow took control of them and those ghastly knights began attacking them too! The most damning thing about the knights was that they are exactly as skilled as real knights were, so their sword fighting skills were on point!

"Ugh! We have to get out of here!" Blake yelled when it became apparent that Monoculus and the possessed suits of knight armor were kicking their asses. Suddenly, from the other end of the hallway a giant fiery pillar of death came barreling down the corridor, making the girls clutch tightly to the walls lest they get incinerated. The suits of armor were melted to slag from the heat of the flame, but Monoculus was still up, albeit very damaged. The eyeball raged at the girls and was going to blow them to bits when it suddenly roared in pain and dropped dead. The dead thing then blew up in a purply gooey mess, and inside was Myretnaster, to which Weiss gladly dropped the decorative rapier for her own.

"Ladies." Spy greeted. He was dressed like a vampire, and he had his butterfly knife in hand. He lifted a cigarette to his mouth, but his eyes suddenly went wide and he quickly tackled both girls so that they were flat against the floor. Another pillar of fire came down the hall, and Spy's back was singed to a charred black. He groaned in pain when he rolled off the girls, and Blake and Weiss saw a demonic looking Pyro come walking down the hall with fire coming out of its hands.

"B-blake..." Spy gasped in pain when he grabbed Blake's ankle. He held out a small bag of candy with his free hand. "Give them this... this is the magic cure..." The Frenchman passed out after Blake took the candy, and now both girls backed further down the hall with Pyro slowly closing in on them.

"Do you have any ice dust?" Blake asked Weiss as they backed up.

"Yeah." The heiress replied. Both girls looked at each other, and smiled. Without hesitation, Weiss set Myretenaster to ice and stabbed the point of it into the ground, freezing the hallway all the way up to Pyro. Pyro struggled in the ice before heating up its hands to an insane temperature to the point where the ice went to water to vapor in only a few seconds. Pyro was blinded by the smoke screen it just made unintentionally, so it started blasting in every direction. Fortunately, Blake had managed to sneak up on it Spy style. Unfortunately, Pyro was too used to this shit and grabbed her by the throat, making her gasp for breath. Blake tried to punch and kick Pyro to no avail, and Weiss ran forward to help out but Pyro backfisted her. Thinking quickly, Blake reached for the candy, and shoved it on Pyro's flame suit to where it sort of... melted into it. She didn't care how silly it was however, as she was dropped to the ground when Pyro instantly changed back to its regular old self.

"Hmmph?" Pyro questioned the catgirl lying on the ground.

"Hello Pyro..."

* * *

"Demoman? Demoman?" Ruby yelled for the Scotsman. The sisters were on high alert right now. At any moment something spooky would come out and try to wreck them. It already happened plenty of times since they left Medic behind, but luckily they were mostly just skeletons and ghost jumpscares.

"AHHHHHH!" Yang screamed when she opened up a cabinet and a ghost popped out with a 'BOO!' "Geez! That's the tenth ghost already!"

"Yang, focus! We need to find Demoman!" Her sister reminded her. They got to this big dining room looking place, and found there was someone sitting at the end of it with his chair facing away from them. Ruby and Yang cautiously approached him with Ruby up front because she had Eyelander.

"Freeze!" Both girls shouted, only to yell at a regular old skeleton posed with its legs crossed, wearing a tuxedo and tophat, and it Ember Celica on its arms!

"Sweet!" Yang joyfully yelled, ungraciously ripping the skeleton's arms off. She quickly put the gauntlets on and activated them into combat mode.

"Great! Now we're both armed!" Yang smiled.

"Hey! That's very rude young lady! I kindly ask you to give me my arms back!" The dapper looking skeleton sneered at them, to which Yang panicked and smashed him to pieces.

"My! The nerve of young people these days!" The skeleton yelled in anger.

"OH! HE'S RIGHT GIRLS! THAT WAS VERY RUDE OF YOU!" Merasmus' voiced boomed from nowhere again. "HEADLESS HORSELESS HORSEMANN! TEACH THESE GIRLS A LESSON!"

The dreaded HHH appeared in a swirling purple portal in the middle of the dining table, and it was armed with a cartoonishly large mallet instead of an axe. The sisters backed up when the HHH started laughing at them, but then a bunch of sticky bombs and dynamite sticks dropped from above, completely destroying the dining table and sending the girls smashing into the walls of the room. The HHH was still standing, but it was pretty beat up and it angrily looked at the girls because it thought they were the ones who did this.

However, the real culprit quickly revealed himself when a howl from above was heard and werewolf Demoman came down with the Scotsman's Skullcutter on the HHH, killing him instantly.

"Yes! Finally got me self a Haunted Metal Scrap!" He then saw the girls, growled like a wolf, and attacked.

"Wait! Mr. Demo, please!" Ruby tried to convince the Scot to calm down, but his primal instincts had kicked in and he was already wrecking their shit. It seemed like him being a werewolf gave him retardedly powerful supernatural abilities like super strength and speed, as when I said he was wrecking their shit, I meant it. The fact the girls didn't want to hurt him made their situation that much worse.

"Yang! Ruby!" Blake and Weiss had just arrived to help out. Thinking quickly, Blake shoved a piece of the magic candy in Gambol Shroud, and shot it at Demo. The bullet hit home, and Demo was instantly turned back into his regular old self... with a new bullet wound of course.

"Oh my gosh! Professor, I am so so- ack!" Blake ran up to Demo to apologize only for Demo to angrily grab her by the throat and start slamming her against the wall with a lot of force.

"What!? But we gave him the cure!" Weiss screamed as she watched Blake get wrecked by Demo. Ruby and Yang ran to help the kitty out since Demo was no longer a werewolf, but for whatever reason, he still seemed to have all of his supernatural powers despite being a regular Human now. Demo had bitch slapped Ruby in the middle of their fight, and Eyelander was was sent flying out before getting it stuck in the wall next to Weiss.

"Hey kid!" A ghostly voice yelled before Weiss can go anywhere. The heiress hastily looked around for the source of the voice. "Over here, dummy!" Her eyes set on the sword, and it began glowing a faint yellow.

"I know Demoman better than anybody here! All you got to do is feed him some of his scrumpy!" Weiss didn't really want to question how a sword can talk at the moment as she had bigger problems at the moment.

"Yang!" Weiss yelled as Yang was closest to bottle of scrumpy Demo dropped. "The bottle! Get the bottle!" Yang gave her a confused look, but it was soon cleared up when Weiss made a motion where she held her hand in front of her face as if she were drinking something.

"Got it!" Yang quickly grabbed the bottle and ran over to Demoman who was wrestling Ruby and Blake at the moment. A mighty roar made Demo look up to see Yang come tackling in and knocking him on his back where all four girls successfully pinned him down. Acting quickly so that Demo couldn't have enough time to throw them off with his super strength that should have been gone by now, Yang took Demo by the head, and fed him his scrumpy like a baby.

"Shhh... shhh... drink..." Yang said calmly, hoping this would actually work. Fortunately, it did work, and Demo slowly became his regular old drunken self.

"Ayyy... what happened lassies?" The Scot questioned drunkenly.

"It's a long story..."

* * *

The mercs who weren't corrupted had successfully beaten their evil comrades and were now gathered up in the foyer with Team RWBY, who quickly gave the evil ones the candy cure.

"Merassmu, or whatever you call yourself! Where are you, you big jerk!? We're done with your stupid challenge!" Yang yelled out. The wizard in question poofed in right when she was done with that sentecne.

"Oh well... it appears as though the great Merasmus, the dark..." Everyone leveled their weapons at the wizard, really not in the mood for another rant about how great he was. "...right. It seems as though Merasmus has lost the bet."

"That's right you wizard!" Soldier yelled as he through his shoulders over Yang and Ruby in a friendly matter. "These brave gals beat your ass fair and square!" Soldier then gave them a wink, to which the girls nodded since it meant Soldier at least accepted them now.

"Yes, yes, Merasmus sees that. Well, I'm a wizard of my honor, so I'll grant your wish mortals!" A green portal opened up in the middle of the room, and everyone had a smile on their face.

"Hey wizard! Do you suppose you can make us a two way portal from Remnant to Earth?" Engineer asked with a smile, even though it was highly unlikely the wizard that tried to kill them would grant that wish.

"HAHAHAHA! No." Merasmus replied, much to the mercenaries' disappointment. "Now, there's your portal mortals... but there is now a catch!" That last sentence made everyone freeze in place.

"THERE ARE NOW BOMBS EVERYWHERE BYE!" Merasmus yelled in a rush and poofed away for bombs to flood into the foyer from every single window. Everyone panicked and threw themselves straight into the portal before the haunted mansion was blown off the face of the Earth.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

Team RWBY's friends were sad right now. They had no idea if... oh wait! Nevermind, Team RWBY and the mercs were back! The green portal at the mercs house had closed as soon as they fell out of it, and everyone ran up to them with all sorts of questions.

"What was Earth like?" Ozpin asked Ruby.

"Spooky..." The girl replied shakily before passing out.

* * *

 **HALLOWEEN CHAPTER IS FINISHED MODAPHUKAS. Welp, time to get back to the main story! Hope this second part was satisfyingly spooky for you guys.**

 **Also, I forgot to put this in the original edit, but did anyone else notice how well Red Vs Blue and TF2 mash with each other? I wrote that RvB scene out of fucking nowhere, and it turned out pretty good I think, especially since Sarge and Soldier are largely the same character except for Soldier being far more crazier and better at combat. Who's willing to write a TF2 X RVB crossover because I will 100% fuck it up. I will admit right now, I like Roosterteeth, but I have barely seen and Red Vs Blue. Oh, I am going to get so fucked for this, but it's true. I don't know enough of the story or characters to make a right and proper crossover. I only know the original Blood Gulch gang and that's it. Do you know what the best thing about making an RvB X TF2 crossover is? If you do it now you'll be the first to do so! I mean come on now, Red Vs Blue is pretty much how a TF2 game goes, at least team colors.**

 **And remember for whenever you put a review, give yourself a name so it's easier to identify you when I respond to your reviews. I still encourage for you guys to tell me what you like about my story by the way. It's nice to know why people like this so much and like only three dudes have listed off their reasons for liking this.**

 **This is also going to be the last time I do this, as if I keep going any further with these shoutouts it's going to get old and redundant, but shoutouts to my boys in writing ATTF and Cadaver1041. Also TF2 X RWBY crossovers, they can be found in the mature filter of this crossover page. I'm bitching about this so much because I feel really bad for being so successful here. It doesn't feel right for a fucking faggot like me who saw a story one day and randomly wrote my own up to succeed everyone else. I'm sorry, and this is the last time I shout them out. I'm also their BETAs now.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Freddo5: Yeah, sorry about my brain fart boyo. BUt I was saying for the Overwatch crossover that I don't know a fucking thing about the Overwatch characters' abilities because I haven't played it yet, though I know each character already. So I'm afraid I would fuck up a crossover with them involved because I know little about what they actually too.**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: I think I had a voodoo mummy scout and a voodoo archimedes. Is that satisfactory?**

 **Guest: I think you mean _cooooocaaaaaaaiiiiinnnnnnneee_**

 **MCZ: LOLOLLOLOLOOLOLOLOLOL**

 **Ren Woods: Now that Halloween is over, the Vytal Festival should be right around the corner. Maybe within two chapters from now.**

 **Shaneman17: I didn't watch Deadpool, but I know he's known for fourth wall breaking and swearing.**

 **A fan: A fan? A fan of what? I don't know if there'll be any more lessons, but I did put a scene with bird heavy chasing them down with what you said.**

 **Unzealots, buzzsaw935, and Saliter: Sorry :( I'm holding the dances off.**

 **Pisspot: They're in.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: We'll see about that.**

 **NonaryNathan999: We'll see.**


	20. Drunk Men and Winter

**Beacon Academy, Two days after HALLOWEEN!**

Well now, the weekend had been uneventful. After experiencing a taste of Halloween, Team RWBY had enough craziness for a week and took a well-deserved rest from the mercs. Perfectly understandable, after all, they could only last so long under the mercenaries *ahem* 'lessons'. Five straight days of getting their asses kicked or so was more than enough for them, and that included the one day they were sent out on a mission to capture Torchwick. The only thing worth mentioning that happened over the weekend was that Demo and Nora spent some time together, and let's just say that Nora's fighting has been a little more... explosive.

There was an air of excitement around Beacon today as today marks the beginning of the Vytal Festival Tournament. Classes were off the whole week just for the Tournament, as it also lasted the whole five days in the week. Air buses carrying dozens of passengers can be seen flying about the skies to deliver the spectators to the stands of the coliseum, and Atlesian dropships and cruisers were on patrol, keeping careful overwatch over the whole ordeal to make sure nothing goes wrong.

The mercenaries were all over Vale at the moment as Spy decided it was probably safe for them to go wherever they wanted since Atlas really increased their presence in the streets since the battle at the warehouse. Demo and Scout had gone into the city, while everyone else remained in Beacon. The mercenaries that remained at Beacon were currently watching Team RWBY fight Team ABRN in the first rounds of the Vytal Tournament.

"Team RWBY wins!" Professor Oobleck announced loud and proudly for the crowd to cheer for RWBY. The mercs also cheered for them because they were their students and their first friends here in Remnant.

"Excellent work." Spy smiled for them.

"Haha! That's how real warriors do it!" Soldier cheered, giving a salute and a manly tear even though he didn't actually teach anyone in Beacon anything other than an ass whooping that he thinks is 'discipline'.

"That was a mighty fine display if I've ever seen one boys!" Engie hooted with a beer in hand.

"Girls crush babies almost as good as Heavy." Heavy looked at Yang and shed a manly tear. "They grow up so fast..."

"Hmph Hpmhm!" Pyro clapped happily. It had giant lollipops ready for Team RWBY when they came back, and it had Zwei on its lap! Zwei barked in joy for his owners and Pyro jumped up and danced around with Zwei held like Simba from the Lion King. Ruby brought Zwei here because she was afraid of him doing... bad things in their room while they were away in the tournament.

"They did to a bang-up job, those girls did! Haha!" Sniper laughed.

"Ja, zough I feel we could do so much better. Eh, mein friends?" The German asked his friends in a jovial manner, to which his friends laughed in agreement.

"Yeah, you said it, Fritz! These kids don't know real combat if it broke down their front door with a jeep!" Soldier said.

"Right, right, but remember lads, these are just kids fighting here." Sniper reminded them. "Fancy powers and weapons considered, we still have way more experience than them."

"Humph, like Heavy say, they crush babies good... but not as good as us! Haha!" Heavy laughed, making the other mercs laugh with him.

"Yes, gentlemen..." Spy said.

"Wonder where Demo is, he's missing out on the fights!" Engie said.

* * *

 **The Crow Bar**

"Ha! That was a good fight! Don't you think?" The peppy barman of the The Crow Bar asked the only patron at the bar at the moment.

"Yeah... guess it was pretty good." The rough looking man in a red cape said after downing his like 5th shot. _Good work girls_. Qrow thought warmly in his mind at his two nieces.

"Glad you think so too! I hope the other fights are just as good..." The barman said whilst cleaning some shot glasses.

"Eh, somehow I doubt it..." Qrow said drunkenly. Professor Oobleck announced the next team round will begin in thirty minutes. He wasn't really interested in the Tournament right now. The seasoned huntsman had other things to... wait, hang on... who's this?

"Ay bartender!" A black guy with an eyepatch said when he stumbled into the bar. He had an old and weathered sword slung over his back. "Have you got any quality alcohol on ya? These other shops sell some shameful drinks that are not even worthy of being thrown into the sewer!" Demoman took his seat right next to Qrow.

 _Hope this bub doesn't get any funny ideas_... Qrow thought to himself. This man's appearance just screamed that he's not your average Joe on the streets.

"Sure thing, mister! Would some Scotch satisfy that thirst of yours?"

"Aye! Yes it would mate!" Demo eagerly hopped in place for a pint of good alcohol, and he was not disappointed. Demo quickly ordered 10 more drinks and downed them all with no problem at all, much to Qrow's surprise.

"Hey... calm down will you? Don't want have to throw you out when someone gets too much to drink..." Qrow warned the Scotsman.

"Eh, don't worry 'bout me mate! I can down a castle's worth in drink by me self, and still feel fine!" Demo boasted. Qrow just gave Demo an unconvinced look, and Demo looked at the T.V. to see Team RWBY had won their match not too long ago.

"Oh by Heaven! Our girls won! Haha!" Demo cheered. He quickly called the barkeep up to order some more drinks in celebration, and Qrow winced when he said 'our girls'.

"'Our girls', eh?" Qrow questioned the man. "What exactly do you mean by that, mister?" He wanted to know how this stranger knew his nieces.

"What do I mean by it? Why, I'm their bloody teacher!" Demo said, but then his sword glowed a ghastly yellow. " _Hey Tavish, don't forget a drink for me man!"_ The ghostly sword that was the Eyelander said. Demo slapped himself when he totally forgot to give one of his closest friend a drink, and immediately asked the bartender for a drink for his sword. Qrow and the bartender were confused, but whatever. As long as he was a willing patron then I suppose it's all fine.

"Strange sword you got there, bud... and you said you're there teacher?" Qrow questioned the man.

" _That's what he said!"_ Eyelander said while Demo literally poured alcohol on him. It didn't go anywhere, but I guess getting washed in drink got Eyelander drunk because the sword's speech soon got all drunken-like.

"Is that so, Mr. talking sword? Oh, I must be drunker than I thought..." Qrow said to himself to which Demo gave him a friendly pat on the back.

"Ah, don't worry mate, this sword can't keep his mouth shut even if he were dipped in lava!"

" _Hey! I'm dead! Not deaf!"_ Eyelander yelled at Demo.

"Shut it ye cursed blade!" Demo yelled at his sword. They were having a little argument while Qrow and the barkeep awkwardly watched in amusement.

"See something new every day..." The barman said to himself, still cleaning his shot glasses.

"What's your name, pal?" Qrow asked Demo.

"Name's Demoman!" Demo smiled while wrestling with Eyelander. "But me sword here, already said me real name, so that would be Tavish to you, sir!"

"Tavish, huh? Hmm... Demoman... oh right, Ozpin told me about you guys." Qrow smiled. "Interesting name... well, Tavish, what say you and I have a drink in celebration of my nieces' victory?" Demo's one eye widened in confusion.

"Nieces, mate?"

"Yep. Those girls there." Qrow pointed at the pictures of Yang and Ruby right before it switched off to the next fighters of the day. That would be Team JNPR and Team BRNZ.

" _Oooh!_ I see now, you're their uncle now are ye?"

"Yep. Now shut up... I need a drink..."

"Haha! You're damn right you do! Oy! Bartender!"

"I'm right here sir. No need to yell." The barkeep said.

"Right, sorry mate, more drinks please!"

"Sure can do, mister!" The bartender whistled off to get more drinks for his only two patrons.

"Atta boy..." Qrow said. "The name's Qrow by the way. Qrow Branwen." He gave out his hand for Demo to give him a really firm handshake.

"Tavish Degroot!" Demo said. "Haha, I warn ye mate, I really can drink a castle's- no, a **_lake's_** worth in booze without dyin' from alcohol posioning!" The bartender came back with two whole mugs for the two men, and the men thanked him before chugging it down till both were empty.

"Ahh... good stuff, mate!" Demo gave the man a thumbs up.

"Yeah, good job." Qrow said to the man, giving him a thumbs up of his own. Both men sighed in content, and then they both looked at each other, and then back at their empty mugs.

"Hey, bartender, another one please." Qrow asked.

"Me too!" Demo joined in. The barkeep did just that, and both men downed their drinks again. Qrow and Demo smiled at each other once more when they finished their drinks. Then their smiles were exchanged for confident smiles, and then competing looks.

"Drink an entire castle, eh? Another one please!"

"Me too!"

"Make that three!" Eyelander chimed in.

That poor bartender is going to have a hell of a time keeping up with their orders...

* * *

Our two lovable drunks were still going at it, having the drinking competition to end all drinking competitions. At this point in time, Eyelander had 'passed out' despite being an inanimate object and was completely silent from the booze it got bored on him.

"W-waiter..." Qrow drunkenly waved his mug around with his face on the counter. "Anudder please..."

"Same here..." Demo groaned.

"Geez guys, at this rate you're going to run me dry!" The bartender said as he went back to fetch them their drinks. It must have been their 15th one by now.

"Ha... what's the matter mate?" Demo teased with a drunken face. "You look like a bloody truck hit ya..."

"Shut it pal..." Their drinks came around, and the live feed from the Coliseum showed Team JNPR winning their fight.

"Oh... that's me girl there..." Demo raised a shaky finger at Nora on the screen. She had her signature huge smile on her face while waving at the cheering crowd. "Thought her everythin' I know..."

"Huh, those kids weren't half bad." The barkeep said. He brought some more mugs on standby because he was certain they were going to call for more.

"Eh." Qrow groaned while Demo didn't say anything. "*hiccup*Pass me another drink..."

"Me too." Demo added.

* * *

It had now been a full twenty minutes since the two men started their drinking contest, and both were looking quite tipsy.

"Oh lord..." Demo groaned as he shakily raised his like 50th mug of alcohol to his mouth. He downed the drink, and looked over at Qrow, who also didn't seen to hot.

"*hiccup* What's wro-*hiccup* wrong, Tavish?" Qrow teased with a silly look on his face. "Thought you said you can drink a castle's worth or something like that..."

"I bloody can!" Demo's spirits peeked up, and to prove it he used both hands to pour drinks down his mouth at twice the speed he usually does. He even began taking the drinks Qrow had waiting for him.

"Okay, okay, take it easy pally... Or else there isn't going to be enough for me..." Demo didn't listen, so Qrow attempted to move over to him and stop him, only to find out the only thing he could manage was to fail his right arm in Demo's general direction even though he is like two feet away from him. Qrow failed miserably to stop Demo, and now all the drinks were gone.

"Damn it... _waiter!_ " Qrow whined, and yes, he whined. "More..."

"No can do fellas..." The barkeep said. "This place is completely dry because of you two! Hope you got the money to pay for all the drinks you downed."

"WHOOOOOOOO! I WON!" Demo cheered. He then fell backwards onto the floor. "Oh... don't worry mister... I'll pay for ye..." He attempted to move his arms to find that his uber drunken state meant he moved at a snail's pace. "Argh, damn... ay Qrow?" Demo asked for his newest friend.

"Yeah... I got it..." Qrow attempted to stand on his feet so he can get to Demo's wallet, only to find he was really fucked up from all the drinks. So it ended up with the two men lying on top of each other, with Qrow attempting to find Demo's pockets. The bartender can only watch in awkward silence at the display before him.

"Uh... I'll get it fellas." The barman reached into Demo's pocket and pulled out his wallet. A task that only took a few seconds, but almost five minutes for drunken Qrow who was right on top of him.

"Thanks..." Both men said at once. The TV was currently showing the finals moments of Team SSSN vs Team NDGO.

"Team SSSN wins!" Professor Port announced from the TV.

"*whistles* Now that was a match." The bartender said before turning around and looking at the only other two men in his establishment. Qrow had managed to stand up and was now helping Demo to his feet.

"*pfft* That was a mess..." Qrow groaned.

"Come on man, you didn't like them? The Vale kids? Or any of the rounds before that? What fight are you here for?" The bartender questioned. A humming noise was heard outside, and an airship with ribbons, or some shit, trailing behind off of its four wings.

"That one." Qrow stated. "Come on Tavish... I don't want to keep her waiting now..." With that, Qrow stumbled out of the bar with Demo in tow.

"Happy Vytal Festival." Qrow said to the bartender as they left. The barman looked after them, accidentally knocking over one of the many glasses covering the stand. It broke with a loud shatter.

"Ahh... Gee darn it. Oh well, guess I can close shop since I got no drinks left."

* * *

 **Beacon Air Docks**

Winter Schnee, a specialist of the Atlesian military, had just arrived at Beacon Academy. She and her compliment of Atlas Soldiers and Knights walked down the ramp where she began talking to the soldiers on what their mission was. That's when she heard a very familiar voice...

"Winter!" Her sister yelled for her. Winter closed her eyes and smiled before opening them back up to see her dear sister's face. She quickly put her smile away in exchange for a serious expression. Their conversation went exactly as what happened in the show. Why? Because I can't be bothered to write something that everyone saw already... fuck me right? Laziness is a bitch. Well then, laziness aside, Winter and Weiss began walking down the road leading to Beacon proper, where our two favorite drunks arrive.

"Hey..." Qrow yelled as he threw the head of an Atlesian Knight over at Winter. "Ice Queen..." Winter and Weiss looked back to see Qrow who was still holding Demoman... shakily standing next to the headless bodies of two AK-200s. I mean shaking like they're all wobbly.

"Excuse me, do you know who you're talking to?" Weiss said after stomping over to the drunken men.

"Shh... not you... her." Qrow pointed at Winter.

"Qrow..." Winter was angry right now, but she noticed Qrow was more off than usual. Can't blame her though, I mean let's face it, Qrow and Demoman fucked themselves up with all the alcohol they consumed earlier. At the moment Demo and Qrow were sort of holding on to each other while laughing to themselves like a couple of loonies.

"You Atlaaaas-" Qrow passed out on the spot, Demo tumbling down with him since he was the only thing keeping him up.

"*burp* Argh... Weiss?" Demo reached a hand out for the heiress. Weiss bent down and listened close to what Demo was about to say. " _Have you any booze?"_ Demo whispered before passing out. Weiss stood back up, shrugged her shoulders, and walked back to her sister's side.

"Humph, so much for them. Captain, arrest those two men for destruction of Atlas property." Winter promptly said. The men under her command quickly went to do as she asked. This is when a baseball came flying out from behind them, striking one of the soldiers so hard in the helmet that a visible dent was left.

"Hey, Demo! There you are!" Scout came running in with the Sandman in his hand. The Atlas personnel raised their weapons at the armed Bostonian as he neared them.

"Take it easy chumps! You don't know who you're dealing with here! I will mess you the Hell up!" Scout threatened before walking up to Demo.

"Damn drunk... we was looking for you all over the damn place!" Scout then heard someone walk up behind him, and he turned his head around to see it was Winter.

"Excuse me sir..." Winter began. "Are you associated with this man here?"

"Who? Demo? Yeah, yeah, I know him. Why you ask?" This was when Scout realized what a fine babe Winter was.

"Good, you are under-" Winter was interrupted by Scout.

"Woah! Woah! Take it easy babe..." Scout had instantly hopped up to his feet and was now circling Winter, checking her out.

"Uh, excuse me!? Professor Scout! This is my older sister, you can't just behave so, so... _uncivilized_ around her!" Weiss said in an annoyed manner. Her words did not have the intended effect on Scout she had hoped. As a matter of fact, it made Scout's eyes lit up.

"Older!? So what, you're like 17... and if she's older than you..." Scout was doing some seriously complicated math in his simple brain now, and he smiled confidently when he was finished with basic math.

" _Oh yeah!_ Finally a gal who's dating age around here!" Scout smiled, to which Weiss cringed and Winter stood fast.

"You know this man, Weiss?"

"Yes... this is Mr. Scout." Weiss face palmed. "Mr. Scout, this is my older sister, Winter Schnee."

"Pfft! _Mr. Scout?_ For a fine gal like you, I let ya in on my real name. It's William, baby! Though the ladies like to call me Willy." Scout said proudly. He then went on a rant about how great he was, to which Winter and Weiss sighed. The older sister looked over her shoulder and ordered a soldier to move forward to cuff him.

"...and then I- Hey!" The Atlas Soldier that tried to cuff Scout got a fist to his jaw, knocking him out instantly. "Never interrupt me when I'm with the gals! Anyway-"

"I think I heard enough, William." Winter cut him off before he can go on with his obnoxious boasting. "Turn around, you're under arrest."

"Under arrest? _Oh..._ I know why! Under arrest for stealing your heart right?" Scout winked at her. Both Schnees and the remaining Atlas Soldiers cringed so hard when he said that. Can you believe how much it takes for a woman like Winter Schnee to cringe? Well the point is, she didn't like Scout, and she then pulled her sabre on him.

"Woah! Calm down, wouldn't want to ruin this handsome face would ya? After all, this is all for you here!" Those words made her cringe extra hard.

"Silence! Now please, surrender peacefully or else I'll have to use force to take you into custody." Winter raised the tip of her blade to Scout's neck, but he didn't seem fazed at all.

"*sigh* Can't help it if I'm such a smooth criminal. So many girls' hearts have been stolen by this face of mine..." Winter was beginning to get really angry, first she meets Qrow for the first time in like forever, but that didn't last long at all, and now she's facing the most annoying man she'll ever know. Even more so than Qrow...

"SHUT UP!" Winter moved forward to strike Scout in the face with the pommel of her sword, only for the Bostonian to quickly grab her by the arms and throw her behind him. She landed on her feet flawlessy, and looked up at Scout with a surprised look. Weiss ran in between the two in hopes of stopping any conflict.

"Winter, be careful! He has no aura!" Weiss yelled for her sister to take caution. "And you, Mr. William! I expect more manners from a member of Beacon staff!" Scout ignored her and pushed her away with a hand on her face.

"Hey, it ain't my fault she can't resist this face!" Scout grinned at Winter to which she fumed. "My looks are so good that she got to break it so she don't have to stare at it no more. Not sure if that's a compliment or an insult..." Winter had enough of this man, and roared in anger as she went to attack him.

"Winter, no!" Weiss screamed, but it was already too late. Scout and Winter's fight was going into full swing as students gathered around the area to watch the fight. Ruby was coming around at this time too.

"Weiss! What's going on- Hey! It's Uncle Qrow!" The silver eyed cutie ran over to her unconscious uncle while Weiss can only watch Scout and Winter fight each other. If it can even be called a fight. I'm not saying it was an absolute curb stomp on either side, I'm saying Scout was not hitting Winter at all, but she was also not hitting him back even though she was actually attacking.

Scout had an obnoxious smile on his face while he dodged all of Winter's attacks like it was a game.

"Missed me!"

"Woooo!"

"Try again!"

"So close!"

"Are you even trying babe?"

Winter was steaming at Scout's behavior now. If she disliked him before, then she absolutely hated him now. He was making her look really bad as all he has done was dodge her attacks effortlessly. This is not a good look for one of Atlas' best specialists, and she was having enough of these games.

"RAAAAAGHH!" She screamed in **RAGE** as she stuck her blade into the ground to summon a murder of small white nevermores to swarm Scout. Scout saw the birds coming, and simply pulled out a can of BONK! and chugged it down. He pretended the birds were actually hurting him, making Winter eagerly move forward to finish this fight.

"I HAVE YOU NOW!" She screamed with an angry look, only for that look to change into a shocked one when Scout stopped her blade with two fingers. The boy yawned.

"That all you got, toots?" He smiled. Winter finally noticed he had some kind of blur effect on him, but she didn't care about that now. She angrily slashed and stabbed at him to find that he was completely invincible to attack.

"So anyway, what say you and I go out and get something to eat later?" Scout asked hopefully as Winter was still slashing at his invulnerable body. "Personally, I'm a fried chicken kind of guy. Don't know about you, but that stuff is delicious!"

"SHUT UP!" Winter yelled angrily. At this point she had devolved to straight up punching and kicking Scout instead of using her sword in anger. Scout chuckled at her continued attempts to resist his Boston charm, then he leaned over to the side and noticed Winter's finest... ASSet. (High five Yang!)

" _Oh man..._ That's a fine bottom you got there..." Winter's eyes went wide and her face went a really deep shade of red that matched Ruby's cape.

" **RAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHH**!" She reared a hand far behind her to slap the shit out of Scout's face. Scout just kept smiling at her, unaware that his BONK! was running out.

"Man, haven't you realized you can't hurt me? You know, I don't think you're too bright-" **_SLAP OF THE FUCKING CENTURY!_** Scout screamed as Winter's slap sent him flying far out to the side to the point where he almost fell off the cliff of Beacon.

"Oh crap..." Scout groaned to himself, a very bright hand mark across his cheek. The slap was so powerful, that he had been paralyzed all over his body for a few minutes. He heard footsteps rapidly approach him, and he can only close his eyes.

"Any last words!?" Winter yelled at the down man by her feet. Her saber raised to stab down on him.

" _Yeah..._ " Scout groaned. By some miracle of fate, he managed to move a shaky hand over to his face, and made a phone sign. " _Call me..._ " He gave her a smile. Winter was so done right now. This man had triggered her into a fight by obnoxiously flirting with her and making her look bad when she couldn't land a single hit on him when he didn't even attack back, and now on the brink of death he's still fooling around with her. With a loud roar of anger that would rival SAXTON HALE'S mighty battlecry in how loud it was, she raised her sabre high in the air to bring it down on Scout, only for something to grab her hands before she could gruesomely murder him. She looked behind her with angry eyes and saw it was Demoman, who had quickly recovered from his drunken state.

"Hello, miss." With those words, Demo threw Winter up above him, planted a stick of dynamite down one of her pockets, and blasted her away with concentrated fire from his grenade launchers and sticky bombs he also placed on her. Winter landed back where Weiss and Ruby was, and looked up to see Scout had instantly healed up when Demo put some instant health kits on him. She stomped rapidly in place with RAGE, and was going to slide forward to kill both men in one stab with the aid of her glyphs...

"WINTER!" Ironwood barked. Upon hearing those words, Winter's glyphs went away, and she tumbled forward before hastily standing at attention to her superior.

"General Ironwood, sir!" She saluted him.

"What is the meaning of this Winter?"

"Those men-" She shut up when she saw Demo and Scout were gone, but how? How did they get away so quickly. "Uh... I was... assaulted by two men!"

"That's not true, James..." Qrow said. Ruby and Weiss had helped him up as he was still really fucked up from the alcohol. "She's the one who started the fight...*hiccup* wished I fought her though..." Ironwood gave Qrow a hard look before turning his gaze back on Winter.

"Is this true?"

"*sigh* Yes sir!" Ozpin and Glynda came walking in with Glynda repairing all the damage to the courtyard.

"Now, now everyone..." Ozpin addressed the still gathered students. "The fight's over now, but if you wish to see more fights, I suggest you wait to see tomorrow's matches. _And_ _popcorn_."

"Break it up everyone! We will take care of this mess." The feared Goodwitch said. No one wanted to disobey her, and they all left without hesitation.

"Let's go." The good Atlas general said. With that, Anyone above 20 walked together towards Beacon tower, with the exception of Qrow of course.

"Are you coming?" Goodwitch asked the drunk in an annoyed tone.

"Sure...*burp*, can someone carry me?" With a sigh, the general ordered some soldiers to come and drag Qrow with them, leaving Ruby and Weiss behind.

"What was that all about?" Ruby asked Weiss.

"I have no idea..." The heiress sighed.

"Eh, at least I got to see my Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shrugged.

As the Headmaster and his entourage walked up the street that leads straight to Beacon Tower, Mercury Black was amongst the crowd when he saw Qrow getting dragged by the soldiers.

"Oh shit..." Mercury quickly ran off to inform Cinder about this new development.

* * *

 **Cinder's Room**

"And you're sure?" Cinder asked Mercury as she paced the room.

"Bad hair, has a scythe, and smelled like my dad after a long day. It was him."

"What do we do?" Emerald asked.

"Nothing, we stay the course. They have no idea who we are. So we have no reason to worry. Besides, the last of the heavy lifting is being taken care of as we speak."

"What about those new professors?" Mercury asked. "They know who we are."

"Right, but it seems like Roman was being truthful when he said that they didn't care who we are." She looked out the window and saw Spy and Demo dragging Scout over to their house.

"I wonder why they..." She mused before turning back to her associates.

"Go back to your rooms you two. I'll have something for you two to do tomorrow. As for me... I'm going to have a chat with the new men."

* * *

 **Here it is. The first chapter that officially takes place in Volume 3. Love and thanks to all the viewers who bothered reading my only story. It means so much to me that a stupid idea became pretty popular and I thank you all again for stopping by for a read. Also, since this story has become a success and I legitimately feel better about myself, I decided to push through until the end! This story will be finished even if it probably my only story ever.**

 **Here's a crazy fact, on Halloween day the view count jumped to 665! We were only one off from hitting 666, making it perfect for Halloween!**

 **The Qrow and Demo scene was an idea from Shaneman17 and Scout meeting Winter was an idea suggested by LE MAO XVII like 18 chapters ago. I graciously thank the both of you, though LE MAO XVII hasn't responded to my only message to him. Fucking dammit, though I suppose that's just college for you, dudes busy all the time and he probably has no business with a guy like me, so I understand. It's fine.**

 **Review** **Responses:**

 **FAQCHEQOR365: Oh fuck, why's that name so hard to spell?! Lol jk, but I know right? And thanks for cheering me up, friend. It's just unbelievable that I ended up being the best active story at the moment and I guess I reacted in the opposite direction.**

 **Mr. G37: Ludicrous!? Motaphuka, you clearly never played Scream Fortress 2.**

 **buzzsaw935: Spoopy spooks.**

 **Empty Uniform: The bird heads disappeared when the candy cure was given to them. Sad thing, imagine how things would go if they still had the bird heads.**

 **Shaneman17: Here it is. ;)**

 **ATTF: Answered ya in le pm already.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: Spooky spooks.**

 **Pisspot: It's quite derpy looking as well.**

 **MCZ: Happy Halloween!**

 **A smexual man: Is that so? When and where do you want to meet me? If it turns out you were serious about this, then I will get my phone, call 911, and inform the police that there is a dead guy on my property. Nah, just kidding! But fuck off with that gay shit bruh, I don't know if you're joking or not.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: We'll see if more Earth history gets through. I'm just not sure if I should include anymore.**


	21. Serious Business

**Notes:**

 **The French city of Vichy is located near the very center of France. It is known a being the capital of "free France" during World War II after Paris was taken by the Nazis. I'm going into an alternate history where all of France was taken by the Nazis under full occupation.**

* * *

 **Mercs' House**

After giving Scout an ass whooping only a father could give (Scout still denies it though), Spy sent his Bostonian ass up to his room for a time out. Soldier had gone out to who knows where, hopefully he won't cause any trouble. Medic and Engineer were working on whatever the fuck is in the garage. Sniper was on the roof doing his night watch, though people swear they hear a "HOOT! HOOT!" coming from the mercs' house ever since Halloween. Demo had passed out again after drinking some ancient booze brewed far back in his clan's distant past. Heavy was busy trying to find a way to merge sandviches and beef steaks together. Pyro was in the living room by itself until Spy came walking in from upstairs. Zwei was still at their house since it seemed like Team RWBY had forgotten about him in the midst of the chaos of the first day of Tournament, and the dog in question was sitting on Pyro's lap, chewing on a rubber ducky.

"Well..." Spy began while putting his belt back on. "That ought to teach _him_ not to get in unnecessary trouble again..."

"SCREW YOU, SPY!" Scout yelled from upstairs. The sound of a door being slammed shut can be heard.

"Mpmhmh-mphm?" Pyro questioned Spy.

"Obviously..." Spy said once he was finished with his belt. "Only way to teach that boy anything is to hurt him, and hurt him I did." Spy took a seat and lit a cigarette. "Turn the TV on."

Pyro nodded and patted on Zwei's back. The doggy looked at Pyro, and Pyro mmphmed at him. With a bark, Zwei eagerly jumped up and ran to the TV remote, turning it on with his stubby paws. The television beamed to life, and the current news was being told by Lisa Lavendar.

* * *

"-Vale is absolutely abuzz tonight after the conclusion of the first day of the Vytal tournament. The outcome of the team matches has gotten people absolutely excited! We go to Cyril Ian, live at Amity Coliseum. Ian?"

The feed instantly changed to show Cyril Ian standing before the mighty stage of the coliseum. The stage was currently moving itself back into a plain state with no terrain on it. People can be seen walking out of the stands since the rounds are over for today, but behind Ian was a crowd that eagerly wanted to show their joy to the rest of Remnant.

"That's right Lisa! You- *CHAIR SLAM*" The same shirtless hooligan with the V painted on his chest just knocked Ian out again like he did about a week or so ago.

"VALE, BITCH, VALE!" He yelled enthusiastically, the crowd behind him doing the same. "FUCK THOSE OTHER KINGDOMS- ACK!" Cyril Ian had gotten back up and was now kicking the hooligan's ass before the hooligans other friends, the shirtless ones with a A, a L, and an E jumped in on the fight as well. Atlas soldiers can be seen running to break up the fight while the cameraman kept filming the chaos that was unfolding to the world.

"Um... Ian?" Lisa's voice can be heard over the feed. The feed was soon shut down when one of the hooligans was thrown into the cameraman, causing a crack in the lens that made it very hard to see what was happening. Before the feed shut down completely, a few people can be soon running over the cameraman and the camera. It then switched to Lisa Lavender, standing aghast at her spot in silence.

...

...

"Lisa?" Someone can be heard behind the camera in the studio. "We're still on the air!'

"Oh! Right, yes, yes! Ahem, sorry about that folks! It seemed like Ian was having some... technical difficulties." She then stood there with nothing to say, and another awkward silence was broadcasted across the kingdom.

"So..." Lisa looked furiously through her papers. "Oh! So in other news, the VDF with the aid of Atlas have successfully held off multiple Grimm attacks across the kingdom's borders. General Ironwood states that Atlas will do all they can in the defense of Vale as an act of good will between the kingdoms of Vale and Atlas."

* * *

A ring was heard from the door, and both mercs in the living room looked at the door.

"Pyro?" Spy asked the pyromaniac.

"Mpmh." Pyro agreed to go and open the door. Pyro skipped over to the door and opened it wide... and Pyro instantly froze in place.

"Gah!" Cinder Fall's calm broke immediately after seeing the Pyro. She had... unpleasant encounters with this merc thus far.

"Um... good evening... Pyro." Cinder's composure recovered slowly. "May I come in? I would like to have a talk with you professors about my teammate's grade in your class." From behind Cinder peaked out Neo in her disguise. Pyro stood there, staring directly at Cinder just like it has done in all the previous encounters. She could feel her spine tingle with Pyro's gaze covering her body.

 _Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea after all..._ She thought to herself. _No! What am I saying!? I can't just break at the sight of this fool!_

"I..." Cinder tried to say, but no other words came out. Pyro was still looking at her. Luckily for her, Spy soon came to the door when Pyro took a rather long time answering it.

"Stand aside, Pyro." Spy pushed Pyro and stood in its place. "Bonsoir, how can I help you?" Spy glanced at Neo and nodded his head at her.

"Good evening. Mr. Spy, I believe?" Cinder said with a smile, glad someone with a face came to see her.

"Correct." Spy said with a cigarette still hanging in his mouth.

"I'm here to talk about my friend here. May we come in?"

"What for?"

"Oh, just about her failing grades in class."

"Grades, hmm? I wonder why she couldn't ask me herself." Spy looked at the girl in question. "Alright, you can come in, just let me get some business sorted out first." Spy closed the door on them, and he can be heard speaking in an unknown language from behind it. After a minute, the door opened back up, and it was just Spy in the room. Cinder and Neo walked into the living room and took their seats on the couch opposite from Spy and Pyro.

"Do not worry about Pyro, I sent him out back to do the laundry. There's no one else in the house either, so it's just the four of us here." Spy lied.

"Now, failing grades..."

"Yes, I want to know-" Cinder was cut off by Spy when he threw a file of all his student's grades on the coffee table. It burst open with papers going everywhere, Neo's being the one sliding out in front of them.

"Read. You have eyes, use them." Cinder took a single glance at the file while Neo read it carefully, letting Cinder do all the talking. Mostly because Neo can't talk herself.

"You're an interesting huntsman, Mr. Spy." Cinder began. "An interesting name, and an even more interesting man. So mysterious, just like the rest of your team."

"I can say the same about you, Cinder Fall." Spy said. Cinder was interested, Roman hadn't shown them any pictures of her or given them any clue of what she looked like. "Do you take me for a fool? Your man has said enough about you for me to deduce you're the said person sitting right across from me."

"Well played." She smiled.

"Now, why are you really here?"

"I'm glad you asked. You know, you're a smart-"

"Answer the question. And please, no dilly-dallying"

"Of course, Mr. Spy. I'm here because I want to know why you let Roman go. What kind of huntsman would simply let go of Vale's most wanted man?"

"This one." Spy simply said. "He told me you have him and Neo caught up in your schemes against their will. I know the feeling, so I took a rare act of pity on them." Spy said, thinking about something far in his past. Something that happened long before his involvement with Mann Co...

"Is that so?" Cinder smiled. "Well, I'm glad you have such a kind heart. It would have been very upsetting if I lost Roman now."

"Yes... a kind heart..." Spy trailed off. He was still thinking about the incident in Vichy all those years ago...

"Which is why I have decided to offer you a chance to join me." She smiled. "I've seen your skills and your machines. Both would be very valuable to my cause."

Spy looked up at her after taking another moment of remembering that awful night. "Join you?"

"Yes, you see, I intend to destroy Beacon Academy. Crush the kingdom's symbol of hope. That's why I would love for you to join me..." She held out a hand, and fire came out of it. Her eyes also glowed a bright fire. "What will your answer be, Mr. Spy?" Spy gave her a plain look and straightened out his tie.

"How cliche. Giving me an offer I clearly have no other choice but to accept."

"That's the idea." She giggled.

"Typical. Fine, I will join you as long as a proper reward is in order."

"Of course. Riches, land, power, whatever you want will be yours."

"Excellent. Though I suppose my team will be out of the question then. They may be a bunch of maniacs, yet my experience with them has proven time and time again that they will never do something so wicked to innocents. Even if some of their views on what's right and wrong are a little... _off_."

"Looks like you'll have to get rid of them then." Cinder sighed. "Oh well, having one out of nine is better than none."

"Agreed." Cinder stood up, and Neo quickly followed suit. "Well, it's official then. Welcome to my side, Spy."

"Please, my name is Jacques." Spy stood up and shook her hand. With that, their meeting was over and Spy walked them out the front door.

"One more thing, Jacques." Cinder said, stopping Spy from closing the door. "Tonight, you will meet Adam Taurus and Roman Torchwick. Neo here will show you the way later. Just be sure to meet her in the Emerald Forest."

"Got it."

The door was then shut, and Spy watched them leave out the window before giving the all clear. "Out from your holes, gentlemen. She's gone. Out from some of the most outlandish hiding spots came out all the mercs except for Soldier and Sniper. Heavy tumbled out of the chimney like Santa Claus with Zwei in his arms, Scout unfolded himself out from the couch Cinder was sitting on since it was hollow, Medic was in the couch with Scout, Engineer deactivated the invis watch Spy gave him, and Pyro came out of the back with a cake crudely shaped like a heart. Pyro looked around for Cinder and Neo, but was sad to see she was gone again. Demoman was hiding in the closet, but he didn't come out because he was still fast asleep. Sniper wasn't in the room, but he was also told to keep himself hidden when she arrived. Luckily, she didn't notice him when she got here before he was told to hide. Then again, Sniper likes to keep himself hidden anyway. Let's him get the drop on potential threats easier that way.

"Well don't that beat all?" Engie began. "Are we gonna turn her in now that we know she's here?"

"No. I have something even better in mind." Spy said with a serious look on his face. He was now pacing back and forth.

"But that lady's gonna get a lot of people killed, Spy." Scout said.

"Little man is right. Evil woman is evil, and Heavy hate evil things..." Heavy growled. The Russian smashed his fists together, remembering how the Soviets put his family into a Siberian gulag. Zwei barked in agreement.

"You said it pal. I'm okay with hurting people, hehe, especially you guys." Scout said. Spy was not pleased by this.

"You like hurting people?" Spy said without looking at his son.

"Yeah, I do! Got a problem with that, frog? Is this going to turn into some boring talk about morals-"

"YES! Yes, it will William!" Spy exploded. Safe to say, everyone in the room was shocked.

"Geez, calm down-" *SLAP* Spy slapped the fuck out of Scout, sending the boy into Heavy who stopped him from falling.

"Spy, what's wrong? We hurt each other all the time!" Engie said.

"Yes, we do, Dell. And that's fine because we know what dying is like! We're okay since we're always given another chance at life..." Spy continued pacing the room while his friends watched him.

"We're mercenaries, hired to kill for a living. Luckily, most of us have only ever been hired to kill each other or some warlord or crime leader by another of that filthy kind."

"Yeah, then there's Soldier who kills Nazis left and right." Engie said.

"Not to mention the occasional random stranger." Medic added. "Spy, where is this going?" The Frenchman didn't say anything other than take a seat back on the couch he was sitting on before, his hands covering his face.

"Je suis vraiment désolé..." Spy whispered to himself. A moment later and Spy looked up at his friends.

"My friends, we're all friends here correct?" He got various replies, but they all generally said yes to that question.

"Good, good. Now, do you know what evil is, friends?" The other mercs looked at each other and back at Spy strangely.

"Course we do, crouton. It's when a bunch of asshole decide they want to screw with people." Scout said. "What kind of a question was that?"

"That's the basic idea, yes. Now tell me, have any of you seen evil in action?"

"Course we have, remember when we stopped the old mercenaries, Gray Mann, and the Administrator from taking over the world? That happened not too long ago." Engie said.

"Yes, but the problem with that was we stopped them _before_ we saw what they were going to do. I'm asking how many of you have seen evil happen before your eyes."

"Heavy has." The Russian raised his hand. "Evil men destroy home and put Heavy family in gulag in cold Siberia. Much pain and suffering to people there." Heavy's face scrunched up in anger. "Evil men caused papa to die, evil men caused millions to die." No one else had anything to say about that. None of them have a proper answer to Spy's question, or they didn't want to say.

"Thank you Russian. I will say right now, that I, Jacques Moreau, has seen evil. _And I hate it..._ " Spy growled. Everyone was a little uncomfortable. It was highly unusual for things to get so serious.

"I prefer not to talk about it, I will say this." Spy held up a finger. "Nazis." He held up another. "Mission." Another finger was raised. "Vichy." A fourth finger. "Compromised." That last finger of a man's only five digits was raised. "Burning..."

Everyone was deathly silent as Spy put his head down.

"Gentlemen..." Spy began. He stood up, dusted his suit, and straightened his tie. "I refuse to let this Cinder Fall harm the innocent."

"Ja! Zat's ze spirit, Franzose!" Medic cheered.

"Heavy is with you!" Heavy cheered.

"Count me in!" Engie chimed in.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm with ya, Jacques." Scout said.

"I knew I could trust you all." Spy smiled.

"Well then, when are we going to turn her in?" Engie asked.

"Turn her in?" Spy snapped back at Engie. "No, no, no. Listen, partner, when you're faced with evil, you do not simply turn them in. You make them suffer. You have them burn for their actions. You make them feel the pain they intend to inflict on the innocent. No, we let this Cinder Fall carry on with her plan until it reaches its climax. And then, then..."

Spy walked to the window and looked out at the rest of Beacon. The shattered moon lighting the night sky up with the stars.

"...then she'll know she fucked up. Badly."

* * *

 **Later, With Team RWBY**

"Oh man, what a day!" Yang said with her arms crossed behind her head.

The girls were on their way to the mercs' house to pick up Zwei since they left him there all day.

"Yeah, so much happened that we totally forgot about Zwei!" Ruby said aloud. They were now at the mercenaries' front gate, and they found the mercenaries' front yard still looked like a World War 1 battlefield. It's not like they would know what World War 1 was, but at least you, the readers get it. None of the trenches or pillboxes had been removed, though the sentries were missing. Halloween decorations still covered the place though, making Team RWBY shiver at their unpleasant first taste of what Earth is like. Worst part was, not only did this look like a battlefield, it was complete with (hopefully) fake corpses covering it with fake military weapons made out of wood, simulating dead soldiers over no man's land. Why Soldier decided to add this was anyone's guess...

"Oooh..." Yang moaned in fright when a spooky ghost prop was still hung by a tree. Yang wasn't afraid of anything, except for ghosts. Especially since she discovered she can't punch ghosts back on Earth. Blake's cat ears were standing straight when a flat cutout of a dog popped up to their left when she accidentally stepped on the thing that activated Faunus girl hissed at the fake dog. Ruby seemed spooked by everything here. Looking for something to distract herself from the spookiness until they reached the front door (because that's how slow it felt they were walking), she looked at Weiss and saw she was perfectly unfazed by this.

"You're not scared at all Weiss?" Ruby questioned the heiress.

"Of course I'm not scared." The heiress declared. "These childish decorations are hardly a cause for fright- AHHHHHHHH!" Weiss screamed when she heard a sound that reminded her of that spooky encounter in the haunted mansion. The encounter with Owl Sniper scooping her up in the air like a mouse.

"HOOT! HOOT! Hahaha..." Sniper laughed from his perch on the roof. He was totally unseen though, at least until he peaked his head out of a hole in his little set up. "What's the matter, snowflake!? Afraid of owls now!? HAHAHA!"

"Jerk!" Weiss yelled up at the Australian while he kept laughing to himself, popping back into his hiding spot. All of Team RWBY was laughing at Weiss' expense, a welcome relief from the spookiness surrounding them. They got to the front door in what felt like ages, and before they can even think of knocking on it, it burst open, and all the mercenaries inside scared the daylights out of them with scary masks and stuff.

"AHHHH! You jerks!" Weiss fumed. She did not like getting spooked at all. "You're lucky we left our weapons in our lockers! Otherwise I would rip you apart now!"

"Whatever ice girl say, hehehe..." Heavy chuckled. He then disappeared inside.

"Hahaha... Come right inside girls! We got your dog right here!" Engie said with a hand waving them inside. The girls were hesitant. It was too obvious, they were going to get spooked again.

"What's wrong girls? Don't you trust us?" Engie asked. "Besides, the pooch is fast asleep. Wouldn't want to wake the little critter now, would ya?" He smiled a gentle smile, calming them down.

"I swear if this is another jumpscare..." Weiss said under her breath as Team RWBY passed the mercs and into the house. They found Scout on the couch, motionless. The girls seemed afraid.

"Uh, guys?" Blake said with a worried tone. "What's wrong with-" Suddenly, Scout started shaking violently in place, and Demo and Medic ran to tie him to the couch like this was the Exorcist. All lights in the room went out, and nothing but candle light lit the place.

"What's happening!?" Yang screamed. The mercs did not answer her, and Medic Engie came in with a pamphlet that said "Holy Bible" scribbled on it.

"In the name of our lord! The power of Christ compels you!" The Texan said. Scout's mouth screamed open and his head thrashed about wildly.

"Wercs uoy syug!" Scout said in a demonic voice, scaring the girls silly. The couch Scout was tied to then started levitating.

"Oh no you don't, demon!" Engie yelled. He threw the pamphlet at Scout and jumped on top of the couch to make it go down with Demo and Medic doing the same. By the way, Pyro was sitting in an armchair with popcorn, watching this display go on.

"GET! (PUNCH) OUT (PUNCH) OF (PUNCH) MY (PUNCH) FRIEND!" Engie punched Scout silly while Demo and Medic still tried to bring the couch down by hanging off the sides. Team RWBY was too shocked to do anything right now. They were absolutely speechless as this was definitely not of this world. Suddenly, Scout screamed intensely, the couch lowered to half its height, and his chest 'blew open'. And out came Zwei the dog being held up by the Medic from behind the couch.

"Hahaha! HOW SPOOKY!" Medic laughed. The girls were straight faced when Heavy uncloaked himseslf and dropped the couch on the ground with his friends still on it. Demo, and Engie fell off when it touched the ground but they were all laughing their asses off.

"What..." All girls said in unison. Medic laughed and came over to the front of the couch, and removed the fake blown up hole in Scout's chest to reveal that the Scout on the couch was a fake, and that the real one was actually hiding in a closet by the light switch. He tumbled out of the closet, clutching his chest from how much the amount of laughter he felt hurt him right now.

"Oh-oh, I- I can't breath!"

"IT VAS JUST A PRANK!" All the mercs laughed jollily, and even Zwei was laughing at his owner's expense.

"That's right ladies! This here was just a good ole' Halloween prank!" Engie laughed.

"But didn't Halloween end like two days ago!?" Weiss raged. She really did not like getting spooked, especially, spooked as badly as she was now.

"Argh, calm yourself missy. It's just a Halloween tradition, and we got to do it at least once."

"And, and, hehehe... we decided to do it on you lasses since Merasmus fooled with us this year!" Demo laughed as he rolled on the ground. The girls looked really embarrassed and angry. They've seen spookiness in the last couple of days to last them a lifetime...

"Ah, you'll get over it. Now, would y'all like some grub? It's dinner time. You girls like dinner right? After all, you're our first friends in this world."

"Why would we want to have dinner with you after all of this!?" Weiss yelled.

"Oh come on, Weiss!" Yang said. "They said it was just a silly prank!" The other girls of Team RWBY cheered up about their current predicament since the mercs were so nice about it.

"Besides..." Yang grinned. "Didn't your parents tell you it's not very..."

" _Don't say it..._ " Weiss growled. Yang grinned harder.

"- ** _WEISS_** to say no to kindness?" That made everyone, except Weiss of course laugh, and they filed to the dinner table. Weiss remained silent with an angry look while everyone happily talked to each other over their food. Demoman was telling the story of how he lost his eye.

"Woah... so that giant eyeball on Earth was your eye!?" Yang gasped.

"Yep! That damned possessed eye of mine is called Monoculus!"

"Wait, if you've lost one eye, then why was there more than one of them?" Blake asked.

"Uh..." Demo had no answer to that, but luckily Medic saved him.

"Argh, zat's probably just zat wizard's trickery!"

"Professors?" Ruby raised her hand.

"Please, Ruby. Y'all don't have to call us that." Engie smiled. "Hey boys, we trust these girls right?" His team nodded. "Hehe, that's what I thought, and it's not like our real names mean anything around here... Ladies, my name is Dell Conagher PhD. Boys, introduce yourselves."

"Tavish Degroot." Demo said.

"Rick Mundy". Sniper said.

"Mikhail Cherinkov." Heavy said.

"William Charleston." Scout said.

"Friedrich Heilburger." Medic said.

"Mphm-phm!" Pyro mphmed.

"And since Spy and Soldier ain't here, I'll tell you their names too. Soldier is John Doe, and Spy's Jacques Moreau."

"Jacques?" Weiss gasped. It was her first word since she took a seat at the table. Hearing her father's name was always a little discomforting.

"That's right."

"Thank you guys for sharing your real names with us!" Ruby beamed.

"I think I'll just keep calling you by your job names." Yang said. Her team agreed to that, it was easier to say than their real names. Not that their names were hard to pronounce, no, it's just that they're used to calling the mercenaries by their job names already.

"Oh, I'm so glad you guys trust us! Isn't that right Zwei?" Said dog was underneath the table gnawing on some chicken thighs, and it popped up from underneath the table and onto Blake's lap. Zwei barked in agreement, making Blake fall out of her seat due to her fear of dogs to which everyone laughed again.

"Hahaha... ahhh..." Ruby wiped a tear from her eye. Then she remembered what she was going to ask them.

"Oh! I was going to ask you guys why is Earth such a scary world?"

"The people of Earth must be really tough if they live through that everyday..." Yang added.

"Is just tradition called Halloween." Heavy said. "Celebrated once every year, where little kids go to strangers' houses to get candy for free, and everyone decorate everything with scary things."

"REALLY!?" Ruby slammed her hands on the table and her eyes lit up. "WHY WASN'T THAT HAPPENING WHEN WE WERE THERE!? THAT SOUNDS AWESOME!"

"Woah! Calm yourself Ruby! I don't know if you've realized it by now, but zat wizard is the reason why our Halloweens always, um... what's ze word..." Medic trailed off.

"Suck." Scout finished for him. "Our Halloweens always suck."

"Ja, zat's one vay to put it. Zer is so much more to Earth than just zat though. It was a shame you veren't able to see the rest of it."

"Well, I hope someday you guys find a way back home, without a wizard of course, and maybe we can come with you guys!" Ruby cheered.

"I'll drink to that!" Demo proposed a toast. The mercs knocked various alcoholic beverages together while Team RWBY had soft drinks like soda or something.

"Hehe... hey..." Ruby remembered Spy and Soldier weren't here. "Where's Spy and Soldier anyway?"

"Soldier's out doing who knows what, and as for Spy... well..." Sniper trailed off.

"He's busy..."

Everyone went silent for a bit. The mercs went silent because they remembered Spy's mission, and Team RWBY went silent because of the mercenaries. However, Demo broke that silence.

"Oh! Let's stop talking about that bloody old frog, and get back to eating! I say we-" Demo was interrupted by the Medic.

"Oh! Zat is right! We almost forgot about your gifts!"

"Gifts?" All girls said in unison.

"Ja! Ve felt awful zat your visit to Earth vas so... unpleasant, so we got together and decided to give you free hats!"

"Plus it's a nice reward for winning your match today." Sniper added. Medic pulled out four hats from out of bloody nowhere. The hats in question were the Birdie Bonnet, a flaming Treasure Hat, a Pyro's Beanie with a custom rainbow effect, and a Hood of Sorrows.

"Cool!" Ruby cheered happily when Medic passed her the Pyro's Beanie. She giggled at the rainbows and the spinning little propeller on top of the hat.

"Um, why is this hat burning?" Yang asked when Medic was about to give her the Treasure Hat.

"Ack, that's just for show. It won't actually burn your hair, Yang."

"Thanks I guess..." Yang wasn't sure about the fire on this thing. It could ruin her hair!

"And for young Weiss here... you get zis one!" Medic put the Birdie Bonnet on her head.

"H-hey!" The heiress yelled.

"Come on, Weiss! It fits perfectly with you since you're such a big chicken!" Lulz were had at Weiss again.

The last one to get a hat was Blake, and she got the Hood of Sorrows.

"Hey, why is Blake's hat so much cooler than ours!?" Yang yelled.

"Want to trade, Blake?" Ruby asked innocently.

" _Oh boy..._ " Engie whispered to Demo. " _Before you know it, they're going to be collecting hats just like us!"_ Both men laughed to themselves while the girls argued over each other's hats.

* * *

 **Emerald Forest**

Using his Cloak and Dagger watch, Spy easily snuck past Beacon's security and made his way to Neopolitan. The ice cream girl was exactly where she was supposed to be.

"Are we doing this?" Spy asked the petite girl. Neo smiled at him and nodded. Now that he was on their side, she had nothing to fear from him now.

"Well, let us go then!"

Neo held her hand out for Spy to take, and the Frenchman took it. Then, they teleported away to meet Roman and Adam.

 _A fire is waiting for you, Cinder Fall, and it is not one you can control. I wanted nothing to do with you originally because I though I could ignore it, but now... now I know what I must do._

 ** _Qu'est-il arrivé à Vichy ne peut jamais se reproduire._**

* * *

 **Well damn, things got drastically serious right quick...**

 **Shit is about to go down my boys, and maybe like 15 girls.**

 **Yes, I know, this came out fast as fuck after the last chapter, but that has to do with how much time I have in my hands. And that would be a lot. It's possible that another chapter will be out soon too, as it seems I still have a lot of time on my hands.**

 **We're in Volume 3 now, and I know you guys know what Volume 3 was like.**

 **Will Cinder manage to fuck with our boys? Or will our boys pull through?**

 **Will Saxton Hale return to Remnant?**

 **We'll see..**

 **This bit has nothing to do with the story, but yesterday I talked with Goldenspartan86, voice to voice, and he thinks I sound like STAR_, the famous TF2 player.**

 **Remember to give yourself a name when you post a review, and also, go ahead and tell me what you feel about the chapters as they come along. Especially this chapter, I feel I might have fucked it up for posting it too soon and there might be something wrong with it. Also, I'm sad there's still no RVB X TF2 crossover...**

 **Review Responses:**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: Argh, well... Scout wasn't really fighting Winter. He's just toying with her because she was such a babe XD. We'll see about Medic.**

 **MCZ: Simple, a long line of text that goes like this. heheheheheheheheheehehehehehe.**

 **Shaneman17: My God, "Snow Baller"... The fandom and their creative ship names...**

 **Gaspachu: FURANKU! FURANKU IS YOUR PROFILE PIC! Back to business, I got hats in boy. Where's my reward? :D**

 **A fan: I don't think Winter had a reason to hate the other mercenaries. She only has seen Scout and Demo, and Scout is the one she really hates. I don't think it's serious enough to warrant vengeance on him though. After all, she smacked the fuck out of him.**

 **Rick: Thanks! See, it's reviews like this that get author's feeling nice inside. Makes us feel appreciated, you know?**

 **ATTF: Responded to you in a PM already.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: It is near...**

 **Pisspot: Scout will flirt a bunch, but as for Yang's hair? My boy Cadaver1041 is doing that now. See his story because Scout cut Yang's hair just now in his.**

 **LE MAO XVII: Responded to you in a PM already. But yeah, it was really nice to finally be able to talk to you.**

 **Mr. G37: The only drinking scene that can beat this is if we added Leman Russ in the mix. There's a joke Space Marine chapter called the Drunk Marines, and it is believed that their primarch is Demoman. (I'm not making this shit up. Go on 1d4chan to check out their page, it says that!)**

 **Salt Bomber 360: Scout will flirt a bunch more, and there will be so many more fights.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: Even if Ruby saw the BONK!, she probably wouldn't have tried to get it since her *ahem* operation performed by Medic.**


	22. Lost Opportunity

**The American Thing Ever: Soldier's Finest hour! English Channel, 1944**

The storm was rough with its rain and high waves. The soldiers were cold, clothes soaked by the bitter salt water of the sea, not helping the soldiers' problem with the cold. Everyone was deathly silent. No noise from a single being was heard other than the sound of coughs and puking because of the rough waters of the sea. That was another problem too, the soldiers were travelling rough waters in their landing craft, hoping they don't capsize and drown. The storm wasn't the worst part of this whole experience though...

The worst part of all this was actually what was waiting for them. If Allied intelligence was correct, the Nazis had set up heavily fortified beach defenses using all sorts of that evil tech of theirs. Surely things look grim for the Allies. The Canadians, British, and the French were going to suffer severely for this day. And let's not forget the United States. Being the freshest nation with the most resources, the bulk of the invasion force was composed of American boys.

Then the slaughter. The landing craft that weren't blown to bits by Nazi artillery or shot up by planes and machine guns unloaded their cargoes of American G.I.s only for the men to be killed in their hundreds. Men were vaporized by Nazi death rays, blown to ribbons by artillery, riddled with bullets, and all sorts of other horrible ways to die. It had only been two minutes since the first boots touched the sands of the beach, and already hundreds of thousands of American soldiers were killed. Damn Nazi tech. It seemed to be the only reason why the usual manliness and courage of the American spirit can't defeat Hitler.

Poor boys. You never stood a chance to begin with. All of your American tech is no match for this Castle Wolfenstein-esque Nazi engineering. Anything you had really was inferior to Nazi tech. I'm certain that every single one of you will die.

There is no survi- (Struck by lightning!)

A lightning bolt straight from Heaven smited the fuck out of the little bitch who had no faith in America. Then, the stormy skies parted to reveal sunshine directly from Heaven, and five figures appeared like heavenly angels.

"I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to smack the fuck out of Hitler when we march on Berlin!" George Washington screamed at the top of his lungs whilst riding a giant bald eagle with rocket launchers and 40mm explosive autocannons mounted on its wings. George Washington himself was wielding a sword that burned with a need to spread freedom and democracy by freeing the life from those who oppose it, along with a shield that had the presidential seal on it. Both items were on fire... THE FIRE OF GOD!

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is no match for how hard I will shove this emancipating foot up your ass!" Abraham Lincoln screamed whilst riding a flying locomotive fueled by the holy steam of freedom. Civil war era Union soldiers manned the gatling guns of Democracy on the vehicle while Abe himself wielded a GATLING LASER.

"I cannot live without books. Books about how to kill Nazis!" Thomas Jefferson yelled while riding a flaming Pegasus of democracy. He was currently writing entire chapters worth of techniques on how to kick Nazi ass. Also, he was writing a note that basically said ' **Hey Hitler, I fucked yer mum** ' in polite terms.

"Speak softly and carry a big stick. But always know that I carry the _biggest_ stick!" An insanely buff Theodore Roosevelt yelled as he plummeted down to Earth with a gigantic 12-barreled rocket launcher that fired Davy Crocket miniature nukes. He was riding nothing, relying entirely on his manliness to keep him intact when he hits the ground.

"It is I, Uncle Sam! I will give my boys the strength to rip your spines out through your asses!" The mighty Uncle Sam, American God of War and Freedom, yelled with a booming voice. Uncle Sam smiled while he stayed up in Heaven to watch freedom be delivered to the denizens of Europe.

He bathed all the American troops on the ground in a holy light, and all the boys instantly became men complete with muscles, facial hair, and standard issue balls of steel forged from the finest steel mills around the country. All of their weapons were buffed to an 11 on a 1 to 10 scale of kickass. The Americans screamed with the righteous fury for the need to administer an ass whooping in the name of freedom on the pussy ass Nazis hiding behind their shitty defenses and technology. The four US presidents quickly joined their men with the same fury and devotion to freedom that gave them the need to rape the fuck out of these Nazi bitches.

One American soldier in particular sprinted far ahead of the already charging army of freedom with a rocket launcher. Then the man rocket jumped high up into the sky, breaking the sound barrier, and then fell back down with the force of a 10,000 pound dynamite bomb. Smoke, debris, bodies, and Nazi machines were thrown everywhere from the impact.

"RAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!" A voice screamed once the smoke cleared. The nearest Nazi soldier aimed his rifle at the source, and got cut straight down the middle in half by a shovel. Other Nazi soldiers panicked at the sight and started firing upon the American soldier. No, THE Soldier.

Soldier whipped out a shotgun and immediately dropped 8 Nazis, and then fired a rocket at a large cluster of Nazi battle robots coming at him with their laser arms. He rolled under a punch from a Nazi supersoldat and tackled him down in the ground. The mutated Nazi soldier roared at him, but Soldier grinned and shoved a grenade in his mouth, breaking his teeth in the process. With all of his strength, Soldier picked the ten-foot tall supersoldat off of the ground and threw him at a squad of regular troops shooting at him with energy and projectile weapons. Some of them were crushed when the supersoldat landed on them, while the others were blown to pieces when the grenade in the supersolat's mouth blew up.

The ultimate patriot laughed maniacally as he continued whooping Nazi ass. All the other American soldiers had arrived, and some were so consumed with fury that they completely forgot their guns could be used to shoot at stuff. So they fought in angry melee combat. Why melee combat? Because nothing quite says FUCK YOU more than fucking the shit out of someone with your bare hands in melee combat. Yeah, that's how angry these Americans were, but y'know 'MURICA.

"That's it men! Keep at them! CHARGE!" Soldier yelled as he led the charge.

The first line of Nazi defenses simply vanished under American fury, and the second and third lines were shitting themselves as they fired everything had against the patriotic wave of blood and righteous fury coming at them. Soldier was running alongside a ranger who had an American flag banner when he got his head blown up by a Nazi 20mm automatic turret. The banner flew up in the air only to be caught by George Washington on his bald eagle. Washington dropped the banner back down where it was cuaght by Soldier, who placed it on his back.

The first president flew low to the ground, and chainsaw blades extended out of the eagle's wings, decapitating dozens of Nazis while Washington waved the flag proud and high. Abe Lincoln's flying locomotive landed and plowed straight through the walls and trenches the Nazis had set up while he ripped them to shred with rapid fire lasers colored in red, white, and blue. Thomas Jefferson was casually walking to the Nazi lines, sticking notes that said **FUCK YOU- Love** ' **Murica** on the heads of dead Nazis. Theodore Roosevelt, being the manly motherfucker he is, shot all of his Davy Crocketts off far behind Nazi lines, destroying entire barracks and supply depots in small mushroom clouds of red, white, and blue. When his rockets were spent, he bellowed a mighty call that summoned every single animal he has ever killed back to life to fight on his side. Everything from moose, lions, rhinos, and elephants came to assist the Americans in battle. The ghostly animals were in shades of red, white, and blue.

A Nazi mech reared its minigun at Soldier, but it quickly got disabled when Soldier fired two rockets at it, one at the minigun, and one at the main body, making a sizable hole in it. Soldier laughed maniacally as he climbed up to the hole, which was just big enough for a head to fir through, and reached inside to grab the head of the pilot inside. The pilot screamed in agony while Soldier separated his head from his body and out through the hole. He held the head high for his allies to see, and roared. Smiling, he threw the head at a Wehrmacht soldier with enough force to crack his ribcage and killed him instantly. Hordes of Nazis came in to face the ultimate American killing machine, and Soldier greeted them with the sight of a shotgun with its business end pointed right at them. Soldier cut them all down with all 6 shells, and finished the rest of them off with a M1A1 Thompson an American soldier dropped. The American wasn't killed, no, he was so pissed, that he dropped his gun and ran at the enemy with nothing but all three of the following items: his balls, his fists, and his love for America.

A huge Nazi cyborg dinosaur at a height of 60 feet was mowing down hordes of Americans with its laser autocannon and energy claws, and that was a big no no for Soldier. Grinning in anticipation for what he was going to do, Soldier rocket jumped upwards and loaded his trench gun as he flew over to the beast. He fired off two rockets at the creature's head for it to be stunned, making it relatively safe for Soldier to land on it with his shovel driven down its back. The creature thrashed around in agony, making Soldier lose his footing and fall off, only for him to stab the shovel into the side of the evil dinosaur so he could hang on to it. He whipped out the shotgun and blew a hole in the creature with 2 shells, before the creature whipped him off of its side with its tail and towards its head. Soldier screamed in pain when his leg was caught by the dinosaur's mouth, making him dangle around helplessly while the beast went right back to firing its lasers at his fellow Americans. Mustering all of his strength, Soldier roared and swung himself up to the creature's eye.

"Come here, Sally!" Soldier yelled before punching the beast in the eye. It roared in pain, letting Soldier's leg free from its mouth as the greatest soldier in the world beat the shit out of its eye. He punched it with such fury, that it got to the point where the eye was little more than a bloody pulp with no hope of seeing again. Then, in an act of 'FUCK YOU', Soldier ripped the eye out and replaced it with a belt full of grenades. He gladly pulled the string that held all of the pins in place as he let go and fell down to the ground. The creature roared at Soldier, but the sound of a roar was quickly replaced with the explosion of multiple grenades going off at once in its eyehole. Soldier laughed to himself, and turned around to see millions of Nazis waiting for the Americans.

Soldier grinned and reloaded his rocket launcher as the other Americans and the former presidents lined up at his side. A horizon full of freedom versus a Nazi covered continent called Europe. The presidents and Soldier gave each other a nod and a smile before finishing this fight.

I think you get it now, it was basically a total massacre.

Some time later when everything cooled down and the Americans started bringing more men and equipment in since the Nazis were all dead, Soldier climbed on top of a mountain of slain Nazis. The presidents had returned to American Heaven since their business was done here. He still had the flag Washington gave him on his back, so in honor of all the freedom seen today, he is going to plant this flag right on top of this mountain of dead Nazis.

"I claim this pile of dead Krauts for America!" Soldier yelled proudly when he raised the flag high to stab it into the corpse he was standing on. Suddenly, a mechanical arm stopped the pointed end of the flag from landing, and another mechanical arm grabbed Soldier by the leg and threw him off. Soldier got up, and saw the culprit crawl out from under the dead Nazis.

"No..." Soldier gasped. "KONRAD VON AMERICAN-KILLER!?" Soldier screamed in rage. The evil Waffen SS officer laughed evilly. He was responsible for the deaths of over 7 trillion Americans during the Battle of the Moon.

"Ha! Stupid American! I'm going to make you my bitch like I did to those other Americans on ze moon! HAHAHA!" The cartoonishly evil Nazi laughed evilly.

"I don't understand Nazi, von American-Killer! Now prepare to feel the democracy stored in my fists!" Soldier screamed when he charged at the cyborg Nazi with his bare hands.

"Come at me bro! I'm a motherfucking cyborg! RAAAAAAAGGGHHH!"

Both men roared as they ran at each other with the intent to do severe bodily harm to the other.

* * *

 **Bottom of Beacon Tower**

"...and when I defeated Konrad von American-Killer, I got him down on his knees as he gasped his last few breaths of air, then stabbed the flag in his chest, and polevaulted over him like a champion! Once I landed, I saluted the flag as it flew high and proud with von American-Killer's corpse keeping it standing still! Hahaha!" Soldier laughed to himself, not realizing that General Ironwood, Winter Schnee, or any of the other Atlas soldiers by them were laughing with him. The patriot had spent the last fifteen minutes telling the Atlas personnel this story after Ironwood came down from Ozpin's office when he was finished with the meeting.

"Soldier..." Ironwood sighed. "How do I put this..." Ironwood didn't want to start anything with Soldier. He knew he and Winter were more than capable of taking him in combat, but he'd rather not get into needless conflict. Especially since Soldier has proven himself to be one of the most violent of the nine mercenaries after pretty much doing nothing other than beat up several Atlas soldiers and students.

"That story was absolutely ridiculous." Winter said bluntly.

"Ridiculous!? Lady, I'll have you know-" Soldier went on to brag about all the medals he awarded to himself for bravery in combat while Winter began whispering to the General.

"General, who is this man?" The Schnee whispered.

"This is Soldier, Winter." The General replied. Currently, Soldier was talking about something having to do with punching through a Nazi spaceship hull. "As you can see, he is a... special... man."

"I presume he is with those nine new professors my sister has been writing to me about." Winter mused.

"Yes. He claims he is the greatest soldier to have ever existed."

"Humph! He looks nothing of the sort!"

"...and then I grabbed the SS officer by his pathetic, un-American skull, and bashed his brains out with with his own arms!" Soldier finished his long brag about his feats. "And _that,_ my dear woman, is why I'm the greatest soldier in existence!" He smiled.

"Right... Soldier." Winter scoffed.

"Why does your secretary behave so coldly, sir?" Soldier asked the general.

"Secretary!?" Winter yelled before Ironwood stopped her with a hand raised.

"Be careful what you say, Winter. This man gets into violence very easily." Ironwood warned her.

"Understood. Mr... Soldier..." Winter began.

"That is correct! I am the Soldier!" Soldier stood straight. "Now who might you be, Ms. secretary?" Winter twitched when he said that, but kept her composure.

"Specialist Winter Schnee of the Atlesian armed forces."

"Specialist? What, do you specialize in filing reports? Hahaha!" Soldier laughed. Winter's eyes narrowed on the laughing man.

"No..." She held her sabre up in front of her. "Does _this_ look like it could be used for filing reports, Mr. Soldier?" She smirked. Soldier stared at the weapon and took a full minute to put the pieces together.

"WHAT!?" He yelled when he realized what she was implying, and then turned to the general. "General, is she telling the truth!? Is this woman really meant for combat!? You know, where blood and guts fly everywhere and men scream for their-"

"Yes, yes, I understand Soldier. And yes, she is telling the truth. Specialist Winter here is a very elite fighter. One of the best in the Atlesian military as a matter of fact."

"But General! She is a woman!"

"Is there a problem?" Winter said annoyed.

"You bet there's a problem, sister! The army is for proud and brave men willing to die for their country and hold their comrades' organs in when they breathe their last breaths! It's a man's world! That means no woman allowed!"

"You do realize that these huntsmen academies train girls for combat too?" Ironwood asked Soldier.

"Pffft! Of course I do! But it is now in my understanding that these gals will not be joining the army!"

"The students who enroll in my academy in Atlas do." Ironwood stated.

"WHAT!? GENERAL, WHY!?" Soldier screamed.

"Because the combat capabilities of huntsmen make them potent fighters, meaning they would make for extremely useful assets to a military should both be combined. Which is exactly what I did."

"That's not what I meant! I meant why do you let girls into your army!?" Soldier screamed.

"Please stop screaming, Soldier. Besides, don't these young female warriors end up in combat no matter if they're from Atlas or from any of the other academies?" Ironwood's words made Soldier freeze. The old veteran legitimately looked like he went brain dead after hearing what Ironwood just said.

"ARGH! HEAD! HURT! PAAAAIIIINNNNNN!" Soldier screamed as he fell to the ground, tightly clutching his head in pain. "DAMN YOU LOGIC! ONE OF MY GREATEST ENEMIES! HRRRRNNNGGGG!" Soldier was foaming at the mouth and spazzing out on the floor, while Ironwood and Winter watched in awkward silence.

"Um, sir?" An Atlas soldier asked. "Should we help him?"

"No, leave him. It looks like he'll be like this for a while..." Ironwood sighed. He then gave the order for them all to leave.

"Wait... General..." Soldier said as if he were dying. "Please... kill me... arrrrggghhhhh..."

Winter looked back at Soldier once they left Beacon Tower.

"Well that man was certainly interesting..." She said.

"Yes... him and his friends are a special bunch..." Ironwood said. "Sometime I wonder if all the people from Earth are just like them..."

"Sir?" Winter asked with a confused look.

"A ragtag and rowdy bunch of tough fighters and, for lack of better words, maniacs."

"No, that's not what I meant sir. I meant to ask, 'Earth'? I've never heard of such a place."

"Your sister forgot to mention they're from another world?"

"Yes, she failed to mention that."

"Well it's true. They're from another world called Earth. They claim they don't know how they got to Remnant in the first place. Though the obvious answer it was by way of some kind of portal capable of inter-dimensional travel. I'm surprised you haven't heard about the portals."

"Interesting..." Winter trailed off.

"In any case, they're here to stay. That is until they find a way back to Earth. _If_ they can, that is. Now, I trust you'll carry on with transporting the new units of knights?"

"Yes, sir. Half of the knights have been successfully transported to Vale with no issues during their travel from Atlas. The other half is expected to arrive by tomorrow, all on schedule."

"Excellent. And you will return to Atlas afterwards, correct?"

"Correct, sir."

* * *

 **Another Fucking Abandoned Warehouse**

Seriously though, what the fuck is with Vale and unguarded abandoned warehouses? Anyway, Spy and Neo just popped into Roman's main base of operations.

"Ah, Neo! There you..." Roman trailed off when he turned saw Spy walk out of the shadows with Neo. Evidently, Cinder hadn't told him about this, though I guess it shouldn't be that surprising. That woman hardly tells him anything.

"Neo... why is he here?" Roman asked slowly. He eyed the Frenchman suspiciously.

"I'm..." Spy began. "You're newest ally." Spy smiled and held out his hand. "Courtesy of Cinder Fall. Bonjour."

"Cinder?" Roman gasped. "Ah... Guess that means she forced you into this too..."

"Not exactly. She did threaten me somewhat, but I joined with little hesitation."

"What!? Why!?"

"My so called 'friends'. I don't know if you have noticed it yet, but the nine of us don't exactly get along with each other. On top of spending the past couple of years living, fighting, dying, and fighting against them, it all has made for a very unpleasant experience. It was an easy choice, really. I could finally be rid of those morons on top of anything I desire. At least that is what she said."

Roman gave him a blank look. "Right." He then cleared his throat. "Well then, I suppose there's nothing I can do about that then. Looks like the three of us are partners now."

"Indeed." Spy said, and then he looked around the warehouse. It was largely empty save for some cargo containing who knows what being moved out by White Fang members, though it was obvious that there was so much more here in the days before Spy's arrival. Clearly, they were moving out of this place. Welp, looks like there's nothing of value to be taken here.

"Hmm... where is this 'Adam Taurus' I was told to meet?" Spy asked.

"Adam? Ah, you just missed him! I think he went out to capture some Grimm or something from what I heard."

"Grimm? For what?"

"Don't know." Roman shrugged. "It's probably for something important though. Something she, again, hasn't told me about. At least not yet."

"Oh..." Spy sighed. "So I came here for nothing?"

"Well... for what she sent you here for, then yes. But tell you what..." Roman looked at Neo and smiled. "Neo and I were planning on going on a fun little trip tonight. _But..._ since you're one of us now, and I guess I owe you for letting me go, wanna come along with us?" Roman and Neo smiled at Spy while Spy looked at them suspiciously. Then, Spy reached into his suit, making Roman and Neo tense up at the possibility of him going hostile on them. Their fears were put to rest when Spy pulled out the case containing the Cuban cigars, and a little juice box.

"Sure thing, friend." Spy lit cigars for Roman and himself, and he gave Neo the little juice box.

"Great! Neo? You know what to do." Neo grabbed all of their hands and they were gone just like that.

* * *

 **Somewhere in Vale**

 _And..._ They're back! They were now on top of some apartment building overlooking the streets of Vale. Currently, there was a Vytal Festival parade going on and most of the streets were blocked so that people could enjoy the parade.

"Ah... The Vytal Festival." Roman sighed. "It's always a festive time for the people of Remnant. People dancing around the streets without a care in the world. The perfect place for thieves like me...hehehe..." Roman chuckled to himself. They then climbed down the building and down into an alley where no one would spot them.

"Hmm... how am I going to walk around all those people without getting spotted?" Roman mused. That's when he noticed that some of the people were wearing decorative masks. Perfect!

"Neo? Mind going out there and getting us some masks?" He asked the little mute girl. Neo nodded and promptly went out to steal some masks. Not before disguising herself as a little girl though.

"That girl is quite swift on her feet isn't she?" Spy asked. Both men were peeking out from behind a dumpster so they wouldn't get spotted.

"Yep. That's my Neo for you." Roman said. He then looked around to make sure no one else was listening, and pulled Spy completely behind the dumpster.

"Hey, listen..." Roman began with a serious look on his face. "That night when you let me go, do you remember I tried to ask you something before you sent me out?"

"Yes. I do recall such a moment happening."

"Right...um..." Roman looked nervous. I mean like really nervous. He pulled at his collar and looked around to make sure no one was listening again.

"Is something wrong?" Spy asked with a brow raised.

"Well, I-I...uh..."

"Out with it man! Say what you want to say!" Spy said aloud.

"Shhhh! She might hear you!" Roman hushed Spy.

"Who? Cinder?" Spy questioned, wondering why he would be afraid Cinder was listening. He could be on to something here. Something that could fuck Cinder up good.

"Yes! You know what, it's nothing. Forget I-"

"No." Spy stopped him. "Judging by your behavior and actions, you were going to tell me something very important. Something that not even your superior could hear." Roman stared at Spy for a moment, before cooling down.

"I shouldn't be asking a total stranger this, I mean I still barely know a thing about you guys, but, but-" Roman took a deep breath. "Look, remember how I said I'm forced to work for her?"

"Oui. That means yes." Spy smiled internally. It was obvious now that Roman is looking to leave Cinder's little faction...

"Look... I don't know how well I can trust you, and I know you joined because you hate your coworkers and stuff, but..." Roman took another deep breath, and looked Spy straight in the eyes. "I don't know how much longer I can work for that bitch. I risk my life every time she sends me out for some scheme I don't even care about. So far, I've been pretty lucky, but it's just that one of these days... I'm afraid my luck will run out."

Spy nodded his head in understanding. _Perfect._

"Listen, she promised you that you didn't have to spend another year or something with your old coworkers, right?"

"Yes. Plus anything else I want. Money would be nice." _As well as a way back to Earth._ Spy thought to himself. Engineer probably got him covered with that part though.

"And I can do the same for you! If you can get that woman off of me, you're more than welcome to hang with me, _and_ have as much money as we could steal together." Roman said. "I never was into her scheming bullshit. I was just a gentlemen crook living outside of the law, until she comes in and forces me to probably die for her over whatever the Hell she wants to do."

"And she'll probably have us killed afterwards." Spy added. "Seems like she intends on using you, Neo, and I as disposable pawns. I've seen this happen before..." _Personally_ , _no less._

"Exactly! How do you think I felt when she sends me out on these suicidal tasks?" Roman said. "And... and..." He trailed off. He closed his eyes and breathed before looking back at Spy.

"She's got Neo on this too. Along with threats to end my life if I don't follow her, Neo's life is in her hands as well." Roman grabbed Soy by the arms. "Listen, that girl, Neo, she is my whole life. The only person I actually care about in this sorry world. Me and her are the best of partners, doing what we do best. Robbing and gambling for a living. I think you get where I'm going with this..."

"Sure." Spy said. He also looked around to make sure no one was listening. "I thank you for telling me this..."

"...why?" Roman said slowly. He was worried he made a really bad mistake telling Spy this. His grip tightened on his cane, just in case things took a violent turn.

"Calm yourself, Roman. Do not worry, we're both gentlemen aren't we? I'll gladly help you against Cinder."

"...what?" Roman said slowly. "...just like that?"

"Yes. I had no intention on actually helping her anyway." Spy smiled. "I have a feeling she has already told me more about what she intends than you know, and to sum up how I feel about it...hehehe..." Spy leaned in. "I want her to scream in pain." He said, losing all of his gentlemanly tone in favor of a downright menacing one.

"So you joined only so you can get in close, hmm?" Roman said. "Smart."

"Exactly. And about your offer, keep whatever money you steal. I only want _her..._ " Neo was coming back, and Spy hushed Roman down.

"We'll have to talk more about this later." He told Roman as Neo got up to them. Neo smiled at the men, and passed a mask to each of them. Spy denied the mask.

"No, no, you two go out and do whatever petty crimes you wish. A gentleman like me wouldn't stoop to such lows."

"You sure? We can have a little competition and see who snatches the most wallets." Roman suggested, but Spy shook his head. "Ah, well... Neo? Same deal?" The girl nodded her head, and then they were off to stealing wallets. Roman took off his hat and concealed his cane so no one could easily spot him even with his mask. Just in case, Spy shadowed them, easily winding in and out through the crowds of festive people. He soon decided to hang against a wall when it became apparent that those two really were just snatching wallets with no signs of instantly betraying him. It was nice watching the people celebrate, even if Spy's face didn't show it.

"Seems like this'll be much easier than I thought..." Spy said to himself. He watched some children dance around on a decorated truck slowly rolling down the street, throwing necklaces and flowers for all. The sight of the kids made Spy remember something...

* * *

 **1942, France**

The young Jacques Moreau quietly watched from a park bench while Nazis gathered all the townspeople in the town square. They weren't going to execute them, no, they're just taking a roll call of all the people who lived here. This was one of several measures to be taken to make sure the French Resistance had no presence in this town. Rebels like them like to infest towns like rats.

"Here!"

"Amoux Laurent!?"

"Here!"

"Blaise Fournier!?"

"Dead!"

"When?"

"Last night. Suicide." The commander checked him off the list.

"Byron Mathieu!?"

"He's also dead! Same reason." Another one checked dead. Seems like the stress of living under occupation was too much...

"Cadence Blanc!?"

"Here!"

And so on. The commander was nearly done with the list of people when some German trucks rolled by. German trucks full of French children.

"Au revoir, mama! Papa!" The kids yelled happily from the trucks as they rolled away. Some of the kids were crying, but the vast majority looked quite happy. Obviously, the Nazi men told them something very different than what would actually happen to them. The townsfolk screamed when they saw their youth get taken away, and tried to break through the Germans holding them back.

 _Children laughing... Parents screaming..._

"No! Where are you taking them!?" The town mayor yelled.

"We are taking them to be reeducated." The commander said.

"Reeducated?!"

"Correct. They will be thought how to be good German subjects in the of the Third Reich!" These words did not comfort the townsfolk at all. A few had managed to break through the soldiers, and picked up their guns to fight back against their oppressors. It did not end well. Those who dared to fight back were gunned down right away alongside whoever was caught in the crossfire. It was never fair to begin with...

In the distance, the children saw what happened, and were now screaming for their parents.

 _Children screaming... Parents dying..._

And the only thing Jacques did was watch...

"Grenadier Adalwolf Hoffmann!" Spy's sergeant barked for him. Spy quickly stood at attention. "Come, we have orders to clean up this mess."

"Ja herr unteroffizier! (Yes, sergeant!)" Grenadier Hoffman, otherwise known as Jacques Moreau, replied.

 _I will butcher you._ He promised to himself. This young resistance member will indeed deliver on his promises.

* * *

 _Ah... Those were awful days. One of countless atrocities I've witnessed, atrocities I do not intend on seeing again._

Spy snapped out of the days of his youth when he heard shouting. He looked around, and saw Roman being pursued by two detectives, and a monkey-tailed boy and a blue haired kid. He recognized them from Beacon and from watching their team match earlier. The street was soon blocked off by Atlesian knights and Soldiers on patrol, sandwiching Roman between the Atlas forces and the detectives behind them.

"Stop, fiend!" Sun yelled. "Junior detectives Wukong and Vasilias are here to stop you!" Both huntsmen had their weapons at the ready while the two detectives had their pistols trained on them.

"Hands up!" Detective Burns yelled.

"Yeah! What he said!" Detective Heyman yelled. Roman clenched his teeth in anger and looked around for any ways to get out. Spy ducked into an alley and disguised himself as a homeless person. He slumped himself against the brick wall of the alley, and continued watching the scene before him.

 _Merde. Seems like he's already of no use to me._ Spy thought to himself. He could try and help Roman, but he would risk getting some heat on him if it was discovered that he was working with a well known felon. The law closed in on Roman from all sides, but Roman decided he didn't want to get taken in without a fight. He attempted to fight back with his cane, but he was quickly overwhelmed by the two boys of SSSN and the law rushing him.

"Alright! We got him!" Sun yelled with a smug grin on his face as the detectives cuffed Roman. "High five!" He and Neptune high-fived each other.

"Ha! Looks like Torchwick's flame went out! Hahaha!" Neptune laughed to himself. "High Five again!" The blue haired kid held his hand up only for no one to slap it. "What? Get it? Because a wick is like that thing on a candle that burns, and we just caught- okay I'll stop talking now..." He went sadly.

The Atlas Soldiers took Roman away while the detective and the two boys of Team SSSN bitched over how Roman should've been their catch, _but noooo_ fucking Atlas gets all the credit.

Spy heard footsteps approach down the alley he was in, and he saw the still disguised Neo creep against the wall to look at what happened to Roman. Safe to say, the girl was shocked and saddened by Roman's arrest. Spy contemplated breaking his cover to comfort her and see if he can swing her on his side too, but it was dashed when Neo decided against going in to save Roman. She clenched her fists in anger, and tears welled up in her eyes. With much hesitance, she turned around and finally noticed the hobo sitting near her. The hobo gave her a nod, but she sneered at him and walked down the alley, to teleport away unseen.

"Humph, she forgot about me." Spy said to himself when he turned back to his regular self.

"There's still a chance for that Neo girl to join me..." He said to himself as he began walking. He casually walked past Sun and Neptune while they were trying to get the detectives to calm down, when he realized something. He needed a ride back to Beacon.

"Damn military! Always taking the credit from the police whenever we actually do something important!" Detective Burns yelled out loud. "You hear me, you Atlas fucks!?" He screamed at the Atlas Soldiers as they took Roman away. They ignored him.

"Don't you fucking ignore me!" Burns ran after them, but his partner, Sun, and Neptune held him back.

"Geez! Calm down!" Sun tried to calm the man down.

"Yeah! And language! We got kids here." Neptune looked at a bunch of kids on the sidelines.

"Kid's right, Burns. It's best we leave it." Detective Heyman said to his partner. Burns broke free from their grasp, but he seemed to calm down.

"Fine! Let's go, Heyman. Got to report this shi-" Neptune pointed a thumb towards the kids. "...this to the commissioner." With that, the detectives walked away, leaving the junior detectives behind.

"Well that sucks." Sun said. "Guess we got to head back to Beacon now."

"That, we do." Spy said as he walked up to them. "Good evening, boys." He greeted them.

"Hey, you're that Spy guy!" Neptune exclaimed.

"Yeah, you're one of those crazy new professors." Sun said, then he smiled. "Out enjoying the Vytal Festival, sir?"

"Precisely. Vale is quite a nice place and this is quite a fantastic festival, but I feel it's time for me to get some rest now. It's awfully late now."

"Want to come along with us?" Neptune asked. "We got a bullhead ready to pick us up."

"Yes. Thank you."

* * *

 **Notes have been moved back to the bottom on request by Goldenspartan86.**

 **Soldier had an awesome D-day. In his mind at least...**

 **Spy appears to have had a pretty...intense... experience with the Nazis. You will see more to this made up backstory to my telling of the Spy.**

 **You may notice things are getting more serious. I'm not sure if I made it clear yet, but you know we're in Volume 3, right? Volume 3 is where shit got real. Shit got so real, that all our lovable characters couldn't handle it as it happened. Oh well, let's see how it turns out with the TF2 mercenaries thrown in the mix.**

 **This is just something I felt like I should point out. You guys realize that for some reason the word 'balls' refers to how brave someone is right? I have to make sure you guys understand this now. The word 'heart' can also be used to describe bravery, but it's generally funnier if 'balls' is used instead.**

 **You may think the name Adalwolf is some made up name, but I actually looked up German first names and that is indeed a German name. I suppose it is very rare though as I've never heard of it before.**

 **Notes over. Now fuck off. Just kidding, luv u, plz don't leave. I need friends.**

* * *

 **Speaking of friends, I've been gone a while because I was being a doubtful bitch to myself again, and also I was playing TF2 with ATTF, Goldenspartan86, and Cadaver1041. It was fun as shit, except for that time Cadaver fucked with me and tried to keep a long ass game of control points going after it lasted like 45 minutes. Fuck that, but back to what I was saying about friends, what say you guys we have a game of TF2 together, hmm? I don't see why the fuck not.**

 **My steam name is Sorun_c. And I'll say this now, my first name is Sorun. Pronounced like the two English words SO and RUN as if said separately, but together (?). All done and good? Okay, so I'm thinking maybe a game this Friday, 11/18/16, or tomorrow so we could enjoy the Halloween update while it lasts. Got to add me on Steam first to join. Figured it's a nice way for the author to connect with the viewers. You even get to judge if I sound like STAR_ because I talk a lot when I play TF2. Damn, I just realized how big that fucking party is going to be if you actually respond back to this.**

 **Also, feel free to post a review as long as you put a name for yourself. Tell me whatever you feel about the story as it comes along. Though the lack of anything tells me that this first time story is pretty popular to you guys. Usually, first fics tend to suck. I fear this chapter sucked as well since I'm doubting myself again.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Battle9921: These fingers are fast as fuck, and I have a lot of free time.**

 **ATTF: EXPRESS!**

 **Mr. G37: ...**

 **Shaneman17: Fucked to death then plunged to depth...**

 **Batmd: Things got real.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: This Soldier and Ironwood scene may be underwhelming, but there is another encounter in the future.**

 **MCZ: YOU DON'T FUCKING KNOW THAT! SAXTON HALE CAN DO WHATEVER THE FUCK HE WANTS! WHY!? BECAUSE SAXTON HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Nah, don't worry. Saxton Hale is still relevant.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: That would be funny.**

 **Saltier: Conga, conga, conga!**

 **Cheng Han: Oh yes! Glad you mentioned it, this will 100% keep going with Volume 4.**

 **redrojo17: 100%**

 **A fan: Awesome. By the way, A fan of what?**

 **Guest: No, that's not true. Sniper has no official first name as only his last name is official. You probably seen that in another fanfic on this website and took it as canon. My names for them aren't official either, it's just for story purposes.**

 **TheExpl0DiNgaPplE: FUCK! Why's your name so hard to spell!? I take time to spell these names properly! Nah jk, but anyway...ehhhhhhhhhhh... sorry about that. There are so many characters to manage that sometimes you can't get to them all. That and we only properly know two of Team SSSN, Neptune and Sun.**

 **Sasha: Thanks for the suggestion, but you're horribly wrong about Gray's age. Gray is a single 150 year old man. All three Mann brothers were born together in the year 1822, and it turns out that the current year of TF2 is 1972 (at least for the comics). Personally, I don't think Olivia is a cyborg, but I do agree that she must have been adopted only so Gray can control Mann Co.**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: Hmm... the robots will probably not come to Remnant. Shit's been done and good by ATTF, and maybe in Goldenspartan86's story in the future.**

 **Cadaver1041: I'm sorry. I apologize for taking the review the wrong way in- wait a minute, I can just tell you this through Skype! I'm dumb...**

 **An Peepul: *Looks at Notes that happen before the chapter starts in Chapter 21* ... *looks at you* ... *Looks back at the notes*... fuck. My notes don't work. Vichy is not a person, it is a place. A real place, no less. It's where the capital of unoccupied France was after France got rekt by the Nazis.**

 **A-Non-Knee-Moose: LOL. That name is fantastic. Anonymous but stretched out to sound like four words! Well, yes. I knew Heavy was actually pretty smart. I read the comics and wiki page after all, but you have to understand one thing about the TF2 community VS. Canon. Corruption. Corruption from those funny as fuck Garry's Mod and Source Film Maker animations which are usually so silly and over the top that no one can resist how funny it is! There's your explanation for why Heavy did that. Corruption from the Gmod animating fanbase.**

 **Pissin pootis: I'll see if I can add it in.**

 **DatReedrB0I: I know it's a weird, but the comics have them in such situations. I suppose you're more familiar with silly fan created content and how funny stupid the game is. That's one of the best kinds of game too. A funny stupid game. A game that is stupid in terms of concept, lore, and shit, but also funny because of it. On top of being a really gun Free to play Multiplayer shooter, TF2 is one of the best of its type. And... ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Funny content is what I'm good at!**


	23. Still Escalating

**Mercs' House**

Soldier was down in the living room, rocking back and forth in fetal position like a big American baby. It was a very shameful display for such a patriot and proud soldier such as himself, especially since he had one of his thumbs in his mouth, sucking it. The living room was completely dark, save for the little candle Soldier had by his American Bible. I don't mean Bible like, the Holy Bible, I mean a Bible about the United States and the world written entirely by Soldier.

"...I-it makes no sense." Soldier muttered out as he flipped through the pages of the crudely made book and read the writing within (which was done entirely in red, white, and blue crayon colors, pictures not included).

"There were no girls at the Battle of New Orleans..." Soldier flicked through a 'chapter' showing General Andrew Jackson rip British Soldiers in half with his bare hands.

"There were no girls at Iwo Jima..." A chapter about how five American Marines bravely killed thousands of Japanese soldiers by themselves to raise the American flag on a hill of corpses.

"There were no girls at San Juan Hill..." A chapter about how Roosevelt's Rough Riders single-handedly captured Cuba by scaring the Spanish away with how manly they were. Soldier flicked through more chapters before throwing the book at a wall in anger.

"It makes no sense!" He shouted out loud, rolling in place again.

"Hey, Soldier!" Scout called for his fellow American when he came downstairs. "Keep it down, will ya? Some of us are trying to sleep here!" Soldier was currently babbling gibberish out.

"What's the matter, you freakin' stupid?" Scout taunted. There was no reply other than more babbling. "Geez... come on Soldier. Keep it together pal." Scout tried to calm him down, mostly so he can get back to sleep. Soldier still babbled.

"Crap..." Scout rubbed his head, thinking of some way to shut Soldier up. That's when he got an idea. "Ah! Hey Soldier, want some milk or something, pally?" Soldier replied with that noise babies make that sounds something like a moan in between sobs. Basically, a soft 'waaaagh...'

"I'll take that as a yes..." Scout muttered out as he pulled out his Mad Milk, and gave it to Soldier. "There you go, pal! Now drink-" Soldier spilled the milk all over himself, intentionally.

"Thanks son. I needed that beer shower..." Soldier uttered out.

" _Yeah_... that ain't beer, but that works too..." Scout grinned with his bat ready.

"Oh... just leave me already. I-" *BAT SMACK*

Soldier was instantly knocked out thanks to the effects of the Mad Milk by one swing of a bat to his helmeted head.

* * *

"John...Oh John..." A male voice called out for him. Soldier's vision was completely black, and he struggled to see who the source of the voice is.

"Who are you!? Are you Scout!? Because if you are, I'm going to accidentally break your arms again! This time on purpose!"

"Open your eyes and see, my son." After a moment, Soldier's vision was completely restored to him, and he saw who the voice was.

"Holy mother of freedom... UNCLE SAM!?" Soldier shouted in total shock. He couldn't believe it. It was the American god of war himself!

'Ohohoh! Calm yourself, son! I can hear you just fine without the shouting!" Uncle Sam chuckled. Soldier looked around him and saw he was in paradise.

"I-is t-this..."

"That's right my son, this is American Heaven!" Uncle Sam proudly proclaimed at the huge sprawling city in the heavens.

Buildings were built upon giant floating clouds and banners that proudly showed the American colors were hung everywhere. Flights of World War II era fighters were flying around with red, white, and blue smoke trails coming out of them, tanks were rolling down the highways like it was no big deal, people were singing American songs about how great the country was everywhere, there was a McDonald's at every corner, and their was even a Heaven version of Washington D.C. at the very center of this mega city. Basically, this is Columbia from Bioshock Infinite. Yeah, pretty much Columbia.

Soldier smiled a big smile, and would have ran off to join his fellow Americans if Uncle Sam hadn't grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar.

"Whoa! Slow down there, champ! American Heaven is only for those good Americans who died. And you, my boy, are as alive as could be, but don't fret, John, I got someone I want to show ya. Come along now."

Soldier followed uncle Sam down Presidential Avenue where every single U.S. President who has died reside.

"Good day." George Washington tipped his hat to Soldier whilst riding on his pearl white stallion pegasus.

"Afternoon!" Theodore Roosevelt greeted with his distant cousin, Franklin Roosevelt, sitting at a table with him.

"Keep on preserving the freedom of the people, John!" Abe Lincoln yelled out.

Lincoln was at the presidential shooting range where the targets consist entirely of living Nazis, Communists, and aliens (FUCKING ALIENS). Thomas Jefferson was at his little coffee table, writing a treatise on why the United States should invest in more machine guns and explosives than they already have. Soldier marveled at the level of American contained in this place, then Uncle Sam snapped him out of it and led him in a building. There was a female figure standing in the middle of the fine marvel of American engineering. She was in a huge fountain/palace that looked a lot like a Greek temple, and the woman herself appeared to have dressed herself like a Greek as well and she had angel wings.

"Go on, son. She's waitin' for you." Uncle Sam pushed Soldier in and closed the massive doors of the temple.

"She?" Soldier said to himself. Not wanting to go against the word of the American god of war, Soldier walked toward the woman.

"Afternoon." Soldier greeted her.

"Oh~ If it isn't my brave boy, John Doe himself!" The woman dressed in Greek clothing giggled.

"Hello..." Soldier said shyly. There was something just so familiar about her.

"Do you know who I am, John?" The angel woman asked.

"I... think so..." He hesitated.

"Oh don't be shy... It's just me, Columbia! The American Goddess of Freedom and Liberty!" Soldier's jaw dropped.

"I knew it!" Soldier dropped on his knees and bowed down to her. "Sweet mother of freedom, I'm sorry for not recognizing you!"

"Oh, it's not such a big deal hon!" Columbia giggled before raising both hands to her sides. Suddenly, waterfalls began pouring down from the ceiling on either side of them.

"Look here, hon, I want to show you something."

Images began to form on the waterfalls and they all showed American women in battle alongside American men. Soldier was at a loss for words at what was being shown to him now. Everything from women picking up muskets to fight British redcoats to American women sneaking over to Nazi Europe to fight the Germans or even to the Pacific to fight the Japanese! The biggest and most meaningful image to him was one of a single girl holding a flag while using a colt pistol to defend a hill by herself among all the fallen American men while Nazis and Communists closed in on her. Waving the flag high with one hand in the sunlight while the Nazi and Communist horde spread the darkness across the land. Freedom versus Tyranny.

"My God..." Soldier gasped as he fell back on his rear. "I understand now... women can fight after all..." Columbia lowered herself down to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Anyone can fight, as long as they've the will to fight for freedom and for what's right." Columbia comforted him.

"Even babies?"

"Um... there are exceptions... but I'm sure you understand..."

* * *

" _Columbia..."_ Soldier snored. " _Uncle Sam..._ "

Scout smiled to himself on a job well done.

"Boom! Good night, sucka!" Scout laughed.

He then turned around with his bat across his shoulders, and proceeded to walk back upstairs. Then, Spy got back home, and Scout turned to face him.

"Back so soon?" Scout said a little shocked.

"Oui." The Frenchman said, walking past Scout as he made his way up to his room.

"I found nothing." The last words he said before shutting himself in his room, leaving Scout alone in the second floor hallway.

"Oh... okay." The Boston kid then went in his own room.

Meanwhile, Engineer was raging in to garage at how he couldn't get his teleporter to do interdimensional travel. He's been at it for a couple weeks or so now, and for all of his PhD s, he just couldn't do it. The Texan genius gave his teleporter a hard kick, and stomped off to the kitchen to get himself a sarsaparilla.

"Darn thing... how in the Hell did Mr. Hale get Sniper's van here in the first place?" He said to himself. "Come to think of it, when did Saxton Hale leave this world in the first place?" He wondered. Ah, he'll have to ask his friends about this later. After all, he was too upset about his teleporter at the moment to do anything. Engie went in the living room and sat down on the couch to enjoy his drink, before going back in the garage to rage about his contraption again. It didn't take him long at all to drink down the soft drink, though he was a little grumpy how this supposed 'root beer' was nothing like the stuff he drank in his youth.

He grumpily got up and left the empty drink down on the coffee table, then he gave a long sigh as he went back to the garage. Then he tripped on something.

"Gah! What in tarnation?" Engineer gasped when he saw he tripped over Soldier. Growling, he tried to wake Soldier up by slapping him across the face. "Wake up, yankee boy!" He yelled. "Get up! You gone and made me trip all over you!" Soldier didn't even stir, and Engie was going to straight up punch him in the face before he settled on just leaving him here.

Before he did leave for the garage, he saw a white crystal on the floor in the dining room, which still wasn't cleaned up like he asked Demo- Actually, on second inspection, Demo was at the dinner table. He was passed out with a broom in one hand and a bottle of DeGroot rum in the other. Sighing at Demo's drunken incompetence at everyday tasks, Engie walked over and grabbed the crystal. It appeared to be a dust crystal, meaning it might have been dropped by one of the girls when they were here earlier. Welp, might as well keep it for study or give it back to them tomorrow, so he took it with him in the garage.

Not really wanting to keep working with his teleporter at the moment, he set up a rancho relaxo and attempted to get some sleep in since the teleporter pissed him off that much. He plopped down on the relaxo with a loud thud, and yelped in pain when he landed on top of the dust crystal in his back pocket. Growling, he tossed it aside, making it land next to the teleporter he was working on.

...

"Engineer, Heavy need- huh!?" Heavy yelled when he went to ask Engineer for some spare crews for his minigun. Engineer was laughing like a madman with his arms up at his sides and everything. There was a big glowing red portal above the teleporter Engie was working on, but it was far more stable than the one that sucked all the mercs to this place to begin with. Heavy walked up to the manically laughing Texan's side, and looked back and forth at the portal and him.

"Engineer?" Heavy asked, worrying for the unhealthy amount of laughing the Texan was doing right now. The Texan was still laughing like he was the Joker when he slowly twisted his head to look at his Russian friend.

"It- it- it w-was just d-dust!" Engineer laughed. His laughs then devolved into a cry, and he collapsed on the ground. "Oh... why didn't I think of usin' dust before!?" He bawled. "All these PhDs and I didn't stop to think they had dust that could be used for teleportation!" The other mercs had arrived to see what was up, Soldier and Demo being carried of course.

"Stop crying like baby, Dell." Heavy said. "You make teleporter work! You are very big credit to team now!"

"I guess so..." Engie said as he got up to his feet. "Problem is I ain't got the slightest clue if this actually would take us back home."

"Hmm..." Heavy hummed with a hand on his chin. "Only one way to see..." He pulled out his shotgun, and smiled at his Texan friend.

"You read my mind." Engie chuckled when he pumped his own shotgun. Both men raised their shotguns as they never feared anything, and they cautiously entered the portal. The other mercs followed suit.

* * *

 **Next Day, Amity Coliseum**

It was the second day of the tournament, meaning it was now the day of the doubles rounds. Team RWBY and Team JNPR sat alongside Velvet and Fox of Team CFVY as they watched Coco and Yatsuhashi get beaten by Mercury and Emerald. The combatants cleared off the stage, and the stage itself reset itself to its regular state. Suddenly, a portal opened up in the center of the coliseum, and the crowd gasped in shock as the nine mercenaries and several dead Combine soldiers plopped onto the stage alongside a certain crowbar wielding physicist in an HEV suit. A fat figure on a throne came out of the portal, and vaporized the bodies of the dead Combine soldiers and brought Gordon Freeman to his side.

"Stop travelling to other worlds, please." Gaben asked the mercs. "Only between here, and Earth. Got it?"

"Uh...okay?" Spy said in confusion.

"Good. Now to erase everyone's memories and to send you a little back in time, for I am Gabe Newell." A bright flash of light covered everything, and the mercs were now sitting with the Team RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY as Coco and Yatsuhashi were about to face Mercury and Emerald.

"What!? When did we get here!?" Spy yelled out loud. The mercs were extremely confused, first they entered the portal and beat the snot out of some inter-dimensional empire or some shit called the 'Combine', met the same fat guy on a throne made of video games they saw the first time they came here, and were now sitting next to Team RWBY.

"Woah, chill guys!" Yang said. "You came here with us, remember?" Apparently Gaben didn't erase the mercs' memories...

"No. I don't remember that at all." Spy was going to say more, but he was then hushed by the teens when the fight was beginning.

"Oh well. Might as well enjoy it since we're here gentlemen." Spy said as he got settled in his seat. After all, who wants to miss out on this fight?

"Kick his ass!" Scout shouted when he saw Mercury was down on the stage. That did not happen at all. Coco and Yatsuhashi got utterly curb stomped by Emerald and Mercury, and the mercs were jeering loudly about it.

"Guys, keep it down! You're making a scene!" Ruby tried to calm them down when the people around them for giving them mean looks for being so rowdy.

"Don't bother, Ruby." Spy said. "They're always like this..."

"What's the matter with you!?" Heavy yelled angrily when he saw Coco failing to use her purse minigun to cut down Emerald and Mercury. "Does little girl need Heavy to teach her how to use giant gun?"

"What the Hell are you doin'?" Scout angrily yelled when he saw Mercury utterly lay out Yatushashi. "I thought you kids were supposed to be fighters! Not pushovers!" His words were not changing the outcome of the fight at all. "Come on, this guy's a useless jackass! I can easily take this bastard!"

"Beat 'em silly!" Demo yelled.

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered, hoping it would help her friends win.

" _Chop their heads off!_ " Eyelander yelled.

"Yea-wait, what?"

" _Kick their butts!"_ Eyelander replied to Ruby.

"Oh! Sorry, I thought you said something horrible!" The caped girl smiled.

"Why is this sword talking?" Jaune whispered to Pyyrha as everyone who wasn't Team RWBY and the mercs watched Eyelander bounce up and down in place.

They got no answer since everyone was pretty bummed that Coco and Yatsuhashi lost, especially since they were beaten without so much as landing at least a few hits on their opponents.

"Ah, what a shame..." Spy simply said while his team was all grumpy. He felt a finer tap his shoulder, and he looked back to see Cinder Fall.

"What are you doing here?" Spy calmly asked her.

"Um... can we talk about this in a more private place?" Cinder said warily. She was off about something, but Spy quickly realized it was because Pyro was sitting in the seat next to her this whole time, staring at her as usual.

"Of course. Gentlemen, do whatever you please. Just try not to get into trouble." He got up and walked off with Cinder, making sure Pyro stayed in its seat.

"Bye Cinder, bye Spy!" Ruby waved after them. This interested him. Seemed like no one is aware that Cinder intends on destroying this place, otherwise, why would people call her by her name?

They entered a maintenance tunnel, where they began their discussion.

"I thank you, Jacques. I wasn't sure if I could stand another second of your suited friend staring at me." Cinder sighed.

"He doesn't normally do that. I suppose that means... Pyro's in love?" Spy said.

"I wish it wasn't so, but that...that... _freak!_ Put its hand on my own as if we were in a relationship." Cinder shuddered. "I'd rather die than even consider living with that _thing_ for a single day."

"Yes... now, what do you want?"

"I know what happened last night." She said. Spy kept a legitimate brave face. "And I want you to know that I'm not angry at you in the slightest. If anything, this actually helps our cause." She smiled at him, and got up against his chest. "Don't worry about Adam. He disobeyed me, yet his actions last night still serve our cause well. Besides, I feel like he would have killed you anyway..." The woman then looked up at Spy's eyes.

"I wonder what you look like under that mask of yours..." She purred. "You seem to be quite a hansom man. Do you mind if I-" She reached to take his balaclava off, but was met with a butterfly knife to her throat and the Ambassador to her chin.

"Remove my mask and you die." He said very seriously. The smile on Cinder's face did not go away. In fact, it got bigger, and she took her hands away from his mask.

"My... how brave! I've never seen a man as secretive as you are. It seems to me that you need a woman to share your secrets with."

"The only thing I need, is for you to tell me why you took me into this tunnel." Spy said.

"Straight to the point... I see... Well, it's simple. I have a task for you."

"A task?"

"Yes. Two, to be precise. First, I want you to find out how your 'Engineer' and your 'Medic'-"

"Not an option." Spy interrupted her, making her face sour, and she also let go of him.

"And why not?"

"Because I tried already, and every single time has ended in my death." He semi-lied. "Besides, I doubt you would figure out how to build their devices anyway."

"Humph...fine. It doesn't matter that much anyway. In that case, I only have one task for you then."

"Name it."

"There's a woman, a Faunas, who risks unraveling our whole plan. She's a former member of the White Fang, and it seemed like the deaths of all other deserters has thought her nothing. She intends on leaving for Menagerie tonight by sea. You can find her in the slums _._ "

"And you want me to kill her?" Spy asked.

"Precisely. Think of it as a test of your loyalty." She got up to the door that led into the main tunnels for people going into the stands. "Oh, and before I go..." In a blur, she grabbed Spy the throat and slammed him against the wall. Spy's face showed no signs of shock as he stared right back at the woman's eyes as fire burned from them.

"I do not appreciate my followers disrespecting me like your little threat earlier..." Spy felt his neck warm to very hot levels, but his face showed no signs of fear at all as he returned a cold glare at Cinder's fiery one. "I'm aware that you have no aura... It doesn't matter how skilled you are. A person like me can easily break you... Only, if you force me too. Do you understand?"

Spy said nothing, and for an tense and agonizingly long few seconds, the two glared at each other. One showed no signs of fear against the one who was clearly in power here.

"Get your hands off me, and we'll call it a deal." Spy finally said, making Cinder let go of him with a smile.

"Excellent. I truly hope I never have to do that again. It would be a shame if a man-"

"-as hansom as myself was convicted of murdering a woman such as yourself? Truly, it would be quite a shame." Spy finished for her. She growled at him, but then went back to her normal poker face.

"Just make sure I never have to do that again." She said to him before she left.

"Humph. You can try..." Spy muttered before leaving the room himself. He went out the door, and saw that crowds of people were now exiting and leaving the stands as they waited for the next match to begin. Apparently, he had been in there longer than he had thought, since it seemed like another doubles round had just been completed. He saw Ruby talking with an orange haired girl while a dark skinned girl in a blue beret stood nearby.

"Hello Ruby." Spy greeted Ruby as he went to meet back up with his team.

"Hi Spy!" The caped girl greeted back.

"Salutations, Mr. Spy!" The orange haired girl waved with a smile. Spy stopped walking right next to them when the girl spoke. She was very...robotic.

"Hello, Ms?"

"Penny Polendina of Atlas. It's a pleasure to meet men from another world!"

"Hmm, I suppose everyone knows we're from another world now..." Spy said.

"Not necessarily, people have speculate such, but Ruby has told me just now of your origins. It's so interesting to know other worlds exist!"

"Indeed." Spy replied.

"It has been exactly one minute." The girl in the blue beret said as she walked up to them. "Let's go Penny."

"Oh, okay Ciel! Bye Ruby, bye Mr. Spy!" The robotic girl said as she was taken away by her friend.

"Bye!" Ruby waved after them while Spy stood there.

"Ruby, why are you friends with a robot?" Spy asked her, making Ruby jump up in shock.

"What!? How'd-" Spy put a hand on her mouth.

"Shh... Master spy, remember?" He smiled, removing his hand from Ruby's mouth.

"Oh...right. You can tell who people really are and stuff..."

"Precisely. Now, let's get back to our friends. I think the next match is happening soon."

"You bet! Yang and Weiss are going to be fighting some students from Atlas! It's going to be so cool! They're going to kick so much butt!" Ruby blabbered out.

"Hehe, well we'll never see them do so if we don't get to our seats." Spy said. They then went to their seats.

When they got there, all the mercs and huntsmen in training were already settled in with popcorn and stuff, but there was also something new there. The enhanced teleporter Engineer totally made by himself was now in the middle of all of them, and Engineer himself came out with boxes full of root beer for everyone.

"Drink up boys and gals! This here is real sarsaparilla straight from my family ranch! Haha!"

"Thanks Engie!" Nora cheered since she got such a nice and sweet drink.

"Hey Dell, mind if I went to my parent's place and get some of my family moonshine?" Sniper asked.

"Do as you wish, Rick! We got ourselves a way two way teleporter now!"

"Thanks mate!" Sniper thanked him as he disappeared.

"Oh, cool!" You guys have a way back home now!" Ruby cheered.

"You can say that again, little Ms. Rose!" Engie laughed.

"Did you really have to bring it here of all places?" Blake said in an annoyed tone. The whirling noise of the teleporter hurt her cat ears.

"Hey! Unless you want me teleport you to a dog shelter, and I assure you they got plenty of those darn things on Earth, I suggest you cheer up and smile missy!" Engineer laughed, but Blake shivered in fear while everyone laughed at her. They all quieted down when Professor Port announced that the match between Yang and Weiss vs Neon Katt and Flynt Coal was about to begin.

* * *

 **And there we go! Hot damn we're getting places slowly.**

 **I would like to thank all of you who managed to participate in game night and also those of you who added me on Steam. It was really fun, we played everything from regular TF2, Randomizer X 10, wave 666, and the best (or the worst) of them all... Vs. SAXTON HALE! Now that that's all said and done, I want to say that next time we play, contact me so I know to add you into the server. I have so many friends in my friends list (around 110 now) that I don't know who's from Fanfiction and who's not. Seriously though, like 6 out of the 16 or so people who added me played, but that's fine. I do hope everyone get's in on the action, but my only fear is that the server will become full and people would get annoyed with me yelling. I yell a lot when I play, and surprisingly no one said I sounded like STAR_.**

 **I will not respond to the reviews posted when I explicitly said to not put a review on the announcement. There's not much to really say to them anyway.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **ATTF: Responded to you already in a PM.**

 **buzzsaw935: Ayyyyyyyyyyy.**

 **Mr. G37: Rest in peace...**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: That's good news.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: Thy lady is unprepared... I think?**

 **MCZ: MERICA BITCH! And that's a shame.**

 **MrtheratedG: Hmm... we'll work something out about time zones. After all, I got ATTF, who's from Malaysia, and a guy from Australia in on it.**

 **SilentAngel33: Possibly...? I need to think about it.**

 **Battle9921: I wish World War 2 was like this...**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: I'll think about it. And thanks for liking my story!**

 **Shaneman17: Boy, my great-great grandfather was a motherfucking tank that fought at D-day, and he would tell me awful stories about how he crawled through seas of dead Americans, until Uncle Sam saved the motherfucking day! MURICA BTCH!**

 **A fan: Thanks for telling me!**

 **An Peepul: That's fine.**

 **The Mad Marxist: I responded to you by Steam already, and by the way 'Weapon Pervert' is funnier than 'Gun Nut'. There's a quote from a well known comedian who I can't remember the name of, but he said something like this, "There can be no humor if someone doesn't get offended." I probably fucked that quote up... you can look it up yourself and see what it really says, but it basically said that.**

 **Goldenspartan86: *Laughs***

 **Kung Po Chicken: Thanks m8!**


	24. Good Men

**Amity Coliseum**

"What in God's name are you ladies doing!?" Soldier yelled. The Team RWBY vs. Team FNKI doubles round had just begun, and once again the mercs were jeering at how poorly Yang and Weiss were doing at the beginning moments of their fight. He seethed with rage upon seeing Yang attempt to hit Neon Katt directly with explosive shots from her gauntlets.

"Please calm down, Mr. Soldier!" Velvet tried to calm the war veteran down. He was out of his seat and was banging his fists against the energy shield that protected the crowd from stray projectiles.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN!? How am I supposed to calm down when she's doing it all wrong!? You're supposed to shoot right in front of them when they're moving! Just ask Scout, I killed him hundreds of time like that!"

"Which really frickin' hurt by the way!" Scout protested. Soldier knocked a tooth out of his mouth with his shovel.

"Shut your mouth! Point is, you're supposed to do it...LIKE THIS!" Soldier attempted to bring his rocket launcher up and blast Neon Katt, but he was immediately tackled by Heavy, Medic, and Demo who proceeded to kick and beat him until Medic injected him with a tranquilizer. The match continued just like that, Yang and Weiss eventually evened out the score, but not without the mercs still getting angry at their poor performance at the start of the match.

Still, they ended up cheering for them when they managed to turn the match around more in their favor. That was until Weiss ended up getting eliminated without even taking out Flynt Coal, very much to the mercs' displeasure.

"Boo! Maybe you shoulda payed more attention in class!" Demo yelled at the down Weiss.

"Learn how to fight, snowflake!" Scout yelled.

"How embarassing!" Medic yelled.

"A valiant display." Spy said.

"Mphmmmmmm!" Pyro muffled.

"Come now, professors, at least they're trying their hardest." Pyyrha said politely.

"Hardest is not good enough." Heavy replied. "Paying attention to us will make them better."

"Honestly, your class wasn't very helpful at all..." Jaune said shyly. His friends looked at him as if they were looking at a deadman. When Jaune said that, all nine mercs instantly stopped jeering, froze in place, and slowly turned their faces at him to give him nine very cold glares. Then they laughed.

"No wonder why you suck, laddy!" Demo laughed.

"H-hey!" Jaune tried to defend himself.

"Oh-ho! Don't worry boyo! I'll teach ya personally like yer little orange-haired friend! Come 'ere you!" Demo got Jaune in a neck lock and started messing up his hair, making his friends laugh at him since the mercs weren't going to tear him to pieces.

"I take offense to that..." Soldier shakily raised a finger in protest. He was severely beaten and was sat down in his seat, but Heavy smashed him against the force field with one hand when he said that.

"At least Team has strong girl left." Heavy looked at his little blonde beast. Yang was one of his favorite students since she was an absolute beast like him. "Crush them yellow dragon!" Heavy yelled. Soon after, all nine mercenaries and the huntsmen in training around them were very pleased to see Yang defeat Team FNKI by herself. The entire crowd gave her a well deserved round of cheers and applause, and the dragon herself stood proudly as she helped the soot covered Weiss stand for the cameras.

* * *

After Yang and Weiss got themselves cleaned up, they met up with the rest of RWBY and Heavy.

"You guys were awesome!" Ruby jumped on her sister and gave her a big hug, then did the same for Weiss.

"Good job." Blake smiled before Yang crushed her nearly to death with a bear hug.

" _Awww~ thanks kitten_!" Yang cooed.

" _Help me..._ " Blake reached for Heavy, who decided to be a total bro and help her out by taking hold of both of them, and separating them like breaking a chocolate bar.

"Enough baby things. Heavy is proud to you both for victory." The giant smiled and got out two items. A Pocket Medic, and a distinctive lack of hue Spirit of the Bombing Past.

"Here is gifts from team." He passed the Spirit of the Bombing Past to Yang and gave Blake the Pocket Medic.

" _Ohhh!_ This little toy Medic is so cute!" Ruby snatched the Pocket Medic from Blake's hands and held it like she was a little girl.

"These aren't real bombs right?" Yang asked when she noticed her hat had bombs all around it. Heavy's response was to just chuckle at her.

"That didn't answer my question... Where's everyone else?" Yang asked when she noticed the other mercs weren't here.

"Busy."

"Busy with what?"

"Surprise. Now Heavy must leave to help Engineer. Dasvidonya." The Russian said as he left.

"Huh... I wonder what the surprise is..." Yang mused.

"It might be another jump scare or some crazy 'test' again..." Weiss grumbled. Behind them, Ruby was bugging Blake to trade the Pocket Medic with her Pyro's Beanie.

* * *

 _Hehehe..._ _Girls are in for very big surprise._ Heavy thought to himself. The Russian was making his way to the air docks of the coliseum, when he suddenly felt something very small tug at his pants. He looked down to see a very young little Faunus girl with a teddy bear look back up at his giant form with impossibly adorable red eyes. This little girl had bunny ears and white hair.

"Excuse me..." The little girl said shyly. "I'm looking for my mommy and daddy. C-can you help me find them?" The little girl took a couple of shaky steps back when Heavy lowered himself towards her.

"Heavy has own business to take care of, and little girl want me to help her parents?" The girl nodded her head, hiding herself under her teddy bear. "No. If young Heavy can kill two hundred bad men and break family out of gulag with just my bare hands, then little girl could find parents by herself. Unless little girl is stupid, baby, cowar-" The girl started crying, and all the people around them were giving Heavy a dirty look for making a kid cry.

"No! No! Heavy was joking when he call little girl stupid!" Heavy said in an attempt to save himself. Thinking quickly, he pulled out an unusual Magical Mercenary with a circling heart effect around it, and put it on his bald head.

"Lalala! Magic unicorn Heavy is sorry I make girl cry! Lalala!" The people who were giving him dirty looks as well as the little girl started laughing at Heavy for his silly unicorn hat. Heavy growled at them, but he sucked it up long enough to give the little girl a ride on his shoulders.

"Stop laughing at Heavy!" Heavy yelled at the people as he made his way down to the air docks with his unicorn hat and the little girl. Grumbling, Heavy passed the girl a little juice box so that he would at least not hear her giggling at him.

"H-hey *chuckles* fatass! The farm's that-a-way!" Some random jerkoff taunted at Heavy while his friends joined in on the insults. The lead jerkoff got a juicebox thrown at him.

"Leave him alone!" The little girl said in Heavy's defense. "He's not fat! He's just a little big boned, that's all!" The little girl started lightly patting Heavy's cheeks, much to his annoyance, but he was far angrier at the men who called him fat.

"Shut your fucking mouth, you little Faunus whore!" The man screamed in rage at the girl. Everyone around them who was laughing instantly stopped at the very serious turn this silly moment just took. The only ones who still smiled at what was going on were staunch Faunas haters and the guy's friends.

"I think I know what's up with that horse hat now..."

"It's a unicorn!" The girl yelled. She had tears forming in her eyes.

"Shut it! I think this asshole is pretending to be a Faunus so he can fuck this kid here. After all, ain't that what those dirty animals do all the time?" This total faggot's friends went with him like they had a deathwish or something, completely unaware about the RAGE they were about to unleash...

"How can you betray your own race just to have-" Heavy clocked this fucker right in the gob with such force as to put him to sleep right a fucking way. His friends were utterly shocked and held him up as they looked at the giant with fearful eyes.

"Next time Heavy hear words come from your mouths, Heavy will crush you." The Russian said very seriously. Needless to say, no one laughed at Heavy when he made his way to the air docks. He made a few detours to buy this girl some cotton candy from a couple of salesman who carried their wares wherever they went.

"That was really brave of you, mister." The girl peeked over his head to look at his eyes.

"Yes. Heavy is brave." He smiled at her. "I am sorry for yelling at you." He apologized.

"It's okay! You are a magical unicorn after all!" She giggled at the circling heart around the hat. "Hehehe!"

"My name is Heavy, but you can call me Misha. What is your name?" Heavy asked her.

"Rouge Scarlatina!" She beamed. "But my friends call me Rui!" She hugged his unicorn hatted head. "And you are my newest friend!" Heavy couldn't help but smile at her cute antics, but his smile soon went away when he found that the racist bastards from earlier had gathered up a small gang at the air docks, waiting for him to show up.

"Get behind Heavy..." The Russian ordered the girl when he put her down. The gang approached him, and he looked around to see the Atlas Soldiers weren't doing anything about it. These soldiers were probably racist themselves...

"Look who it is..." The leader said in a nasally voice. His nose was broken and his entire face was a swollen purple. He also had several teeth missing.

"Boys, this is the son of a bitch who dares to show respect to a Faunus in public." The man announced to his gang. Rui hid behind Heavy, and the Russian covered her with his arm. People were forming a huge circle around them, waiting for a fight to begin.

"Let Heavy pass, and I promise you no bones will be broken." Heavy said. His words were met with laughter from the gang.

"Broken bones? Sorry pal, but bones will be broken..." The gang pulled out a variety of makeshift weapons ranging from a couple of pistols to some pocket knives and even a few lead pipes while the rest went without a weapon.

"...and they're all going to be yours..."

Heavy raised his finger gun, but he put it down after deciding that these men's auras probably couldn't handle the power of his finger pistols. Personally, he wanted to kill them, but he was told explicitly not to kill anyone on top of Rui and the crowd watching him. Hyping himself up for a fight, Heavy yelled out a war cry, and ran straight at the men...

Only to get dogpiled on while the leader laughed further back from the action.

"Show him what happens when the Sons of Humanity find Faunas lovers in public..." The leader turned around so that he can go off to find some medical attention for his fucked up face, but his attention was soon turned back when Heavy roared and threw all the men off of him.

"I AM HEAVY WEAPONS GUY, AND I AM A PRETTY UNICORN!" Heavy yelled loud and mightily for the world to hear.

He picked up one of the racists, and started using him as a weapon against his friends. Men were smacked around like ragdolls from the force of Heavy hitting them with their own pal. Eventually, he let go of the living bludgeon and punched him through a group rushing him with knives and pipes, making a bowling ball noise when he knocked them all down. The Russian screamed in pain when one of the racists jumped on his back and started slamming the top of his head with a pipe, but that was soon rectified when Heavy grabbed the man's leg, swung him around so that he was facing Heavy, and uppercutted him up into the ceiling. He then dodged a couple of bullets from the couple of guys who snuck guns onto the Coliseum, but he gave no shits about that fuckery when he pulled out a peace sign and threw it at them. They were stunned that they were attacked with peace, giving Heavy enough time to run up to them and fuck them up.

One man screamed when Heavy snapped his arm like a twig, then took his gun and shot the other guys in the knees. The bullets didn't go through since their weak auras protected them, but that didn't really stop them from keeling over in pain. The Russian then stomped on both of their chests, then fired off the pistol at 3 of the 12 guys still standing. He sensed another guy trying to jump him from behind, and he put him down with a hard pistol whip to the head, breaking the gun. The three guys who were shot were starting to get up since their auras also protected them, but they were soon knocked right out to dreamland when Heavy struck them with the peace sign. The last guy he hit had bent the sign a little near the middle.

Four guys with knives and pipes came at him, but you know, Heavy layed them out with no problem at all.

The last guys cowered in fear, gathering near their leader who was also shitting himself as they watched the unicorn hatted giant slowly walk up to them.

"What are you idiots doing!?" The leader yelled. "Kill this guy already!" One of the five remaining racists, not including the leader, ran away, where he was soon stopped when Heavy threw the peace sign tomahawk style at him. The Russian kept his slow advance while the last of them tried to stop him. They were also taken out quickly, but the last guy managed to stab his knife in Heavy's arm. He smiled like he was the shit, but his smile was quickly turned into a bloody mouth full of broken teeth when Heavy elbowed him in the face.

The leader was REALLY scared when Heavy kept walking to him and pulled the knife out like it was nothing. He got even more scared when the Russian Bear snapped the knife with two fingers like it was just a toothpick. In a panic, the leader reached into his coat and pulled out a long revolver, and aimed it right at Heavy.

"S-stop right there!" He yelled shakily. "I'll drop you where you stand asshole!" Heavy did not stop walking, and his unicorn hatted form kept walking toward this bastard. The leader pulled the hammer of the revolver down.

"Final warning!" Heavy still did not stop, and he was now right in front of him. Heavy did not stop even with the barrel of the weapon pushed against his chest, the coward was too scared to pull the trigger.

"You think it is nice to say mean things to little girl?" Heavy asked the man as he kept walking with the gun against his chest.

"S-shut up! I'll k-kill you!" The man said in his shitty defense.

"You think you are man for hating other people because they have animal ears?"

"Fucking shut up!" The man tripped and he was now on his back crawling away from the Russian with the gun still pointed at Heavy.

"You are not real man. Heavy is man. Heavy supports and protect family. Heavy destroy evil men. Heavy help friends. Heavy **_hates_** you. Why does Heavy hate you? Because you are a baby. A teeny, tiny, itty, bitty, baby." Heavy lowered himself down to the man and took hold of the gun's barrel.

"Where Heavy comes from, a coward like you would be killed one thousand times in one day. In my world, there is no room for cowards or evil men. We destroy people like you. Cowards and evil men use weapons in a fistfight because they are too scared to fight like real men."

"Prove to Heavy that you are a baby, and kill me." Heavy put the barrel in his mouth, eyes waiting for the man to do it. The man simply started crying, and he let go of the gun.

"I knew you were a baby..." Heavy said as he raised the gun up to knock him out with it. Suddenly, Rui came in with the Conscientious Objector and knocked the crying racist out with it.

"Humph! Crybaby!" Rui kicked the man as she struggled to raise the sign up. "Isn't this a weapon though?" She asked Heavy with a smile. Heavy just remembered that he technically used this peace sign as a weapon earlier, and he gently took it from the little bunny girl.

"Is not a weapon. It is a tool of peace." He smiled, rubbing the girl's head, especially near the base of her rabbit ears, making her giggle.

His attention was soon turned on the few Atlas soldiers who just let this happen, and saw they appeared to be radioing in what just happened. Thinking that they pulled some bullshit and called for backup to deal with some guy in a unicorn hat who just attacked a bunch of innocent civilians, Heavy put Rui on his shoulers and made his way to them. The Atlas soldiers said nothing as the Russian man stared them down.

"What is your job?" Heavy asked them.

"Stand guard and make sure nothing bad happens." One responded. Heavy looked back at the gang he layed out, and then back at the Atlas soldiers.

"Is this correct?" He said.

"Affirmative." Another one responded, bringing his rifle up on Heavy. "And you're in-Gah!" With no hesitation, Heavy beat the fuck out of these guys too. When he was done, he walked off to another side of the air docks, looking for Rui's parents while also avoiding any Atlas soldiers looking for him.

"Why did you do that to those nice soldiers?" Rui asked the giant she was riding on.

"It is because Heavy is a real man." The Russian responded. "You will understand when you grow older." Soon after, they heard a feminine voice call for Rui.

"Rouge!" A bunny woman yelled with joy when she ran up to them.

"Mommy!" Rui yelled happily as she jumped off of Heavy's shoulders. They lovingly embraced each other with slight tears of joy as Rui's father and Velvet came running in too. After hugging her daughter for a bit, Rui's mother looked up, and her heart dropped at the sight of the Russian form of Heavy looking down at them. She instinctively pulled her daughter to her side.

"It's okay!" Rui broke away from her mother's grasp and hugged Heavy. "This is my new friend, Misha!"

"Professor Heavy?" Velvet said, a little surprised that her little sister would be with her professor.

"Hello Velvet." Heavy greeted her.

"Oh! You're my daughter's professor?" Velvet's dad said, no longer in that timid state that rabbits are known for.

"Da. Heavy is professor." He noticed Velvet was smiling at something.

"What's with the cute hat, Mr. Heavy?" Heavy took the unusual unicorn hat off.

"This? This is gift." He passed the hat to Rui. "From Misha to Rui." Rui squealed in absolute delight that she got the hat, and she couldn't stop hugging Heavy in thanks for it. Her father and mother had to pull her off of the Russian.

"Haha! Okay, pumpkin, I think Mr. Heavy here has had his share of hugs for today." The rabbit father laughed.

"Do you want us to pay for your ride down to Beacon?" Velvet's father asked warmly. "It's the least we could do for you for finding our daughter." Heavy smiled, and kept smiling when he saw some Atlas soldiers further down the platform obviously searching for him.

"Yes. Let us go."

* * *

 **Beacon Air Docks**

Winter Schnee was prepping to return to Atlas. Her mission here in Vale was done. On top of successfully making sure every new unit of Atlesian knights got to Vale, she managed to get some quality time in with her little sister, Weiss Schnee. At the moment, her airship was being checked over by the pilots to make sure everything was a go for take off.

"Winter." Ironwood greeted Winter as he approached her airship. She shook a little internally from surprise, but she quickly got over it and snapped to attention.

"General Ironwood, sir!" She saluted.

"At ease. I'm only here to see you off before you go."

"Very good, sir. My pilots tell me the ship is almost ready for takeoff."

"Good to hear." Ironwood said. "Keep me updated on any developments on your trip."

"Of course, Gen-" Winter was interrupted when a blast was heard, and Soldier flew in, landing on top of an Atlesian knight, destroying it.

"General! Specialist!" Soldier smiled as he casually pushed aside soldiers and knights aside. "Just the people I wanted to see!" He put his rocket launcher away.

"Soldier..." Winter trailed off. Her face instantly went bitter at the sight of him. Just be glad you're not talking to Scout you salty fuck.

"Hello, Winter!" Soldier said in response. "I know what you're thinking."

"What would we be thinking, Soldier?" Ironwood questioned him.

"That you're thinking I'm probably the worst soldier in existence because I can't stand the thought of girls in the military!"

"That's not what we were thinking at all..." Winter said. Soldier didn't notice and kept talking.

"Well, I'm glad to inform you that I have changed my ways! I have met Columbia, the American Goddess of Freedom and Liberty, and she has enlightened me with how girls are more than capable of kicking ass in combat! After all, what kind of soldier would I be if I can stand blood and guts but not a girl on a damn battlefield?" He laughed after saying that.

"That's... nice to hear..." Winter said.

"You bet it is! But still, in my honor as an American, I can't help but feel ashamed for breaking down in front of prestigious military men, and _woman_ , such as yourselves!" The Atlesians raised their brows at him, waiting to see where he was going with this. Their questions were answered when he pulled out a weathered old wooden rifle.

"As a sign of good will from America to Atlas, I give you this battle-hardened M1!"

"That weapon looks like it's going to break at any moment." Ironwood was unimpressed.

"Break? My good man, this is an American weapon! And American weapons do not..." The gun snapped in half when Soldier held it up in the air. "...break." Soldier put the broken weapon back in his personal inventory, and hastily grabbed for anything he can give to them. He settled on a Bill's Hat, and a Killer's Kabuto.

"Here are my peace offerings!" He gave the Bill's Hat to Ironwood and the Kabuto to Winter.

"They may seem like regular hats, but I tell you these hats belonged to some of the greatest Americans ever! Be careful with them! They are really precious relics."

"...and you're just giving us these...relics?" Winter asked, totally unconvinced that these things were actually relics.

"Affirmative! This beret belonged to a great war veteran named William 'Bill' Overbeck! He was a veteran of Vietnam and the Great Green Flu Zombie Apocalypse of the 21st century!" Wait, how the fuck does Soldier know who Bill is? Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress are separate universes!

"And what about this one?" Winter held up the kabuto.

"Oh that? I got that from a Japanese samurai who was part of the Japanese Expeditionary Force in Europe, where I beat him to death with my bare hands at the Battle of the Bulge because they were sent to help out the Nazis there! Ha! America always wins!" Soldier cheered loudly while Ironwood and Winter looked at each other, and back at Soldier.

"Thank you Soldier. On behalf of Atlas, we gladly accept your gifts." Ironwood said with a fake smile.

"You do!? Terrific! That means I can go home with no worries now!" Soldier pulled out his rocket jumper and got ready to launch himself away. "Bye General! Bye Winter!" The greatest American patriot waved before launching rocket jumping all the way back to his house.

"Well that was strange..." Ironwood said when Soldier left. He took Winter's Kabuto when she passed it to him.

"Yes. That man is strange indeed..." Winter said as she watched him land behind the walls of his place.

"Specialist Schnee, sir!" One of the pilots of Winter's airship yelled from the top of the ramp. Winter looked at him, and the pilot gave her a thumbs up. She nodded back at him and faced the general.

"General, it's time I made my leave."

"Good wishes on your travels, Winter." Ironwood said to Winter as she boarded the ship. The ramp closed, and the ship promptly took off, heading straight for Atlas.

* * *

 **The Slums, Late at Night**

"Hurry kids!" A Faunus woman with cat ears rushed her children into a cab. They used the last of their money to buy this cab since it was the best way she could keep herself hidden from any of the White Fang looking for her.

"Mama, Maggy is still in there!" Her daughter cried. "I'm not leaving without her!" With some hesitation, the woman went inside to get the doll known as Maggy. She came back a few seconds later, and she quickly ordered the cab to leave for the harbor.

"Here's your doll, sweetie." She gave the doll to her daughter, but this is when she noticed that her son and daughter seemed scared about something.

"What's wrong?" She asked them. The kids didn't do anything, but she realized that they were staring at the driver of the cab.

"Is something wrong, ma'am?" The Faunus driver asked. He seemed to be a pretty normal guy. Gruff old guy in some worn clothes. Typical wear for the people who lived in the slums.

"No... nothing at all." The woman said. Just in case, she kept the pistol hidden in her coat close.

Her fears were put to rest when the driver took them all the way to the harbor... then they were raised when the driver took them into a back alley, far from prying eyes. Reacting quickly, she pulled out her gun and pointed it right at the man's head.

"Look... I don't know what they're paying you, but please! My kids and I have to leave Vale!" She pushed the gun against his head. "Unless you want me to end your life right now of course..."

"Mom?" Her son said warily.

"Not now, mama has some business she has to take care of..." She looked back at the man, who was completely still this whole time. "Out of the car, now."

The man raised his hands, and got out of the car like she had asked. She also got out of the car with the gun still trained on his head.

"Keys." The man pulled out his keys, and purposefully dropped them on the ground by his feet.

"Do you want to die? Pick them up and them to me!" She ordered. The man did nothing. He had no expression on his face as he stared right back at her. The woman considered dropping him now, but she did have her kids watching...

"Pick. Them. Up." She said, putting emphasis on each word. Finally, the man did as she asked, and picked the keys up.

"Throw them to me."

"If you insist." These were the first words the man said since they got out of the car, and he threw the keys directly at her face. The woman flinched, and was about to pull the trigger had the man not disarmed her in a span of two seconds. The situation was reversed. The driver was now holding them hostage instead of the other way around. Then the driver stared softly laughing. Clouds suddenly enveloped the man, and he changed into none other than the Spy.

"I know you! You're that guy who killed a bunch of Fang at that meeting weeks ago!" The woman exclaimed.

"Shh... Keep it down." Spy hushed her. He flipped the pistol around so that he was holding the barrel, and took the cigarette out of his mouth. "You have your children here." He looked at the kids. "What beautiful children you have..."

"Please. Just let us go." The woman begged.

"Okay." Spy said, tossing her the gun, much to her confusion. He then started walking down the alley.

"What?" The woman said aghast. She couldn't believe what just happened. One moment, she was facing death, and in the other, death ignored her. "Why?" She yelled out after him. Spy stopped in place, and turned his head at her.

"Because, you're just a family woman looking to leave a bunch of terrorists. I see no reason to kill you." He assured her. " _But,_ just in case..."

"...what?" The woman said, gripping her pistol.

"There's no need for the gun, ma'am. Now please reach for the watch I put in your coat." The woman gave him a confused look, and reached in her pocket to find a golden watch that she had never seen before. Her heart dropped at the realization that this man had snuck into her home earlier, completely undetected, and planted this thing in the coat she was taking out tonight!

"Open it." He ordered. She hesitantly did as he asked, then she was shot in the head. The woman gasped and was going to shoot him when she realized that she couldn't see her gun or her own arms for that matter.

"You can close the watch now ma'am." She closed the watch and found that she was perfectly okay. When she looked back up, Spy was right in front of her, and he took the Dead Ringer from her hands.

"You can leave now, but please be secretive about it." Spy told her. "Oh, one last thing..." He went over to her kids, who were looking with looks of fear from the cab, but they didn't seem to be scared about the man. They seemed more scared about something behind their mother. She looked back, and saw what scared them. Her corpse was on the ground with a headshot wound pouring blood out of it.

"Please, try not to panic." Spy assured her. He put the Dead Ringer firmly in the hands of her son, and put the Ambassador up against his head. Acting instinctively, the mother raised her pistol, but was quickly waved down by Spy.

"Please, if you want you and your family to leave here alive, then you better let me do this." With so much hesitation, she lowered her pistol and nodded at him. He then repeated what he did to her to the children. They were scared silly, but they were fine.

"There we go. Three fresh bodies for Cinder Fall, _Chienne_...(bitch). You can leave now, Mrs. Tukson."

"Thank you." The woman now identified as the wife of the late Tukson said. Spy then started loading the bodies in the backseat of the taxi cab. He also went to the truck, and it was revealed that the actual driver of the cab was in the trunk, totally unconscious.

"You can leave that man there." Spy said as he disguised himself back as the driver and got into the driver seat. "He'll wake up soon enough. I thank you for being so cooperative, but promise me this. Do not let anyone see you, and also, do not tell anyone about what the White Fang are planning." Mrs. Tukson looked at him shocked.

"What? Why?"  
"Because..." The cab engine hummed to life. "...I have something much worse than the authorities in mind for the White Fang." Spy said with a smile. "Also, if you do get caught, I will be killed. And if you do tell the authorities, I will kill you." He tipped his disguise's hat. "Good night."

"Wait!" Mrs. Tukson cried out. "What is your name, kind stranger?"

"My name?" Spy smiled at her. "My name is nobody." With that, he drove off, heading to the local White Fang base to show proof of his mission success, while Mrs. Tukson can't help but smile at her good fortune.

* * *

 **I had so much free time today since I have the whole week of Thanksgiving off! Here's a new chapter right after the next for you guys. I'm dying though cuz I spent like six hours non-stop on it, but it's here...**

 **I totally forgot to mention this, but last Friday when I hosted the readers playing TF2 with me event, we met the motherfucking WINGLET. He had the right Demoman, British Voice, Australium grenade launcher and everything!**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: *HAPPINESS INTENSIFIES***

 **Mr. G37: Nope. Soldier is just the greatest American ever!**

 **Lazors24: I do not blame you. Yet I will admit it only happened once, I think. The time when medic ubered Demo when they were fighting at the warehouse. I can pull off some bullshit saying that they were too hurt to really acknowledge or see it, Team RWBY that is, but I remember the Fang shitting themselves at the sight of it. I believe ubercharging only works if Medic has performed that heart operation on you, and only Ruby has it thus far. Calm yourself, I'll get to it.**

 **MCZ: He ingested all of it.**

 **A fan: Well then, you already know one thing that will happen next chapter. I will say everybody's need for madness will be satisfied when we get passed Volume 3 though...**

 **Zapper3000380: 2 stronk**

 **Battle9921: Yep!**

 **Noob-LubeTM: Yeah... I noticed before you told me.**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: Responded by PM already. Don't tell the crew what happens, K?**

 **ATTF: You are right, fuck...**


	25. It's Time to Train part 1

**Note:**

 **I forgot to say this, but for those of you who don't know who Columbia is, she is Uncle Sam's predecessor as the personification of the United States. In the 1800's to early 1900's, she was the face of America before Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty replaced her permanently after World War I, but the movie studio Columbia Pictures still use her as their symbol.**

 **There was another TF2 X RWBY Crossover where the author never finished it, but in the only chapter, Nora and Demoman met by a campfire, and Nora called him by the name "Demmy."**

* * *

 **Beacon Academy, Early Morning, I mean like REALLY early in the morning, it's like 2** **:00 AM or something.**

It was early in the morning (if I didn't make that apparent enough), and Team RWBY was all fast asleep. Yang was snorin', Ruby was looking like a cute baby, Blake curled herself up like a cat, and Weiss seemed the most elegant of all the sleeping girls.

Ruby herself was having a pleasant dream. A dream about Team RWBY and their friends, including the mercenaries, saving the day like the heroes from the stories she heard all the time as a child. Then, for some reason, she dreamed about Medic talking to her, but instead of words he was making dove noises.

Her eyes popped open, and she saw the ceiling of her dorm room. She yawned and rubbed her head before going back to dreams, but that's when she noticed she had an unexpected visitor right on her chest.

"Huh!?" Ruby gasped when she saw a little white dove hanging out on top of her. The bird in question tipped its head sideways and cooed at her as if confused.

"Hmm... _Ruby..._ " Yang can be heard grumbling from her side of the room. " _Go back to sleep..._ "

"Uh, but- but Yang!" Yang threw a pillow at her sister.

" _Ungghhhh... shut up..."_

"But Yang, there's a bird in our room!" Ruby grabbed the little bird and showed it to everyone, who were waking up just about now.

"So?" Weiss grumped from her bottom bunk. "Throw it out the window!"

"There's a thing on it though!" Ruby said, not knowing what a tape recorder was, at least not the Earth version of one was.

"JUST THROW IT OUT ALREADY!" Weiss exploded. Ruby jumped in fear, and jumped down her bunk and went to the open window of their room.

"Go home little guy." Ruby rubbed the dove's back before gently throwing it out the window. She closed the window soon after she saw the bird fly away.

"See? That wasn't so hard." Weiss said. "Now get back to sleep. We all need to be rested for the next-" Weiss was interrupted when the dove crashed right through the window, breaking it. It made cooing noises to the shocked girls, and it landed right on top of Zwei, picking out glass from it's wings. The little doggy barked at its new friend.

"WHAT IS WITH THIS STUPID BIRD!?" Yang roared since her sleep was interrupted. Her eyes turned red, and her hair burned as she grabbed the bird in a crushing, one handed grip.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT!?" The bird responded by cooing, and pecking the play button of the tape recorder so that the recording could play.

"Hallo? Is zis thing on?" The Medic's voice came out of it.

"Medic? What do you want?" Blake asked. It quickly became apparent that this was a recording.

"It is on, doc. The freakin' red button is on, stupid. *slap* Ugh! That really friggin' hurt Deutschbag!" Scout can be heard in the back.

"Quiet Scout! Ahem... Hallo Team RWBY! It is me, ze Medic! I bet you are wondering why we chose to wake you up at such an early hour. Well, it is with great *snicker* hehhe- with great *chuckles* Oh-ho, I can't do it! Here, Pyro, you do it!"

"Haphmmmm!"

"Give me that, rubber suited wanker... G'day-er... G'mornin'? G'morning girls, it's Sniper here..." Medic can be heard laughing to himself in the background as well as footsteps and the other mercs ordering each other around. Sniper was telling them to keep it quiet.

"It's Sniper here, and we're giving you thirty minutes to get your rears over to our place. We got a little something special for you, and-oh! Almost forgot, bring Teams JNPR, CFVY, and SSSN over too. They don't want to miss this...hihehehehe-" The recording stopped there, and static played on. The dove then pecked the stop button.

"This must be that 'surprise' Heavy told us about earlier..." Weiss trailed.

"Should we go?" Ruby asked innocently.

"Why would I want to go to our professor's place when I could just get some sleep..." Yang plopped herself back on her top bunk.

"But-but what if it's something important?" Ruby asked.

"They're probably just going to scare us again, Ruby." Weiss got settled back in her bed.

"She's probably right, Ruby. Go back to sleep." Blake also got in her bed. Ruby looked at her team with a worried face, then the dove landed on her shoulder. It cooed once again, and it pulled out a note from under the tape recorder, and held it for Ruby to take.

"' _If you don't come, we will give you all failing grades"_ Ruby read the note our loud.

"WHAT!?" Ruby yelled.

"W-what!? They can't do that!" Weiss panicked. The dove took the note from Ruby and flew over to Weiss, where it flipped the note around for her to read the message behind it.

 _"We totally can."_ Weiss read out loud. This was enough to convince her and the rest of Team RWBY, so they got dressed on the double.

* * *

 **Mercs' House**

"We're here, you sadists!" Weiss called out for the mercenaries. Team RWBY had done as they asked, and they came with Teams CFVY, JNPR, and SSSN. They were standing outside the gate because they were afraid there was an ambush in the yard. They were also quite grumpy that they were awake so early in the morning. At least this time, they could make the mercs pay since they brought their weapons with them.

"So theses professors said they were going to make you guys fail their class if you didn't come?" Sun asked once more.

"Yup." Ruby responded. She had Archimedes on her shoulder still.

"That's insane." Sun whistled.

"You don't even know the half of it..." Weiss grumbled, thinking back to the insanity the mercs have put them through in the past. "What is taking them so long?" The mercs hadn't responded yet to them. Not even Sniper, who was usually up on top of his rooftop perch, responded. This is right about the time where Archimedes flew off of Ruby's shoulder and on top of Zwei's head, because they brought Zwei along too.

'They need to follow us.' Archimedes animal languaged at Zwei.

'Is it a trap?' Zwei animal languaged.

'No. Just follow me so that they'll follow you.'

'Okay!' Zwei barked. Archimedes flew off inside the house with Zwei following him. Zwei stopped midway, and barked over to the huntsmen while bouncing up and down, then continued on into the house.

"Zwei!" Ruby ran after her dog.

"Guess they want us to follow them..." Jaune said.

"Looks like it, let's go!" Yang said. All 16 teens followed the animals into the empty home and into the garage, where the teleporter to Earth was active. Archimedes flew right into the portal, and Zwei barked at them before going in it himself.

"Should we go in?" Jaune asked warily. "I-I mean, if what Team RWBY said about Earth was true, then should we just- you know, like stay here?"

"Stop being a coward vomit boy, and let's go!" Nora jumped right into the portal. Wanting to get whatever the mercs wanted them to do over with, they all went into the portal too, pushing in the weaker willed among them along too.

* * *

 **Mann Co. HQ**

They landed on top of each other like a pile of flopping fish dropped from a fishing trawler. (warning: following is left unquoted on purpose)

"Ah! Watch the hair!"

"Sorry Yang!"

"AH! MY JEWELS!"

"That's what you get for touching my butt!"

"It was an accident!"

"Scarlet, why are your hands all over my abs!?"

"Uh- it was an accident!"

"Weiss, get off of me!"

"Ungh! You move first, dunce!"

The complaining teens stopped struggling when they heard laughing right in front of them. They looked up to see Demo laughing his ass off along with Zwei, Nora, and several other doves that Archimedes was with.

"Oh-hoho! Dat's why you shoulda came in four at a time!" Demo laughed. "You lot look like a bunch of beached fishes!"

"Quiet you!" Weiss yelled angrily. "I-"

"Please, let me handle this, Weiss." Pyyrha politely offered. "Good evening-...uh?" Pyyrha noticed that it was actually day time here on Earth. "Um... good day, Professor Demoman."

"Good day to you, lass!" Demo had Eyelander over his shoulder, and a drink in his free hand.

"Why did you have us come here?"

"Training!" Nora cheered. "Demmy here said that the professors are going to train us privately here on Earth!"

"Training?" Ren said warily. He saw how Demo trained Nora, and he feared for their souls... "You brought us all the way to Earth only to train?"

"Yep! Now let's go!"

They followed Demoman around Mann Co. HQ, and I got to say, for a corporate headquarters built in the middle of a desert, it was a pretty nice place, almost like a small city. What got to the teens though was the lack of workers for this place. There appeared to be no one else here but them and the mercs. Of course, they were all whispering amongst themselves about their current situation. Zwei stayed behind and hung out with Archimedes and his crew. Earth was different this time around, at least to Team RWBY it was since they were here before. The eternal night was gone, and the desert was, well... a desert again.

"So... this is where you guys worked?" Yang asked Demoman, a little creeped out that this place was a total ghost town. Still, she was glad there were no actual ghosts here.

"Aye. This is Mann Co. Headquarters."

"Don't you mean, EYE?" Eh? Get it?" Yang punned, nudging Demo's arm. No one laughed at her pun, they cringed at it, but the only one who laughed was the Eyelander.

 _"Hahaha! Good one, girlie!"_ The ghost sword laughed.

"Okay, why is no one freaking out about the ghost sword!?" Jaune stepped back from the talking blade.

"Shut yer traps! We're here!" Demo showed them Saxton Hale's personal hunting reserve, or rather the re-purposed hunting reserve. Saxton Hale ended up blowing all his money away on trying to invent inter-dimensional travel, so his reserve was not completed. The only thing that got finished were the cliffs, small canyons and hills, rivers, and some forested areas of this insanely large hunting reserve. The only thing that was missing were the animals. How he was able to change the desert into this was anyone's guess.

"We're going to train here?" Coco said with a little whine. "But it's so... dirty."

"Dirty is no reason for you to lose like baby." Heavy peeked his head out from behind a wooden stand. There were also several random wooden and concrete battlements/ structures across this place.

"Um... I'm sorry, but I believe at least half of us aren't even in your class." Coco said to the giant as he climbed up to meet them. "So if you don't mind, I'm going-"

"No. You stay here, and learn how to fight." Heavy stopped her.

"This sign says this place belongs to that Saxton Hale guy though." Ruby read off a sign that had a big smiling image of Saxton Hale strangling gorillas.

"Ack, don't worry about that lass. Mr. Hale gave us full permission to use this place.

"B-but we're still worn out! We didn't get enough sleep." Blake said, trying to save themselves from a horrible fate. They were used to training, but they had no idea what they were getting into with training from the mercenaries. Suddenly, Medic jumped off the roof of a nearby building like an angel complete with his doves flying out from behind him, and used his medigun on all of them, refreshing them all.

"I believe zat solves zat problem, haha!" Medic smiled.

* * *

And so, training began. This time, actual training. No bullshittery the mercs did in all the classes before just because they wanted to have a good laugh and some fun. No, this time, it was for real. On the other hand, none of the mercs really had the self-discipline to teach the students by themselves, so they settled on a battle simulation to test out the students' skills.

"Okay kids, here's the deal." Demo said. He stayed behind to tell the kids what's up as Heavy and Medic ran off into the hunting reserve.

"You want us to fight you guys again?" Weiss said with an annoyed look.

"Yes, bu-"

"Ah, come on! I thought you guys said you were going to train us this time!" She yelled.

"I know, but please listen! Good? Okay, you kids are going to fight us again, but this time there's an objective behind it."

"An objective?" Velvet asked.

"Yep. There are five control points, and you all have to take them in five minutes. If you capture a control point, you get another minute of time. If time runs out, then you lose. But if you capture all the control points, you win."

"But you realize there are 16 of us and only nine of you guys, right?" Coco lowered her sunglasses. "I'd say you guys are pretty screwed. No offense."

"Haha... that's what you think, lass..." Demo chuckled. "One last thing, you can go ahead and kill us." This shocked the teens.

"WHAT!?" They all yelled together.

"That's right. The Engineer had linked us back up with the Respawn Machine, meaning we can dies as many times as we want!" He smiled.

"Why are you saying that like it's a good thing!?" Velvet shouted.

"Ugh... Ruby will tell ye, but for now..." He shot some sticky bombs on the ground. "This is goodbye mates!" He then sticky jumped away with a loud cheer of joy as he flew out into an unseen part of the hunting reserve turned training ground. Team RWBY told the friends who didn't know about what the Respawn Machine was.

"Okay... well, how do we know when to begin?" Sun said. His question was answered when he heard a feminine voice call across an announcement system.

"Hello? Huh... I'm not used to doing the Administrator's job..."

"Shh! Just say it Ms. Pauling! I got to go, I'll catch up with ya later." Scout can be heard in the background.

"Okay... hello! Weird, super powered students from another world..." The woman identified as Ms. Pauling said in a voice that told you she didn't quite believe it.

"Well... whatever the guys told me about you, I will be the announcer for this training match. Here are the rules. You can kill them without worrying, and you will be eliminated once you've taken enough damage. The guys managed to steal these 'aura counters' or whatever for today. Now, get ready because the match begins in 10 seconds." The students readied their weapons, confident that they'll win this easy since they nearly outnumber the mercs 2 to 1.

...

5

4

3

2

1

"Control point enabled! Get going!" The round was off, and they all rushed point A, the entrance to the reserve, to find no one was there. They thought it was quite strange that it was not protected, but they kept their guard up, alert for any ambushes. It happened again when they reached point B, a wet area with creeks, rivers, and a waterfall.

"Where are they..." Velvet asked shakily.

"Be brave Velvet." Coco had her minigun out, ready to cut down the trees if she had to.

"She's got a point." Fox said. His enhanced senses due to his blindness couldn't detect a single thing.

"Who cares! The sooner we get done with this the better!" Weiss barked at them. They quickly capped this point too, and they now made their way over to the next point. This time, for anyone who wasn't in the mercs' class, they took it easier. Point C was a small mining facility looking place, but it was easy to see that it a mock up of one complete with rails leading around the reserve.

"Guess they're too afraid to fight us after all." Sun whistled. "Wouldn't you say so Blake?"

"Quiet." Blake was tuning in on their surroundings with her cat ears, but still nothing.

"This is creepy..." Velvet was spooked. It was weird being out in another world with seemingly no other living beings other than themselves. Suddenly, Velvet's rabbit ears perked up, and she tackled Coco.

"Look out!" The bunny yelled as a rubber round narrowly missed Coco's head.

"Piece of piss!" They heard Sniper yell from somewhere, and the Australian madman kept firing on their location.

"At least we know we're not alone..." Ruby said in a joking manner. She was behind a mine cart and she had Crescent Rose in rifle form, scanning the area for Sniper.

"Where are- gah!" A round banged against the corner she was looking from, and she quickly got back behind the mine cart.

"Ugh! Come out here and fight, you coward!" Sun yelled from behind cover. He was awarded with the sound of Sniper laughing.

"Haha! You wish, mate! But I got some friends who want to meet you!" With that Sniper whistled, and explosion noises were heard all around them..

The entire control point area blew up, causing extreme confusion and chaos amongst the teens, and the rest of the mercenaries appeared. Soldier and Demo came flying above, blasting off grenades and rockets down on them. Engie had wrangled all of his hidden sentries and mini-sentries and started mowing the entire area with bullets.

The students panicked, and immediately split up into groups and out into the relative safety of the wooded and urban like areas of the map, with the mercenaries dispersing after them. Every single one of them gained significant damage from the trap set for them.

* * *

All of Team SSSN had managed to stay together, and they were now traveling across this cluster of buildings that were supposed to simulate an urban environment. All of the boys took quite a bit of damage from the trap earlier, on top of taking even more from Demo and Soldier's surprise aerial attack.

"Come on guys, we got to find the others!" Sun ordered his team. They appeared to be pretty safe here in this little village, but if they wanted to win, they had to regroup with the others and-oh shit!

"Gah!" Sage took a rubber round to the head and hastily held his huge sword up to protect most of his body from more rounds from Sniper. The Australian madman then pulled out his smg to spray down the area where the boys were at, but it was all for not since the boys simply blocked the bullets with their weapons.

"Ha! You're in for it now!" Sun yelled as they went to go chase after Sniper, who ran deeper inside the tallest building of this little area. The boys rushed into the entrance, and found the Sniper standing in the center with a smug look on his face. The inside of the building was completely dark, save for the window of light Sniper was standing in.

"Surrender now, and we probably won't break your face!" Neptune threatened. Sniper just laughed at him, and snapped his fingers.

"You can try mate..." With the snap of his fingers, the rest of the building was lit up to reveal dozens of robot mercs painted in red, their weapons all pointed at Team SSSN. Engineer was also there with his sentry guns trained on the boys.

"...we surrender!"

"Denied. Robots, Fire!"

* * *

Girlish screaming was heard in the distance as well as a lot of gunfire as Yang, Coco, and Nora took cover behind a huge boulder. Heavy, Soldier, and Demo bots were firing on them.

"Team SSSN eliminated!" Ms. Pauling announced.

"What!?" Yang yelled in disbelief. "This isn't fair! They didn't say anything about robots being here!"

"And why are they so tough to kill!?" Coco was returning fire with her minigun to little effect. Seemed like these robots were tougher than Grimm after all. I'm not surprised, Grimm tend to be fleshy targets anyway since usually their entire body isn't cover with bone armor, much less entirely made of steel like these robots

"Who cares?!" Nora cheered happily as Magnhild shifted to hammer form. "LET'S GET SMASHING! :D" Nora launched herself up into the sky demoman style, and crashed right on top of the main bunch of robots, where she gladly entered melee combat with them. Smiling, Yang and Coco got moving to go and help her, but Coco got distracted when a robot Sniper managed to shoot her sunglasses right off of her face.

"Go and help Nora! I'll take care of the Snipers..." With that, Yang started punching robots to scrap metal while Coco literally cut the top of trees off with her minigun since that was where the robot snipers were hiding. She then turned her gun on a horde of scout bots with bats coming at them.

"Hey, this is actually pretty fun!" Coco smiled at her work. Mann vs Machine is quite fun...

"You're telling me!" Nora cheered happily. She was riding a giant robot demoknight as if it were a bucking bull while swinging her hammer one handed at any bombs unlucky enough to be in her way. When she was finished riding the giant demoknight, she simply smashed its head in with her hammer.

"Sorry robo-demmy..." She rubbed the metal beanie of the giant robot. Laughing, she saw some robot heavies coming in with steel gauntlets and boxing gloves, and she smiled wildly with glee at the new friends to play with. Like a big girly girl, she daintily skipped past bullets, rockets, and grenades over to the heavies with Magnhild over her shoulder. When she got within ten feet of the robots, she lowered Magnhild into grenade launcher form, and got ready to blast them.

"Bye-bye~" She blasted a heart shaped grenade over at them, but the huge smile on her face went away when the heavies stood aside, and Pyro was there with its flamethrower at the ready. Medic was right behind it. It airblasted her own grenade back at her, making her fly back, much to Coco and Yang's surprise.

"RAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" The actual Heavy yelled as he ran out of the brush with Yatsuhashi in his charging grip. He smashed the strong young man against a tree like a charger from Left 4 Dead 2, making the tree fall down.

"Yatsuhashi eliminated!" Ms. Pauling announced while Heavy laughed.

"Hahahaha! Girls are next!" Heavy revved up his minigun, and started blasting Coco, and Yang. Thinking quickly, Yang shot herself over to where Heavy was, forcing him to stop shooting as he grabbed Yang by the leg and slammed her on the ground. Heavy dropped his minigun, and cracked his knuckles.

"Is time for round two, yeah?"

"You bet..." Yang grinned as she got up to her fighting stance.

* * *

Elsewhere, Jaune, Velvet, and Ren were hiding in a system of caves that were intended for cave creatures when this place was still meant to be a hunting reserve.

"It's dark in here..." Velvet's shaky voice echoed.

"Why are you complaining? I thought Faunus could see in the dark." Jaune said,

"Y-yeah... but that doesn't change how scary this place is..."

"It's okay Velvet." Ren said as he scanned the area with his dual auto pistols. "We'll-" Ren's voice was suddenly muffled, and no more of him was heard for the moment.

"Ren?" Jaune asked. No response. "REN!?" His voice echoed loudly in these caves. "Velvet, did you see what happen? Where did he go!?"

"I-I don't know! It was too fast!" Gunfire as well as the sounds of hand to hand combat were heard further down the cave, and Jaune and Velvet rushed over there. When they got there, it was too late.

"Ren eliminated!" Ms. Pauling announced. It was true, Ren was layed out on the cave floor with bruises.

"This can only mean one thing..." Jaune said to himself, remembering that Spy was the sneaky one who was also good at hand to hand combat. "Velvet! Stay close to..."

 _Annnnnnnd..._ Velvet was also gone!

"...me." Jaune finished. "Crap..." With the sudden disappearance of Velvet, Jaune went looking for her. It seemed like these caves also included mine rails of their own, as Jaune just came across a blown out section of the cave that had a rail that goes downhill into Point C. There was a single mine cart, and Point C seemed to be clear, but he can see there was fighting everywhere around the point though.

"What..." Jaune ducked behind the one mine cart, and saw that robotic versions of the mercenaries were out and about, looking for the students.

"Come on... that isn't fair at all!" Jaune groaned. His groan turned into a shriek when he felt a hand get placed on his shoulder.

"WHO'S THERE!?" Jaune had his sword up against poor Velvet's throat.

"Eeeek! Jaune!" Velvet peeped in terror.

"Velvet! I'm sorry! Uh-uh, what happened to you? Where did you go?"

"I got scared when I saw what happened to Ren, so I hid somewhere!" Tears welled up in the bunny girl's eyes. "I'm scared!"

"Oh Velvet..." Jaune said, getting uncomfortable at the sight of a teary eyed girl. He tried to calm her down, but words did nothing, so he gave her a hug.

"There, there, everything's going to be alright..." He comforted her, keeping her close. "It's not like the professors are going to seriously hurt us anyway..."

"Yeah?" She sniffled.

"Yeah! I also know for a fact that we'll win this!"

"Oh, but- but..."

"But what?"

"... _who is that in the mine cart_?" Velvet instantly stopped crying and her voice got menacing. Jaune slowly looked behind him, and saw what was in the mine cart, it was an unconscious Velvet. Jaune simply stood and stared while the Velvet he was hugging grinned.

...

"Mr. Spy?" Jaune said.

"Oui?" Velvet said, still hugging him.

"No offense, but screw you guys..."

"None taken!" With those last words, Spy Velvet pushed him into the mine cart on top of real Velvet, and pushed them downhill where the robots were. Jaune screamed as he went down.

"Thanks for delaying Velvet's announcement, Pauling." Spy said to his earpiece.

"You're welcome, Spy." The woman responded.

* * *

"Velvet eliminated!" Ms. Pauling's voice announced over clashes of battle. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Pyyrha were finishing up a bunch of robots over at Point B, since the robots were aiming to recapture that area. Ruby decapitated a robot heavy when the announcement was made.

"Come on! We have to find who's left! It's our only shot at winning this!" Ruby yelled as she led the charge all the way up to Point C, where they last saw all of them.

It seemed like the robots were running out at this point, since the fighting seemed to have died down. When they got to Point C, they found Jaune breathing heavily with his sword and shield up amongst a few destroyed robots. Velvet was in a tipped over mine cart.

"Jaune!" Pyyrha yelled in glee that her husbando was still up. She was running of to him, when Jaune suddenly turned his sword on her.

"Stay back!" Jaune yelled.

"What's the matter with you. vomit boy?" Weiss was annoyed. She really didn't need to deal with her own classmates on top of robots and hidden mercenaries lurking about.

"It's Mr. Spy! I don't know if I could trust you or not!"

An explosion and loud screaming was heard, and all heads turned to see Demoman literally using Fox from Team CFVY as a surfboard as he flew through the air. He smashed Fox hard into the ground when he landed.

"Fox eliminated!" Ms. Pauling's voice came in.

"Ahahaha!" Demo laughed as his one eye focused on the girls... and boy. "I didn't think he saw that one coming!" He laughed at Fox.

"That's because he is blind." Ruby said as a matter of fact.

"Oh." Demo said, a little embarrassed that he just took out a blind kid. "Augh, whatever! Time to lose, kiddies!" He pulled out the Eyelander.

" _That's right Tavish! Let's kick some ass!"_ Eyelander said as Demo immediately charged for Jaune.

"That's still freaky!" Jaune squeaked at the ghost sword. He actually cowered in fear at the sight of Demoman coming at him in a red blur alongside a glowing ghost sword, and his one good eye glowing as well. Don't worry Jaune, Pyyrha got your back. Pyyrha blocked the hit for Jaune, and they both started fighting the glorious Demoknight!

Ruby, Blake, and Weiss moved in to help, but they were quickly stopped when a baseball struck Ruby hard in the face, and a critical rocket blew Blake and Weiss up.

"Let's do this!" Scout started blasting Ruby with his scattergun while the girl attempted to defend herself from the pellets. Soldier rocket jumped upwards, and narrowly missed landing on Weiss had Blake not pushed her out of the way.

"Prepare yourselves for the ass-kicking of the century!" Soldier yelled when he went to engage the girls in combat.

Ruby was trying to get shots off on Scout with Crescent Rose, but her Sniper scythe was outclassed in close range by his scatterguns, that and he was too quick to hit anyway.

"I'm a freaking blur here!" Scout taunted. That's when Ruby suddenly disappeared in a flash of rose petals and reappeared right in front of him.

"So am I!" She winked at him, and slashed Crescent Rose at him. She would of slashed him in half had he not jumped up and over her. The Boston bruiser smacked Ruby's poor little head with his bat as he flipped over her.

"Gotta be faster, hon!" Scout taunted. Ruby had no problem with that. In an instant, she started zooming around in a tornado of red rose petals as she attacked Scout from all angles. Still, she ended up missing a lot of times, only really giving him some scratches and bruises.

"Speed don't matter if you can't even hit the bastard you're fightin'." Scout grinned. He carefully watched how Ruby circled around him in a red blur, and he carefully got his Sandman ready.

"Bonk!" He launched a baseball that managed to land itself right on Ruby's stomach, making her lose her footing in pain and forcing her to tumble out into the forest. Scout laughed at what he just did, and then he went off to go finish her.

Meanwhile, Demo was giving Jaune and Pyyrha a really hard time. He got Eyelander in a sword lock with Pyyrha. Jaune was recovering from a blow to the stomach Demo gave him earlier behind Demoman.

"Haha! What's the matter lass, Highland sword fighting to hard for ye?" Demo grinned at her. He raised Eyelander up to break the lock, and bashed his Charge n' Targe against Pyyrha's shield. She turned Akuo into its spear form, and attempted to stab upwards under her shield. Demo dodged and knocked the spear away just when it stabbed where he once was. He then struck Pyyrha with the guard of Eyelander. Pyyrha was stunned, but she quickly recovered. She was coming around with a swing, when she felt something hard against her belly.

"Goodbye!" Demo waved at her. He pulled the trigger, and the grenade launcher blew Pyyrha and himself away from each other.

"Pyyrha eliminated!" Ms. Pauling's voice came in.

Demo smiled at what he just did. You may have thought it was a dumb move to blow himself up, but this was actually to his advantage since it blew him over to Jaune. Jaune's eyes went wide, and he screamed before Demo knocked him out cold with a shield bash to the face, aided by the power of Charging and explosive force.

"Jaune eliminated!"

"Well, that was pretty easy." Demo said to himself. He looked over to Soldier and found that he was almost done with them.

"From America to Atlas!" Soldier yelled proudly as he was slamming Weiss' face repeatedly on the ground. His Spy senses tingled, and he quickly swung around his shovel to knock the cat out of Blake when she tried to backstab him with her sword.

"Humph. Spy wannabe!" Soldier spat on the ground near her, then simply dropped his shovel on top of poor Weiss, finishing her off just like that.

"Blake and Weiss eliminated!" Pauling announced.

"Aye, mate?"

"Yes, my excellent Scottish friend?"

"Want to 'ave a drink?"

"Sure!"

* * *

All the robots were destroyed. It was now only the mercs and the teens now.

Scout was currently dealing with Ruby, Heavy was fighting Yang, Pyro was fighting Nora, and Medic just got done injecting Coco with some tranquilizers when she made the foolish mistake of coming close to him and missing a swing miserably.

"Okay." I think that's enough everyone!" Spy shouted for all to hear. Just like that, everyone stopped what they were doing. Heavy had Yang in an arm lock and Pyro was dueling Nora with the lollichop. Scout was giving Ruby a noogie as if he were Ruby's older brother when it happened.

"Ms. Pauling, call it in." He spoke through his earpiece.

"The match is over. Sorry, I forgot to announce that time ran out like four minutes ago. I'm a terrible announcer..." Ms. Pauling's voice boomed across the facility before shutting off.

"Let us refresh ourselves and go over what just happened." Spy whispered to Sniper who nodded.

"Everyone! Back to Mann Co!"

* * *

 **Mann Co. Briefing Room**

Medic healed the students up while they were sat down at tables. They were waiting for Spy to talk them, while the other mercs were close by doing regular stuff. Soon, Spy came in the room, but initially they didn't recognize him since he actually had his mask off this time around. He had a scar that ran across the right side of his head and he had dark grey hair. The Frenchman had a box full of wooden blocks with him.

"Well... what have we learned today?"

"That you guys are cheaters..." Weiss grumbled. They were all pretty grumpy at the bullshittery the mercs pulled on them. Spy was stacking the blocks into a tower.

" _Technically..._ ve didn't say anyzing about robots not being allowed!" Medic said, but he was met with growls.

"Allow me to list everything you did wrong." He noticed that they were all staring at his face.

"Yes, yes, I know. I indeed do have a face. Now, let me continue. Your first mistake was dropping your guard, and staying too close together. You instantly fell into a trap where at least some of you could have avoided getting heavily damaged. Second, you panicked, that is never a good thing, but on top of that, you all split up. Though perfectly understandable, that is a terrible idea and it ended up in us easily taking you while you were separated."

"On top of those stupid robotic versions of yourselves?" Weiss grumped.

"Yes. That was also a surprise. You would've been stronger if you stayed together, but like I said, you all split up..." He reached for a bottom piece of the tower. "And you divided yourselves..." He pulled out another piece. "Therefore you made yourselves more vulnerable to attack..." Another piece was taken, and he rested his hand on one last piece.

"United we stand, divided..." He pulled the last piece, and the wooden tower collapsed on itself. "...we fall. Which is exactly what happened to you kids." No one said anything. He was right.

"You can all get some rest now. We have one more thing planned for you before we send you back home."

* * *

 **I am on a chapter making spree! Fuck my hands...**

 **Three days in a row, boys! I'm afraid I'm making chapters too fast, but here it is. For once, I'm afraid this chapter might be rushed.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Battle9921: Another one.**

 **Mr.G37: Good men... and that's just Soldier's mind.**

 **ATTF: My hands are on fire.**

 **buzzsaw935: Thanks m8. I wish I could talk with you more though.**

 **Zapper3000380: Little man squashed.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: JUSTICE!**

 **Gaspachu: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! UNICORN MAGIC FOR EVERYONE!**

 **Noob-LubeTM: Emerald and Mercury are in this, they are just brought up every once in a while. They will be more prominent as Volume 3 goes on. And about your feelings about the racists, I don't know if you know anything about the history of racism in the United States, but there were times when hard racists would devolve into schoolchildren when they said anything to defame a race they didn't like. There used to be a time where people were killed for walking in a neighborhood that wasn't full of people of their own race. And no, this will all be in this one story as I see no reason to break it up. At least not yet.**

 **pisspot: I don't think the Vytal Festival would allow such a thing to happen.**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: Ahhh... That's nice.**

 **A fan: Woah, woah! Calm yourself! Gabe is not coming after you. It's just Saxton Hale, you know, nothing serious. I think you'll be fine.**

 **Guest: Agreed. I want a battle unicorn so I can spread magic and love to evil men.**

 **Darth Pestilence: DON'T DEPORT ME!**


	26. It's Time to Train part 2

**Mann Co. HQ, Badlands, New Mexico**

They've been on Earth for a little over two hours now, taking a relatively 'break' before the mercs have what they had next ready for them. Team SSSN had gone back to Remnant after *ahem* allow me to quote Sun on this one. "Fuck these guys." Salty bastard... Basically, Sun's team left because they were a _little_ mad about getting ambushed TWICE, as well as robots getting added in the mix. Fine, you guys weren't in their class anyway. Neither is Team CFVY except for Velvet, but at least they stayed.

For everyone who stayed, they were training with the mercs. Engie was overseeing the small assembly line he used to make the RED versions of Gray Mann's robots. Robo-Engies were currently working on making repairs to the re-purposed hunting reserve. Sniper took Heavy all the way to Albuquerque to pick up his family who had just arrived from Paris. Pyro, Medic, and Scout were somewhere in the facility. Not teaching them anything because they really didn't have much to tell them. Scout would have just went on about how great he was and Pyro was just... Pyro. As for Medic... do they really need to know how he heals people?

"When you're chasing maggots who think they can run faster than your rockets or bombs, aim at the ground in front of wherever they're moving so they can eat either two things, or both! One, lead and fire from the explosion they just ran into. Two, the dirt when they trip and fall like a frail old grandma!" Soldier was telling them some useful tips about battle.

"But you said three things though." Yang said. Soldier lifted his helmet up an inch so that his normally covered eyes were revealed to be showing a 'what the fuck did you just say to me?' face.

"Um... nevermind."

"That's what I thought you said! Now prepare yourselves! I am going to tell you a favorite story of mine!" Soldier said proudly.

"Is it another story where you killed like 900 guys by yourself?" Blake said. The students thought his stories were pretty cool, but they got old eventually...

"Sadly no, but it is an amazing story nonetheless! Now-"

" _Actually..._ " Ruby began, looking for a way out of this. "... I got to go to the bathroom!"

"Us too!" Everyone else said in unison.

"Are you sure? You're going to miss out on one Hell of a story!"

"Yes! We... really need to go!" She said with a fake smile. "OkaybyeSoldier!" She said in a rush as all the students high tailed it out of Soldier's line of sight.

"It's your loss!" Soldier yelled after them. "Hello Soldier, hello air I'm talking to. I'm going to tell you a grand old story about my grandfather! Doesn't that sound nice Soldier? Oh yes it does Soldier! Let me hear it! Thank you! Now, it was 1863..."

* * *

Team JNPR had dispersed to some of the mercs were some training. Demo was with Jaune and Nora, and Ren and Pyyrha were with Spy who was teaching them the finer things about being sneaky and CQC. Team CFVY were actually working on their teamwork in the training gym, fighting against robotic opponents.

"Alright lad, like I showed ye. Foot forward, sword up, block, feint, then slash!" Demo demonstrated for Jaune one last time. He was using a practice sword instead of any of his other melee weapons. "Now you try!"

"Okay..." Jaune took a stance in front of Demo, who was his sparring partner. He switched out his usual sword and shield for practice ones since he didn't want to risk killing Demo, even though he assured him the respawn machine got him covered.

"You got this vomit boy!" Nora cheered for him on the side. Jaune and Demo circled each other before Demo initiated the sequence he just told him earlier. Foot forward, sword up, block, feint, then sla- oh shit! Demo faked Jaune out on the end and attempted to strike him with his guard, but Jaune bashed him aside.

"Hey! You said follow the routine!"

"Aye, so what? You still blocked that anyway, lad!" Demo assured him. "You're coming along real nicely now. Augh... I think you broke me jaw..."

"Oh! I'm sorry..."

"No, no, it's fine lad... think fast!" Demo tried to catch Jaune off guard with a punch to the face, but Jaune indeed learned quickly and kneed the Scot in the gut.

"Ack... aye, ye learn quickly..." Demo groaned in pain.

"Hey! I'm really improving! Right, Nora?"

"Right!"

"Yeah. Mr. Degroot this- Ah!" Demo smashed the Charge n Targe in his face.

"No dropping ye guard! Haha, ye ain't improved enough lad!"

"What are we waiting for then?" Jaune smiled. Demo felt like a nice father figure, if he wasn't drunk all the time that is...

"Yeah!" Nora chimed in.

"Nora, keep practicing ye bomb jumps like I showed ya!" Demo yelled whilst in a lock with Jaune.

"Oh! Sorry Demmy!" Nora started bomb jumping around in a manner more akin to how Soldier does it. You know, blasting herself forward then blasting herself off of vertical walls when she got close to them so she gained speed and managed a physics breaking maneuver known as 'surfing' where you literally fly around with the aid of jumping by manner of explosives.

Nearby, Team RWBY was taking a well-deserved break from facing one giant robot of each mercenary.

"Thank you." Weiss thanked a Scout bot that brought her a class of water.

"BOOP BEEP YOU'RE WELCOME. SNOWFLAKE." The bot beeped before leaving them, making Team RWBY laugh.

"Ugh... not only do these robots look like them, but they also act like them as well..." Weiss growled to herself.

"It is a little creepy..." Blake added.

"At least these things are better than the training robots they got at Beacon." Yang said. They couldn't say no to that. The Atlas made training androids were trash. Ruby said nothing, just tapping her fingers together, looking around at the stuff they got in here. That's when she noticed the Eyelander was stood up against the wall by her, sheathed. Not really having anything better to do, she picked the sword up.

"Um... hello, ghost sword?" She picked the blade up, and was met with muffled ghost sounds.

"Maybe you got to take the sheathe off." Yang suggested. Ruby did just that, and Eyelander gasped for breath.

 _"*Long Inhale* Gah! Damn it, Tavish! I told you I don't like getting put in there!"_ The sword yelled once it was free.

"Not me problem, mate!" Demo was trading blows with Jaune right now. It seemed like Jaune really was improving, since he picked up some of Demo's own moves.

" _Grrrr! What do you want, girlie?"_ Eyelander said.

"So you're a ghost sword?"

" _No, I'm just a guy talking through a speaker on this sword- Yes I'm a ghost sword!"_

"Okay... sorry, geez..."

" _Ugh... sorry kid. being in that damn prison is just AGGRAVATING, you know?"_

"Uh... I guess?"

"So are you like a ghost possessing a sword, or are you just like a sword made from a ghost or something?" Yang asked the haunted blade.

" _You actually want to know!?"_ Eyelander yelled. _"Oh! I thought no one cared about who I was! Everyone just thinks I'm a sword, then when I start talking they call me weird!"_

"Yeah... I wonder why..." Blake said.

" _Well since you asked, my name is... uhhh... I don't remember, but what I do remember was that I was a knight!"_

"Really?" Ruby asked. She was curious, as well as her team.

" _Yep! I remember slaying countless men on the battlefield with the very sword my soul is trapped in now."_

"Wait, so this is your sword?" Weiss asked.

" _What sword?_ " Weiss face palmed.

" _Oh! Yes! This is my sword! Now for how I got trapped in it-"_ Eyelander was cut short by a voice over the announcement system.

"Attention everybody, but we're ready to begin! So y'all better get your behinds over here!" Engineer's voice sounded off.

"Bye ghost sword!" Team RWBY except for Ruby, waved as they left before Ruby.

"Well, I guess it was nice talking to you. Bye!" Ruby smiled at the sword, and she picked its sheath up.

" _No! Please, I don't want to go back in there! J-just let me finish my story first-mhmhmh!"_ Eyelander muffled when his sheath was put on.

* * *

Heavy and Sniper just came back from Albuquerque with Heavy's family. Scout, Pyro, an Medic came over, grumbling. Something about how the Hell can a dog beat them in a game of Poker. They waited for Heavy to come back from getting his family settled in before starting for real.

"Okay. Here's what's going to happen..." Spy was briefing them on what the last event was. "This is going to be what we call a 'Team Deathmatch." The students gasped.

"Pardon me, but what do you mean by 'deathmatch?'" Ren asked.

"Exactly what it sounds like. You have to kill us to win, or alternatively, we have to kill you to win." The made them gasp again.

"Haha, nah he's just jokin'." Engie added. "But seriously, y'all can kill us though."

"Thank you. The only way to win, or lose, is when one side's team is totally unable to fight. Ms. Pauling will not be announcing who gets eliminated now, but she will announce when one side is totally defeated. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?"

"Sounds just like the Vytal Tournament team rounds..." Velvet said.

"Exactly. Now, give us some time to go and hide in the arena. Ms. Pauling will tell you when to go." The mercs spread out into the preserve soon after.

"Okay guys, we can do this!" Ruby cheered to raise morale. "We just got to listen to their advice, and hopefully we can pull through this time!"

"Right!" Everyone yelled in agreement.

"Mission begins in 10 seconds." Ms. Pauling's voice came in.

...

5

4

3

2

1

Go!

The first thing they did was split up, but not in random groups like before. This time they stuck together with their respective teams, hoping to end it quickly by spreading out in groups big enough to cause them trouble if they met one of them. Despite Team SSSN rage quitting, they still outnumbered the mercenaries. Emphasis on the mercenaries since robots were still in play here, but at least not as many as before.

* * *

Team JNPR was exploring the urban area that Team SSSN got ambushed in when they got eliminated. They faced heavy resistance from robotic forces, especially choke points covered by robo- Engie's and Pyro bots, but they managed to pull through it by way of teamwork, just like the mercs told them.

"Huh, this wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be." Jaune said after finishing off a demoknight-bot. They got done with the robot forces here, but they were still cautious for any traps. The entire fucking mining facility blowing up got them real scared of traps. LoL. It's a trap! I love memes...

"Don't stay too close together..." Jaune warned his team. He chose right, since Soldier came rocket jumping in with his rocket launcher blasting off crit rockets down on them. They easily managed to take cover in this urban setting from the explosions, and those who can shot back at him as he started doing that 'surfing' thing I told you earlier.

"Don't worry guys!" Nora said as she shifted her hammer into grenade launcher form. "I got him!" She grinned happily, and then yelled in joy when she also blew herself up to the sky and started surfing around to fight Soldier. Suddenly, and entire fucking building's side blew up and it was now falling over on top of Team JNPR. They panicked, but they held it together long enough to dodge the building.

"Oh-hoho! Ye laddies avoided me trap? What nonsense is this?" Demo laughed as he revealed himself. "Come at me! I'm more than enough man to fight ye all!" He started launching grenades all over the place.

"Hi Demmy!" Nora yelled as she and Soldier were strangling each other, though neither combatant seemed to care. They were on top of a building since Nora got up to him.

"Hi Demoman!" Soldier yelled. "Swell guy, ain't he?" He said to Nora.

"Nora! Focus on the fight, please..." Ren face palmed at Nora.

"That goes for you too, John!" Demo yelled as he blocked some bullets from Pyyrha with his Charge n Targe.

"Oh, right! Come here you!" Soldier and Nora resumed wrestling each other.

Pyyrha and Jaune ran over to the black Scot, Pyyrha pinning him down with rifle fire as they closed the gap between them. Demo struggled to block bullets and fire grenades at the same time, but he still smiled when he saw them run over a little walkway that went over a rail line. Jaune noticed he smiled, and immediately knew what was going to happen. Thinking quickly, he pushed Pyyrha off to safety, and the walkway blew up, sending him flying over to Demoman. Jaune flailed and screamed as he flew in the air, and Demo grinned madly as he cocked a fist back, ready to strike the boy with maximum force. Don't worry Jaune, Pyyrha got your back again. Pyyrha threw her shield all the way to Demoman while she shot at him, forcing him to block with his Charge n Targe, but that didn't stop him from getting knocked back when her shield hit him full force. Demo gasped, and he looked up, only to get a faceful of shield when Jaune used his own tactic against him.

"Ha! Who needs to improve now?" Jaune taunted at Demo.

"Looks who's talking, mate!" Demo got up, and entered melee combat with Pyyrha and Jaune.

Where was Ren when all this happened? Well... after seeing his team run off to engage Soldier and Demo. He stayed behind, because he had a distinct feeling that someone was lurking around here. This is what's known as a 'spy sense'. The Chinese themed boy carefully walked around with his auto-pistols up, looking for Spy. In an instant, Ren moved his head to the side to avoid a bullet, and returned fire in the general direction of the round. He saw that he destroyed a Spy bot, but he was still cautious. Suddenly, Nora came crashing down from the roof, nearly landing on Ren.

"Ohh... owie... huh? Hi Ren!" The girl beamed. "What'cha looking for?"

"Him." Ren caught a hand armed with a knife, and flipped Spy over in front of him. However, before Ren could stomp on his face, Spy kicked up at Ren's face and rolled away to relative safety.

"Excellent work." Spy congratulated him, then opened fire with his Ambassador. Ren returned fire, and Nora switched to grenades to blow him up. She did just that.

"Huh... that was easy." She poked Spy's body.

"Yes... that was too easy. Isn't that right, Mr. Spy?" Ren said. They saw clouds form in a corner, and saw Spy uncloak himself with the dead ringer.

"Good eye." The Frenchman smiled at him.

"You better give up now!" Nora grinned, switching her weapon to hammer form.

"I would... but my friend doesn't believe in surrender." This is when Soldier literally smashed his fucking head through a concrete wall instead of logically using his rocket launcher to blow a hole in it like a fucking sane person, and charged Nora.

"YOU AND I AREN'T DONE YET CUPCAKE!" Soldier yelled as he blasted Nora with his shotgun. Spy's took this moment to rush them. He had his sabre out and punched Ren with the guard, and then attempted to stun Nora with a sapper...

Fuck...

* * *

Team CFVY was at point B, the wet area full of rivers and stuff, and they were already engaged by Engineer, Scout, and Sniper. Not to mention the robots Engie brought with him since he's their creator.

Coco and Velvet, since Velvet copied Coco's minigun, were focusing on cutting down the robots and sentries Engineer erected while Yatsuhashi and Fox dealt with Scout. Sniper was too far for them to take care of with all these robots around, so he ended up being a huge nuisance to them.

"Ow!" Velvet yelped when Sniper landed a shot on her head. She angrily focused in on his location with her rabbit ears, while she had a cute blush and little tear in her eye. "That really hurt!" She pouted. Sniper laughed even more, and landed another hit on her. That last round was more than enough for Velvet's ears to find him, and she started firing her minigun over to a cluster of trees he was using as a perch, pinning him with all of this fire.

Scout was running circles around Yatsuhashi and Fox. Fox was the only one who could keep up with him, but you know, Scout's quicker.

"Yatsuhashi!" Coco called for the strong man of their team. "Get Engineer! We'll cover you!" Coco took Velvet's place in pinning Sniper down since there wasn't a lot of robots anymore, so Velvet phased herself a copy of Nora's grenade launcher and blew up the area around Engineer's nest. That got rid of the sentries at least, and Yatsuhashi made it over there, but found no engineer. Only a teleporter. Thinking he was on the other side of it, he stepped onto the device, and got telefragged. He wasn't out though. He flew up in the air before landing with a thud, lying on his back. Then Engineer stepped onto his chest with the Frontier Justice, and it was glowing red.

"Boy, you're gonna wish you didn't destroy my guns..." Yatsuhashi was eliminated. Fucking nobody can take crits, unless you're Saxton Hale. Engineer chuckled to himself, but his chuckling stopped when he felt a tapping in his shoulder.

"Hello!" Velvet smiled and waved at him. Engie tried to swing the butt of his shotgun around to hit her, but Velvet had already smacked him into a tree with a copy of Nora's hammer. Velvet giggled at what she just did, but she did feel bad for poor Engie, so she went over and kindly apologized for what she just did. She should have taken this a little more seriously, especially since she got a baseball to the back of her head, and for that matter, a Sandman to the back of the head,

"Boom!" Scout taunted. His victory was cut short when he saw Fox went after Sniper, and Coco had her minigun trained on him. She winked at him as the gun revved up, and then Scout ran as she tore up the area around him. This was the one thing Scout wasn't good at. Firepower. He's not made for this kind of thing at all. He's supposed to outmaneuver his enemy, but that becomes really hard when he's in a pretty open wet area that also slowed him down. Still though, at least he got BONK!

With the power of BONK!, he wasted no time in getting to Coco and tackling her into a creek. The creek wasn't that shallow, but it still pissed Coco off when she got all wet.

"What's the matter? Can't even take some water?" Scout taunted as the fashionista wildly swung at him in anger with her purse. "No wonder why you guys suck! The water'll probably put up a better fight than you!" Yep, Scout was too damn agile, and he effortlessly struck at Coco with some scattergun shells and swings from his bat. Scout was not prepared for one thing though... a fucking suplex. Heavy thought her this one wrestling move when he was teaching her how to more effectively use a minigun before leaving to the airport with Sniper.

She managed to get Scout down on the ground, and she sat on top of him so he couldn't move anywhere, a sitting duck for her heavy purse. Coco winked at him as she raised her purse up to hit him, and Scout also grinned as he got his bat out. *DOUBLE KNOCKOUT!*

Meanwhile, Fox was still looking for Sniper. It was hard even with his Faunus senses, but what else can be expected from a bushman like Sniper. He's a master tracker and woodsmen and shit... He half expected to get sniped as he wandered around the forest area Sniper was in, but eerily, that did not happen. What instead happened, was that Sniper popped out from behind a tree and unloaded his smg into him. He blocked at least half of the bullets with his arm blades, and he got ready to charge at Sniper had he not have to dodge an arrow Sniper shot at him. Since Sniper was relatively close up, he had his Huntsman out and was shooting arrows at Fox, but arrows travel way slower than bullets, and Fox easily slashed them out of his way when they flew at him. Seeing no other option, Sniper pulled out his Bushwacka, secretly having Jarate ready.

"Let's have a go, you mug..." Sniper challenged him.

"You got it." Fox said back. He was caught totally off guard when the jar of yellow liquid came at him, not knowing what it was, he smashed it with a kick, and realized his awful mistake.

"I-is this..."

"Yep! Hahaha!"

"WHAT IS WRONG-" *BUSHWACKED*

* * *

And now we're with Team RWBY, who was fighting Heavy, Medic, and Pyro. The robots that accompanied them were already dealt with, but the fact that they were made up of all giant robots did account a lot for the damage done on Team RWBY. Weiss and Blake were trying to fight Pyro, who had lit the ENTIRE FUCKING FOREST ON FIRE. It was ridiculous. There was even a point in there fight earlier where Pyro purposefully dropped a single match on the ground, and all the gasoline it poured earlier lit up, making walls of fire everywhere. Ruby and Yang were facing off with Medic and Heavy.

Ruby distracted Heavy while Yang tried to go for Medic since he was the one keeping Heavy up. Medic was fairly good at dodging, but dodging didn't win fights. He attempted to hit back at her with his kriegsmesser, but she was often too quick or she managed to block it. His chance to strike came when he managed to fake out Yang and get behind her, and he lifted his sword up to bring it down on her...

"NOOOOOO!" Ruby screamed with enough force to rival SAXTON HAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEE, stopping all hostilities.

"What happened?" Heavy asked.

"THAT!" She pointed at Medic with a very serious face.

"Vat? Zis?" He held up the kriegsmesser.

"Yes! Do **NOT** , cut Yang's hair! She'll kill you guys for real!"

"Oh Ruby... Ve told you already zat it is fine if ve die! Ze respawn machine is active!" Suddenly, Medic yelped in terror when Yang's fist grabbed his sword.

 _ **"Let them respawn..."**_ Yang's voice was near demonic. _**"That only means I get to make them suffer more..."**_ She lifted her face up at Medic, and he saw that her eyes were red and her hair was glowing. _**"Do it. I dare you..."**_ She then snapped his sword in half. _**"Oops."**_ Needless to say, Medic ran away, and fighting continued.

"Humph! Guess that means he gave up." Yang smiled as she watched the German run away.

"Doctor!" Heavy yelled for his Medic. He soon felt something cold on his back.

"Want to give up now?" Ruby smirked at Heavy as her the gun end of her sniper rifle was pressed against his back. Heavy growled at her, and growled even more when Yang casually walked up to them like they won. He looked everywhere, and saw Medic had returned. He was creeping along some bushes until he got as close as he can to Heavy as to not get detected by the girls.

"Final warning!" Ruby chirped happily, pulling the bolt on her beloved scythe back.

"Just give up big guy." Yang said. "Maybe you'll win next time-" Heavy smashed his fists down on Yang, making Ruby fire into his back reactively. That's okay, Medic ran out from the bushes and trained his Medigun on Heavy. Reacting quickly, Ruby firing at Medic, but the bullet did precisely dick to Medic when he activated his Ubercharge. Both girls were shocked, since they've only seen ubercharge once, but they never really got a good look at it. Heavy and Medic laughed maniacally together as Heavy grabbed both sisters and threw them out into the literal fields of fire Pyro made.

"Ah! Hot, hot, hot!" Ruby yelled when she landed in a burning bush. She put out the little fires on her clothes, only to get whacked in the face with a shotgun before Heavy actually fired a shell directly on her forehead. That wasn't enough to take out Ruby, but she was down for a bit. Yang fired explosive shots from Ember Celica at the invincible men, but found out to her horror that they were indeed invincible when Heavy took the hits like nothing and also walked through the fire like nothing.

"Doctor, stay here." Heavy ordered the doctor. The ubercharge ran out right about now, and Medic was on the other side of a wall of fire.

"Javol." He said in agreement. Heavy switched his shotgun for his minigun, and revved it up on Yang. The girl's only response was to grin.

"What?" Heavy asked her.

"Punching is good." She lifted a fist up while the other was on her hip. Her words were a direct call back from the first time Heavy fought her in class.

"Yellow still want to fight with fists?" She nodded, and Heavy smiled at her. "Heavy really likes you." He dropped his minigun.

"I do too..."

Nearby, Weiss had managed to clear a big enough area of fire with her ice dust, meaning that Blake can now effectively fight how she's used to now. Still, Pyro was a literal monster. It didn't matter if he couldn't burn the land with his flamethrower, it could still burn the girls in front of him. Whenever Blake came too close, it airblasted her away or set her aflame, and the same went for Weiss too. Well that sounds bad and all, but the flamethrower had to run out eventually. When the flamethrower was near empty, Pyro threw it at Weiss, who caught it with a glyph right before it hit her. Unfortunately, Pyro shot it with his shotgun, making the combustible tank blow up right in her face. She was then finished off with a lucky critical Detonator explosion to the chest, dealing like twice the damage.

As for Blake, well, she had to fight this beast alone- oh wait! Nevermind. Pyro got sniped in the back, making it collapse in pain, meaning Blake came over and knocked it out with a hard kick to the head. Blake looked around and saw Ruby was the one who shot him. The red caped girl gave a shaky thumbs up as she used her own scythe to hold her up. Blake smiled back, and she was walking over to Ruby when something else also called sniped. The oxygen tank on Pyro's back. Basically, Blake blew up, meaning she was out too, much to Ruby's total shock. Especially since she looked on in horror to see Pyro's body was no longer there. She heard cackling in the unburnt part of the forest. Sniper.

"Sorry mate!" Sniper laughed an apology to his co-worker, but come on. If you and your buddies can respawn, then there's no worries about using anything at your disposal. His cackling stopped when in an instant, Ruby appeared in front of him. At first, Sniper pulled out his kukri and got ready to fight her, but he stopped when he realized that she had tears in her eyes and she tackled him.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO YOUR OWN FRIEND!?" She cried out loud, sitting on Sniper's chest.

"Uh, well I-"

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU CAN RESPAWN OR WHATEVER!" Tears were really pouring down her face, and Sniper noticed her eyes were glowing a little silvery. "THAT WAS AWFUL!" She then buried her head on top of Sinper's chest, crying her eyes out. Sniper contemplated taking her out right here, but he didn't want to feel like a total asshole if he did do it.

"Look, I'm giving up, okay?" He lifter her up and stood up. "I surrender."

"I don't care..." She cried, making Sniper feel a little guilty. He started patting her back to comfort her.

"There, there..."

Back to Heavy and Yang... let's just say they fucked each other up. It was a fight so intense, that even with her aura, Yang was bruised and battered. They were in the closing stages of their fight, but... ah, what am I saying? It's basically over. Both combatants were facing each other, barely able to stand up. Their fists weren't even up.

"You fight well..." Heavy told Yang.

"...yeah?" Yang replied. Both were breathing heavily from exhaustion.

"Yes, but Heavy is clearly winner here." Heavy said smugly.

"Is that so?" Yang grinned in pain.

"Da."

"Come finish me then." She said. Heavy's eyes went wide when he realized he could barely lift his arm to punch her. He grunted with all his might, but ended with only a light pat on Yang's belly.

"..." Heavy said nothing while Yang grinned a big grin. "Okay, Heavy will give you ten minute break."

"Ha!" Yang chuckled at him. They stared down each other some more before both fell to the ground, laughing.

"That was good fight." Heavy said, looking up into the sky.

"It sure was." Yang said, also looking up into the sky.

Rustling was heard nearby, and both painfully creaked their heads to see a battered Nora walk through some semi-burnt bushes.

"Holy moley!" She went, observing the still burning forest. "What ha-" Another Nora landed on top of this one with a hammer. She was also battered, and Spy soon returned to his regular French appearance.

"Haha! Nice try, but nothing escaped the great and mighty Nora!" She held her arms up as if flexing.

"Right guys?" She turned her head to look behind her.

"Aye... lass..." Demo moaned in pain. She was so strong from the sapper, that she literally carried Soldier and Demoman on her back as she bomb jumped through the air.

"How'd I do Mr. Spy?" She smiled as she looked down at the Frenchman by her feet. His only response was to slowly raise a thumbs up, much to her glee. The rest of JNPR was coming through the forest now, but notably, Pyyrha was carrying Jaune and Ren. Seemed like the mercs managed to at least get them out before Nora completely and utterly wrecked their shit.

"All mercenaries eliminated. Huntsman win." Ms. Pauling announced.

"Really!?" Nora cheered happily. Team JNPR then jumped up, and did a victory pose like a team.

* * *

 **FOUR DAYS IN A ROW!**

 **Now is time for Thanksgiving break, but seriously, my thanks goes out to all of you for sticking to this story. I never thought I would get this big off of only one story!**

 **I'm giving a heads up about another game night that will take place on Friday 5:00 pm, Western Pacific Time. Make sure to add me on Steam. My Steam name is Sorun_c, look for the cat picture. And also, contact me on Steam if you want to play so I know who to invite to the server.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Mr.G37: Talked to you about this already.**

 **Ren Woods: Talked to you in a PM already, but never say shit like that in your review again unless you are willing to elaborate. Like I said, it is beyond disrespectful if you call something bad to an author but not say why. It was nice talking to you though, and I hope we can keep in contact.**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy**

 **MCZ: The robots will be addressed.**

 **Pisspot: Play the world's tiniest violin Mr. Krabs! *World's tiniest violin plays***

 **A fan: Nah, I'm kidding. It's only Chuck Norris after you. No big deal.**

 **Michamya: I would, but I don't know how to make one nor do I really want to.**


	27. Compromised

**Mann Co. HQ**

After the conclusion of the mock deathmatch round, everyone quite literally crawled their way over to the entrance to the hunting reserve. I forgot to say this last chapter, but Medic got jumped by Ruby before she shot Pyro. Heavy's family was waiting for them at the entrance. Heavy's mom, being a mother and shit, decided to have a big group picture taken of her son and his friends, even though he is in his fifties or so. It's only fitting since she has quite literally spent the last thirty years stuck in a cabin with her daughters in Siberia, and has almost no tender moments of her family being happy. Only their past in Siberia...

She wasted no time in forcing them to sit down on some bleachers for this big group photo, and that included giving them no time to recover from their battle at all. As you can imagine, the full color group photo of RED Team and Teams CFVY, RWBY, and JNPR showed all of them in various states of... hmm... let's just say they all looked like crap in the photo. Except Pyro of course. It respawned shortly after Sniper blew it up, and Ruby did calm down a bunch when she saw the respawn machine was indeed a thing. She gave Pyro a massive hug with tears, and the rubber suited person happily gave a hug back.

They gathered into a briefing room, and were now watching footage of the battle play out on the projector. Only the best highlights of the round was compiled, courtesy of Ms. Pauling. Medic had started healing them with the Quick-Fix.

"Ha! A good hit that was, mate!" Demo slapped Jaune on the back when it showed the moment of Jaune smacking Demo's face with the shield.

"Oh-oh! Here come my favorite part!" Nora bounced up and down when it showed the moment Spy realized he fucked up with the decision to place a sapper on Nora's chest.

"Yes... that was my favorite part too." Spy mumbled with a smile when some of his buds started nudging him about it. The Frenchman had his mask off, and he frowned when it showed the moment Nora broke his sabre and rapier. He worked hard to steal those things.

It then showed the moment where Coco suplexed Scout. "Pffft! I let her do that!" Scout claimed.

"Oh really now?" Coco lowered her sunglasses and smirked at him.

"I just felt bad for you, that's all." Obvious bullshitting is obvious. It then showed the part where Sniper blew Pyro up to take out Blake, making all the huntsmen gasp in shock. At least the respawn machine was active, otherwise they would've been scarred for life after watching Pyro die like that if it wasn't in the room with them, alive and well.

"That was still mean by the way!" Ruby punched Sniper's arm.

"Hehe, I don't what you're whining about mate, but didn't you see us kill Scout and Soldier before?" She shut up after he said that, at least for a little bit.

"You guys were still friends though..."

"Ah, that's just us using everything we got to our advantage. You should've of seen the other Halloweens we had. Some moron goes around placing pumpkin bombs everywhere, pumpkin bombs that we gladly use to blow up our enemies when shot at."

The projector cycled through some more highlights before it shut off, and Spy went to turn on the lights.

"Congratulations. You've beaten us and our robot forces. That is no small feat, I can assure you." Some of the mercs started grumbling while the huntsman cheered, high-fived each other, and all other kinds of stuff like that. Spy was going to say more when a knocking was heard at the door, and in came Zhanna.

"Brother! Mama says food is ready." She called for her brother, Heavy.

"Food?" Heavy said. He wasn't aware his mother was cooking something.

"Da. It is bear." She said with a plain face. "Hello, my little maggot bear~" She winked at Soldier before leaving the room. The students can't help but stare at Soldier with horrified expressions when she said that.

"Come on men! My fiance is waiting for me!" Soldier rushed out of the room.

"Someone actually _LOVES_ Soldier!?" Weiss yelled.

"Da. She is my sister." Heavy said, sounding a little annoyed that Zhanna likes Soldier. After all, it is Soldier... "Let us go. Mama is waiting for us."

* * *

So they made their way out to the front of Mann Co. HQ, and found that Heavy's mother and his sisters had set up a huge table made out of several table they found across the HQ building. The food on the table made the students' jaws drop as well as gain funny looks from Heavy's coworkers.

"Mama, did I not say we will never eat bear again?" Heavy said to his mother, annoyed that the biggest meal on this table was a fuck huge bear that easily dwarfed a large ursa in size. I cannot stress enough how big this bear was. It was easily twice as big as the bear heavy fought in that one comic, and the most mind blowing thing about it was that Heavy's mom **_KILLED_** this one by _**HERSELF**_. Just... what the fuck!? How'd you even sneak this past airport security!?

"Oh son, but bear is good! It makes you strong!" Heavy's mom assured him. "Besides! Do you not miss eating bear?"

"No mother, we hate eating bear! I said I was going to lose my fuck-" Heavy's mom slapped the fuck out of Bronislava.

"Net rugan'! YA ne podnimal fol rot rebenka, i bud' ya proklyat, yesli ya slyshu, moi deti proklyanut snova! (No cursing! I did not raise a foul mouth child and I'll be damned if I hear my children curse again!) Mrs. Cherinkov yelled in Russian (spelled in the Roman Alphabet for the readers. Google Translate is not helpful.)

"Da, mother..." Bronislava rubbed her poor cheek.

"Do you also have problem?" She threatened Yana, Heavy's other sister.

"No mama..."

"But mama, how are we going to finish this bear?" Heavy said.

"Simple! Start eating!" With that, Heavy's mom ripped an entire leg off and began eating it. "Your friends can eat too! Come on children, eat!" She waved the students over.

"...do we have to eat... that?" Weiss wasn't so sure about eating the bear, and neither were her fellow students.

"Oh, poor children... Mama Cherinkov cook all this food for you skinny babies, and you do not want to eat?"

"At least not the bear-"

"Nonsense! Look at you children... skinny babies who cannot grow because they need food! If not bear, then try some chicken kiev or even the pierogi."

"You heard the communist, maggots!" Soldier yelled as he lept on the bear and started ripping into this bear. "I am going to kill this cooked bear with my hunger!"

"Zhanna will too!" His fiance also lept onto the bear with him, ripping flesh off as they went. Heavy's other sisters simply ate everything else, so did the students since they didn't want to be rude by denying free food. That, and despite her kind demeanor, they were sort of afraid that Heavy's mom would utterly wreck their shit if she was anything like her son.

"Hey... where's Zwei?" Ruby muffled out with a piece of bread stuffed in her mouth.

"Two? Two of what?" Medic asked as he was carving up the bear. I feel like he's only doing for samples or something so he can study why the bears are so big...

"Um... excuse me?"

"Oh! My apologies, Zwei means 'two' in German."

"Oh, okay. I mean Zwei like my dog." Ruby said, finally taking the bread out of her mouth.

"Ah, ze dog... ze dog is in ze armory with Saxton Hale. I'm still mad about losing to that hound..."

"A-a..armory?" Ruby stuttered out, a hint of happiness in her eye.

"Ja...Scout!" Medic yelled for the Boston kid.

"What?" He was leaning his chair and was using the Three-Rune Blade like a fork to hold bear meat for him to eat.

"No veapons allowed on Mann Co. premises unless ve are under attack or training!"

"Ah, come on! What's going to happen if I don't?" He smirked at the German. Then someone tipped his chair an inch downwards, and he tumbled down, making everyone laugh at him. He angrily got up, but his anger went away when he saw who did it.

" _That's_ what will happen." Ms. Pauling smiled down at Scout. She had just come down to check on them when she saw Scout was breaking her new policies.

"Yeah... that'll happen..."

"Thank you, Ms. Pauling." Spy thanked her. "Now, William, be a good gentlemen and take Ruby over to the armory. You need to put that sword there anyway."

"Yes, listen to your father, Scout you little baby man!" Heavy taunted.

"SHUT YER TRAPS! HE AIN'T MY DAD!" Scout yelled angrily. "HE'S JUST A LOUSY, BACKSTABBING, CROUTON!"

"And this crouton is going to backstab you if you don't go there now!" Spy laughed with his other coworkers, having some fun at Scout's anger.

"Fine! Let's go Ruby..." Scout stomped off to the armory with Ruby, who was just standing there the whole time thinking about _GUNS and BLADES and BOMBS._

"So..." Yang began. "You're his dad?" She asked Spy. The students were shocked to learn that Spy was his father.

"NO HE'S NOT!" Scout can be heard yelling in the distance.

All the students looked at Spy, and he just smiled. "I'll tell you all later..."

Ms. Pauling had not left them, and had actually taken the time to introduce herself.

"Hello everyone, um... I am Ms. Pauling, Mann Co.'s handler of mercenary affairs as well as TF Industries. I was your announcer earlier."

"Hi, Ms. Pauling." They greeted her.

"Fuck Ms. Pauling..." Zhanna said under her breath. Didn't matter if she thought no one could hear her, her mom was still on her ass for cursing, and she tackled her, yelling in Russian about how she did not raise bad children while slapping her back and forth. Much to the students surprise.

"Don't worry Zhanna! I'll get this communist woman off of my favorite communist-" Heavy grabbed Soldier by the scruff of his neck.

"You will not lay hands on my mother!" Heavy and Soldier began fighting each other, crashing into Medic and Sniper as they went. That only made the fight get bigger, and everyone who wasn't Engie or Spy were at each other's throats. The students can only watch wide-eyed at them

"See kids? This is why I have them give all of their weapons up and put them in safe storage." Ms. Pauling told them as they watched the mercs rip each other apart with their bare hands. In Medic's case, he was literally using bear hands from the cooked bear to beat Soldier silly.

 _"Why are people on Earth so violent?"_ Blake whispered to herself, cringing every time a loud whacking sound was heard when they hit each other. It was still impressive how much damage they can take without an aura.

"But... they're still fighting each other though..." Velvet said, wincing when a snap was heard from Soldier's spine when Heavy slammed him on his knee.

"Ah, they do that all the time. I take their weapons away only to reduce how much damage is done on Mann Co. property. Speaking of Mann Co..." Ms. Pauling left the students to watch the fight go down while she snaked her way through the brawling mercenaries to get to Engie.

"Hey, Engie?"

"Howdy." Engie greeted in his sweet Texan voice.

"Hi, um... do you mind if I ask you a favor?" She said with a smile.

"Go right on ahead." He took a swig of his beer.

"Can you give me control of the robots? Pretty please?"

"Why?"

"Mann Co. needs workers, and we have absolutely no money to do anything. I only need the robots to start making hats and guns for Mann Co. so we can get back on our feet." She explained.

"But... don't them robots run on money though?" Engie asked. It was true, since for some fucking reason, the genius of Gray Mann decided to power his robots on money.

"Hopefully, we can make more hats to sell then they can eat up money." Ms. Pauling assured him.

"Sure." Engie said. "You're our friend after all."

"Thanks Engie! You're the best!" Ms. Pauling ran off to her office to get some work done now that she had control of the robots. It wasn't easy taking the Administrator's job after she died of old age, but it was a job she had to do nonetheless since she was one of the few competent people still working at Mann Co.

* * *

"Oh dust..." Ruby said in awe. "These are all your weapons!?" She chirped happily at the rows of weapons labeled for each mercenary.

"Yeah..." Scout said in an annoyed manner. He was still mad about Spy. "Ms. Pauling forces us to put all our weapons here, which is really annoying cuz it takes forever to put it all back." Scout grumbled.

"Try not to touch any- and you just touched everything..." Ruby was literally rubbing her hands on anything that can cause harm.

"I-I think... I'm in heaven~" Ruby nearly fainted, had Scout not stopped her from falling.

"Geez! What is with you and guns? I mean, I get happy when I get a new gun too, but goddamn!"

"Sorry! It's just a little. hehe, 'quirk' of mine!" She smiled and rubbed the back of her head. There goes our little red riding Ruby, skipping across racks of weapons that she could just not be more happy about. She hugged a minigun and had some of the other mercenaries' weapons in her lovingly, crushingly, weak grasp, and she reached Spy's section. Scout's section was conveniently right next to it, and he still grumbles about it.

"Hmm... who's this?" Ruby was looking at the Ambassador, and this was the first time she noticed the woman carved on the barrel. Scout turned his head to see, and his face scrunched up in anger.

"My freakin' mom..." He said angrily. "Your dog is over in that closet." He pointed a thumb back at a supply closet that had light shining out from the cracks, and it was in its own little corridor. Laughing as well as barking can be heard from behind it. "I'm out..." scout left, and Ruby sadly put all of her weapons away, because you found she couldn't open the door with her hands full.

* * *

"Hahaha!" Hale laughed jollily as he rightfully took in his earnings. He was playing Poker with Zwei, Archimedes, Archimedes' gang of doves, and Lieutenant Bites. There was also a loaf sized bread monster in here.

'Ahhh..." Zwei whined, his ears drooping down.

"What's the matter mate?" Hale said. "Lost all your loot?"

'Not yet!' Zwei barked. The doggy then used his nose to push a single dog treat onto the table. Everyone at the table laughed.

'Son, I've seen better wagers in garbage cans!' Lieutenant Bites the Raccoon chittered out.

"The raccoon's got a point, my canine friend." Hale chuckled. "That's pretty pathetic.

'I-it's not pathetic!' Zwei whined. 'I don't think you have anything better, Mr. Raccoon!'

'That's Lieutenant Bites to you, maggot! And you want me to prove it?' Lieutenant Bites chittered out. 'Scratches! Sharp! Fall in!' Two other raccoons 'tactically' entered the room from the fireplace and from a vent.

'Lieutenant Bites, sir!' Both raccoons stood at attention, there paws at their heads as if saluting.

'Men, I want you to raid the nearest dumpster and find loot better than this pathetic dog's biscuit here!'

'It's a delicious treat!' Zwei barked.

'I second that.' Archimedes cooed.

'Shut your trap, damn Kraut bird!' Lieutenant Bites growled.

'Oh yeah, filthy American garbage creature?' Archimedes cooed. He spread his little dove wings out, and his dove posse posed behind him. 'We outnumber you!'

Before Lieutenant Bites can animal language anything back to Archimedes, another Raccoon, a very young one, popped its head from a vent.

'Sir!' It squeaked. 'We have an unknown contact approaching from the west!'

'What is it?' Bites chittered.

'A girl in a red hood, sir!'

'My God...' Bites growled. 'She's here to avenge her grandma... damn you big bad raccoon!'

'I thought it was 'the Big Bad Wolf.' The bread loaf growled out.

'Does it really matter!? Men! We must-"

"Hello?" Ruby peaked her head in and saw Saxton Hale hanging out with four raccoons, a bunch of doves, Zwei, and... a loaf of bread with teeth? She also saw they were gathered around a Poker table, much to her confusion.

"Um..."

The raccoons all started growling and hissing at her, and they quickly evacuated the room through anywhere but where she was. All the doves also flew out over her head, and the living bread loaf hissed at her and hid under the table.

"...was I interrupting something?"

"No! Nothing at all, girl." Hale assured her.

"Hello, Mr. Hale."

"G'day, now how can I help you?"

"Oh! I'm just here for my dog! Zwei!" Zwei jumped into Ruby's arms.

"Haha! Looks like you won't be winning back your losses anytime soon mate!" Hale laughed. Zwei barked something, and Hale laughed even more. "Sucks to be you then!"

"Uh... you can understand animals?" Ruby was confused.

"Yep!" He gave a big Australian smile.

"...okay. Well then... bye Mr. Hale!" Ruby left.

"Huh, guess I win the poker tournament then, haha!" Hale laughed. "Now I should probably get back on starting those talks with the Australian King. Hope my standing as Australia's national hero would convince him to give me more money for Mann Co, then that pale woman would really be in for it now!" Hale said his thoughts out loud. "Ha, I'll have Bidwell schedule me a flight tomorrow, but for now, I'm going to find Charles Darling's nearest zoo and burn it down just to make myself feel better!" Hale cheered to himself with his fist in the air.

'Dude, seriously?' The living loaf of bread hissed as it slid from underneath the table. 'Man you're pathetic...' The bread then slid to the door and left the room, leaving Saxton alone to mope about how lonely he was right now.

* * *

So Ruby got back to the outdoor dinner table. Engie set the portal nearby, and confirmed that it was only 6:00 in the morning on Remnant, so they were good on time. Some robots were marching around, doing stuff like maintenance and moving things around. The brawl that happened earlier ended when Heavy's mom went beast mode, and completely wrecked everyone who had fought. Medic was healing the combatants now, as well as himself.

"What's with all the robots?" Yang asked, aiming to end all of the students' curiosities about the machines.

"Remember what we told you about Gray Mann?" Engie said. Team RWBY took a moment to tell Team CFVY who Gray Mann was. "After we killed him and the old mercenaries, he left behind a lot of robots when we destroyed the control center. So when we decided we were actually gonna train you kids, we decided to reactivate the robots. Only this time, they were on our side."

"I guess all those robots out there were from Gray then, huh?" It was true, there were mounds full of the same robots everywhere, but the only difference was that they were painted blue, and there were various tanks, including a combat version with a battle cannon, as well as the large transport ones.

"Yep." A simple response came from Engineer. "Now, are y'all ready to go home?"

That would be a yes. The students waved goodbye to Ms. Pauling and Heavy's nice family as they went in the portal.

"Ah... why can Zhanna not go, little maggot bear?" Zhanna was hugging Soldier right now.

"Son... I have seen the other side of that portal, and I can tell you that you will die before you would even consider breathing the air there!"

"Is not true, Zhanna. But still, stay here with mama." Heavy ordered his little sister. He gave his whole family a hug, before leaving back to Remnant with his gang.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy, Later**

It has now been five hours since they've returned to Remnant, and Amity Coliseum was going to open up for today's single matches soon. Team RWBY was making their way over to the airdocks.

"I still can't believe someone actually loves Soldier..." Weiss said. "How can anyone love a man like... _that?"_

"Guess people on Earth are just different..." Yang said. "I think Spy being Scout's dad is way freakier though."

"Yeah. Who would've thought it?" Blake said. "Still, I think I see it in their faces."

"Speaking of faces, can you guys believe that Mr. Sp- Mr. Moreau actually showed us his face?" Weiss said.

"Yeah, he's pretty handsome..." Yang whistled. Ruby punched her shoulder. "Ah! Hey!?"

"Yang!? What are you saying!? That's Mr. S-uh... Moreau we're talking about here!"

"She's not wrong..." Blake added. "I wonder why he keeps his mask on all the time though...

"Probably because he's a 'spy'." Ruby said. "Anyway, I'm still happy that for once, we beat them!"

"Yeah! Take that, mercenaries!" Weiss cheered.

They got to the air docks, and found Team JNPR waiting for them so they can go up together, but no mercenaries... Spy told them they'll meet up later, but yet the mercs were a no show. Ruby asked Team JNPr if they've seen them, and they said not since they came back from Earth. Thinking it's a little strange that they weren't here, Ruby called up Spy's scroll.

"Oui?" Spy said in a calm voice.

"Spy? Where are you guys? The shuttle's going to leave soon!" Ruby told him.

"Go on ahead without us Ruby." Spy's voice transmitted through her scroll. "We have business to attend to..." Spy hung up, and Ruby put her scroll away.

"Wonder what they're busy with..." Ruby said to herself. "Oh! Hey! Our rides here! Come on guys!"

* * *

 **Earlier, Cinder's Room**

Spy remained absolutely silent, and absolutely invisible as he eavesdropped on what was happening right now. Cinder had called him over for something, for what, he had no idea, but he decided to listen in when he heard some juicy stuff going on. He had to sneak out the neighboring room and stand out on the ledge next to their window.

"Are you two ready?" Cinder said to Emerald and Mercury.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Mercury whistled.

"Ready." Emerald said.

"Good." Cinder then turned to Neo. "Since he failed to show up, I want you to find Spy and get rid of him." Neo gave her a worried look. "A shame he has to die... he was quite interesting..." Spy cringed when she said that. He was certain she was above 20, it's just that she looked really young, but he wouldn't want to be with a woman like her anyway.

"Are you sure about getting rid of Spy?" Emerald asked. "He did get rid of that deserter."

"Does it really matter?" Mercury said in an annoyed tone. "Him and his friends can all go to Hell, especially that bastard with the bat..."

"Spy is now a liability. Any sign of failure or disloyalty now is punished with death. We cannot take risks so close to our moment of truth."

"Let's go. Vale is going to get quite a match today..." She smiled. With that, Team evil left soon after, and Spy entered the room. He uncloaked and searched around for anything useful. Our Frenchman soon found a map detailing the location of a White Fang base out in the Emerald Forest. Taking a good look at the map, he memorized the location of the base as well as the last base of operations the Fang had in the city itself. A perfect place to hit.

Spy's heart jumped when he heard footsteps out the door, and he instantly cloaked himself. He fell back into a corner with a mirror, and watched Cinder Fall enter the room alone. He contemplated killing her now, but he held back when he saw her approach the mirror he was standing in front of smiling. It was tense, but he kept his cool. Cinder just happened to be checking herself out at the mirror he was standing in, that's all. As you can imagine, it was very uncomfortable being an invisible man standing in front of a mirror a woman was using.

"Soon..." Cinder said to herself, hand reaching to touch the part of the mirror that reflected her face, making Spy slowly lower himself so she wouldn't touch him. "...I'll get all the power I've ever wanted." She held her hand there, contently observing her happy expression for whatever she was going to do next. It felt like forever to Spy, but she left soon after picking up an ambulance worker's cap that she left behind.

"Soon, I'm going to give you the suffering you never wanted..." Spy said to himself when she was gone.

* * *

 **Mercs' House**

That's where we are now. The mercenaries gathered around in the garage with a map of Vale on a table they set up. Neo was tied and bound in a corner with sticky bombs all over her. If it wasn't obvious, she failed miserably in her task to kill Spy since they knew she was coming.

"Everyone ready?" Spy said to his coworkers.

"Affirmative!" Soldier loaded rockets into his rocket launchers.

"Let's get 'em!" Scout flipped his bat up.

"I'm ready." Engineer said while lugging a toolbox over his shoulder.

"Guts and glory!" Demo cheered, spinning the revolving cylinders of his grenade launcher.

"Read and willing." Sniper said.

"I am ready to destroy evil men!" Heavy yelled.

"I cannot vait!" Medic laughed.

"Mphm Hmmm!" Pyro muffled.

Spy couldn't help but smile at the enthusiasm of his teammates. The Teufort Nine... the scourge of the Badlands (and each other), the best mercenaries the world has ever seen are going to fight evil on their own accord. They're going to be heroes, sure, heroes no one really wants or actually knows, but that matters little to any of them. They just really want to kill some evil fucks.

"Remember gentlemen, the only gain we have from this, is the death throes of the wicked." Spy said to the cheers of his team as he got ready to go away with Neo. "A lion sleeps in the heart of every man, and ours have just woken up..." He then turned his attention toward the angry faced Neo.

"As for you..." He pulled out his butterfly knife and held it to her chin. "Does this remind you of when you were first here?" Neo's face got angrier. "I have an offer for you, and it has to do with Roman." Neo's angry face turned into a shocked one.

"Join us, and we will help you free Roman. Simple as that." Neo immediately mouthed out a yes. How could she say no to such an offer? She loved Roman too much to say otherwise.

"Good." Spy plunged the butterfly knife down on the knot that held Neo's ropes, and as before it came apart instantly. The French gentleman helped Neo up to her feet.

"Now, first order of business, partner, is to take me to the main Fang base..."

* * *

 **Later, Last White Fang Base in Vale.**

This last base was an abandoned train yard at the very edge of the city, near where the VDF and Atlas have held back the Grimm since Grimm activity has risen there. They were doing an admirable job, yet a sudden surprise attack from behind should easily shatter the defenders and let the Grimm in when the invasion commences. This base was full of the best equipment the Fang could muster, Atlesian Paladins, Spider androids, Atlesian knights (both 130 and 200 models), and the best and toughest fighters the Fang had in their ranks. The militant Faunus were gathering here all in one place, and a lot of them were in civilian clothing since they've yet to receive uniforms. There must have been hundreds of them.

The members of the Fang were currently doing a check of all their equipment since it won't be too long before they would have to use it. Totally unaware of the eight crazy fucks eyeing their base up for total annihilation.

Sniper was driving his camper van up to the base with all the mercenaries except for Spy in his van with him. All were loaded for bear. Engie had a level 2 Sentry on top of the camper van, effectively making it an AFV (armored fighting vehicle) minus the armored part. The plan was simple, surprise them, and rape them in the midst of all their confusion.

Grinning like the madman his father used to always call him, Sniper floored the gas pedal, and they crashed right through the flimsy gate of the train yard, running over any one who was unlucky enough to get out of the way. The Fang watched in horror when the camper van plowed through a group of new recruits in civilian clothing, and panicked when the occupants of the van came out and massacred the defenseless recruits, and began killing everything that moved. There was so much panic amongst the Fang, that barely any resistance was mounted.

Engineer's sentry shred anyone close by to pieces, and Engie himself soon wrangled the machine so he could focus rocket fire on the paladins before the Fang could get into them. Heavy and Medic stayed by the van as Heavy took the sentry's place in ripping the Faunus to pieces with his minigun. Soldier had done a straight up suicidal charge at the mechs, and luckily, one of his crit rawkets hit the massive generator the mechs were plugged into, meaning a big ass chain explosion happened, destroying most of the mechs. Demoman was popping grenades everywhere at any Fang he saw. Scout was running around, chasing down any that attempted to escape. Sniper did his thing and sniped with deadly efficiency. Pyro... well come on. It's Pyro. He lit the entire fucking place on fire, making even more for the Fang when their base of operations burned in flames around them. The fire was especially effective as a terror weapon. All eight mercenaries looked just like demons straight from Hell, here to bring judgement on the Fang for their sins.

"KILL THEM ALL! HAHA!" Heavy laughed maniacally as dozens at a time were killed by his massive minigun.

"TERRORISM IS UN-AMERICAN! THEREFORE I HATE YOU ALL!" Soldier screamed at the top of his lungs, as he blew several of them into pieces with his rocket launchers.

"Guts and glory, lads!" Demo roared when he dropped his grenade launcher and began dual wielding the Half-Zatoichi and the Eyelander against a group of veteran Fang.

"PISS OFF, YOU MONGRELS!" Sniper yelled.

"MPH MPHM HMPMH!" Pyro laughed happily from under his mask.

Well shit...

There is no other way to describe the battle other than it was a total massacre. The attack was so unexpected and devastating, that almost no resistance was had from the panicking Fang. What little resistance that was mounted was immediately crushed by the mercenaries.

"Hell, that was easy..." Engineer whistled at the utter sea of mangled body parts and corpses the mercs stood in.

The battle had lasted only five minutes, which is actually perfectly realistic if you know anything about most firefights in the modern day, and all lay in ruins. None of the mechs could've been piloted to fight back, none of the Fang members survived, and the train yard that served as their base had just collapsed right on top of the few survivors holding out within it. Their screams were music to Heavy and Soldier's ears as both men stood at the edge of the flames, watching them burn to death.

"Hahaha! You are no match for giant man, evil men!" Heavy taunted at them.

"And so is the fate of all terrorists!" Soldier yelled at them.

"Spy. It's done. They didn't even put up that much of a fight..." Engie radioed in to Spy with a phone from Earth. They didn't want to use scrolls since that would mean using the kingdom's communication network, and who knows if someone was listening on Vale communications.

"Excellent work." Spy's voice came across.

"Are you home yet?" Engie asked.

"Yes. Neo had just, hehe, 'killed' me, and she's on her way to Cinder now."

"Copy that." Engie smiled. He put the radio away, and turned to tell the boys it's time to leave. The mercenaries had teleported the camper van back to Earth, but their evacuation was cut short when flights of Atlesian Dropships flew in, shining spotlights on them. Engie quickly scooped his teleporter up.

"Halt!" The pilot called over a speaker. "Stay where you are! You are under arrest!"

"What in Sam Hill!?" Engie exclaimed. Atlas wasn't supposed to react this quickly. There was a Grimm attack in progress on the walls, yet there were entire platoons on top of them now. The mercenaries were not sure on what to do. Should they fight, or should they surrender? If they run away, that would only make them look more guilty.

"Ah Hell..." Engie put his hands up. "Come on boys. There ain't a need for any further violence tonight." Some Atlas Soldiers and Knights had dropped down with their weapons raised at them, surrounding them.

* * *

 **Earlier**

Spy and Neo had finished up with planting bombs on anything of importance at the White Fang base. It was a relatively easy task since both were masters of disguise and stealth, but the only problem was that it was so large. The bombs in question were completely invisible and were only able to explode by means of detonator, courtesy of Engineer just for this mission. The main base was had rows upon rows of tents that housed at least 500 White Fang, and it also had cages full of angry Grimm everywhere.

"Have you finished?" Spy asked Neo as he was got out of his Fang disguise. Neo nodded her head yes, and was also getting out of her disguise. Having Neo on his side meant he had all the advantage against Cinder. The girl has spillled out everything she knew, and she knew _everything_ about what Cinder was intending.

"Good. Now take us back to my house." She did just that, and the ice cream girl had to wait for Spy to get confirmation from Engineer that the other Fang base was destroyed.

"There you have it." Spy said as he put his radio down. "We have one base totally annihilated, and another ready for destruction." Neo pointed at her wrists as if she had a watch.

"Yes, yes, I know. You need to meet with Cinder soon, and you need me dead." Neo then gave him a worried look, as if she wasn't sure how she was going to kill Spy without killing him. If Cinder doesn't get one dead Frenchman, then Neo herself is as good as dead. Spy shrugged and pulled out the Dead Ringer and his Butterfly Knife.

"Here." He passed the blade to Neo. "Kill me." She still gave him a worried look.

"How are you going to free Roman if you're dead?" She mouthed out. Thank God Spy could read lips.

"Do you remember the first time you stabbed me in the back?" Neo nodded her head. "This watch is how I survived the first time. Do not worry, you have my word when I said I was going to free Roman. Now do it."

Stab him she did. Now that their was a bleeding fake Spy corpse on the ground, Neo hurried off to meet Cinder at the air ambulance. Spy stayed home and watched the Yang Vs. Mercury fight play out on the television. It was an epic fight, even though he already knew what was supposed to happen.

Suddenly, he heard the whirring noise of an airship outside of the house, and saw an Atlesian Dropship had touched down in his yard. He quickly turned invisible as Atlesian Soldiers stormed into the house, looking for him. Their search was quickly ended when they found his fake corpse on the ground, but still, Spy was confused. He left the house and went all the way to his classroom before pulling out his radio. The only possibility was that something had happened to his fellow mercenaries if Atlas was here.

"Engineer, what the Hell happened? Why is Atlas looking for me?" There was no response.

"Why now of all times?" Spy sighed. He was so close to his moment of victory over Cinder, yet Atlas had to come in and fuck everything up. Seeing that there was nothing he could do immediately, he simply sat on his teachers desk, and lit a new cigarette.

As far as Remnant was concerned, Professor Spy was dead.

* * *

 **Things are going somewhere fast. The end of volume 3 is near...**

 **Thanks to all who came for game night, it was so much fun! I think maybe next time we'll play Garry's Mod...**

 **Review Responses:**

 **delta4phoenix: Viel erfolg. Don't respond to me in German. I don't know much other than totally random phrases.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: Anything for my gang.**

 **Awesome Arod: Cowboys are awesome.**

 **Lel: Explain further.**

 **Pisspot: Cadaver1041 got that covered already.**

 **A fan: Sorry m8, but I'd rather play the game to write a story than watch a let's play on one.**

 **Freddo5: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! You're back! I have seen Game Theory's video on the Pyro already, I just don't care. Unless Valve says so, it's not canon.**


	28. It Begins

**Team RWBY's Dorm**

After spending the whole night keeping himself hidden, which was an easy task due to his invisibility, Spy wasn't sure what he was going to do next. His ability to destroy Cinder's plans had been severely weakened with the loss of his friends. He could activate the bombs he had at the White Fang base now, but he wanted to wait at the perfect time for Cinder to see her plans unravel. For now, he was looking for someone to save Penny. Neo was still on his side, and he was supposed to meet her a little before Cinder enacts the final phase of her plan, so he can't go and do it himself. Besides, he risked alerting Cinder that he was still alive, therefore he also risked losing her should she choose to flee when the authorities come for her. Why did he need to save Penny? Just a little more salt to add to Cinder's wounds, and that he genuinely would feel bad for the robot girl. She was lifelike despite being a machine.

As for Penny, the only person he could think of to save the robot girl was none other than Ruby Rose. It was an obvious choice. From what little time Spy has seen of Ruby and Penny together he could tell they were excellent friends. So how can she say no to the possibility of her friend dying? Then again, there was the off chance that they won't believe him. Either way, he made of his mind to go and see Team RWBY. He had cloaked himself as expected and climbed up the face of their dorm room, and when he got to their window, he found that General Ironwood had just finished telling them that Yang was disqualified from the Vytal Tournament. After the general left, the girls started arguing to each other over Yang's innocence, making Spy hesitate to show himself.

All of this was so stressful on him. He had a very narrow window of opportunity to destroy Cinder's plans, a window that became ever smaller as time ticks by. Eventually, he stopped listening on what was being talked about in Team RWBY's dorm, something about Yang being disqualified, and thought about what would happen is he failed to stop her.

More correctly, he thought about the day of his original failure...

* * *

 **Vichy, France, 1942**

The 24 year old Jacques Moreau prepared to go out in his German alias, Grenadier Adalwolf Hoffman, to do his part in the long awaited uprising. Today's the day France has been waiting for. Today's the day of the uprising the resistance has been planning for so long. He heard a knocking on his door as he was putting his coat on, and saw an old friend walk in.

"Well now... I was looking for Jacques Moreau, not this handsome son of a bitch we have here!" Jules Beaumont laughed as he approached Jacques.

"Uncle Jules!" Jacques went as he hugged his uncle.

"Woah! Careful now, boy. My heart hasn't been the same since Verdun! Haha!"

"Sorry, uncle." Jacques smiled as he let go of his uncle.

"It's nothing to worry about lad. Here, I got this for you." Jules pulled out a box he was hiding under his coat, and gave it to Jacques. "Open it up, son. It's a long overdue birthday present..." Jacques opened the box, and inside contained a fine revolver with a silver finish and a mahogany grip. The barrel was clean of any markings, the days before Annabelle Charleston was part of Spy's life.

"Look here..." Jules took the gun in his hand and showed Jacques the finer points to it. "Chambered in .50 cal, can fire six rounds before reloading, is capable of taking moon clips, and... hehe..."

"What?" Jules response was to wave his hands around like a magician, and a doll of a Hitler appeared in his hand with a little poof. He made a finger gun out of his hand, and made a 'pew' noise. The doll's head blew up/

"Extra headshot damage." Jules smiled through his white mustache.

"Is that really necessary uncle?"

"Ah, just a little extra for my boy here. After all, how could I not make such a fine weapon for you after that generous amount of money you gave me, hehehe..."

"But Uncle, you didn't have to do this! That wish was 6 years ago! I was young, and only wanted to show off my wealth to my friends."

"Oh, that maybe so. Yet I still made it for you, and I expect you to use it with pride and honor when you go out there." Jules put an arm around Jacques shoulder and walked him out of the Resistance's hidden base.

"Wie geht es deinem Deustchen? (How's your German?)" Jules asked.

"Perfekt. (Perfect)"

"Weapons ready?"

"Oui."

"Heart ready?"

"Oui- what?"

"Is your heart ready?"

"... what do you mean, uncle?"

"I mean are you ready for this? The Resistance is counting on you. Your role today is crucial to our success."

"I-I..." Jacques stuttered.

"Stuttering? Mon Dieu... look at me! A 72 year old man with shrapnel and shot stuck in him and I'm braver than this healthy young man here!"

"Uncle... I don't think you should be fighting today..."

"Now that is Fascist talk if I've ever heard it. I've fought bravely for our country from the Somme to Verdun. And by my honor, I will not stop fighting today!"

"But-"

"But what? France is in need of heroes more than ever, Jacques. My condition is no excuse to stop fighting for what I love. As a man of France, I intend on freeing my home, or die trying..." Jules kissed Jacques forehead like a father would.

"Look at you... your father would've proud to see the man you've grown into." Tears welled up in Jacques eyes.

"Ah-ah! No tears! The only time I should ever see you shed tears is when you rejoice at France's final liberation from the enemy!" He took Jacques in for a hug, in which he gladly returned. Little did Jacques know, this would be the last time he would do this to his uncle.

"A lion sleeps in the heart of every man, and ours have just woken up..." He whispered into Jacques ear, before letting go of him so he could perform his mission.

"Hurry on now. The resistance isn't going to hold off the uprising for a man to finish hugging his uncle." Jules tipped his hat.

"Vive la France."

"Vive la France." Jacques said as he went off on his mission.

* * *

Spy snapped out of his memory, when he heard the door close. He saw Yang was now alone in the room with Zwei, grieving over being disqualified from the Tournament. He felt bad for her since he felt like it's his fault this happened. Well, it was his fault in a way, but it's too late to change that now. Still...

Suddenly, the rest of RWBY rushed back into the room, much to Yang's surprise. They had shocked looks on their faces.

"Turn the TV on!" Ruby yelled, to which Yang immediately did.

"What happened?" Yang asked. No one answered her. They only motioned for her to watch the news.

"Tragedy strikes Vale as a series of events rack the kingdom with grief." Lisa Lavender of the VNN announced. It showed a cut of Yang breaking Mercury's leg.

"Why are you showing me this?" Yang was not in the mood to be reminded of what she didn't do.

"Shhhh! Keep watching!"

"Among the incident at Amity Coliseum in last night's singles round, Atlas has announced that they have arrested eight professors from Beacon Academy last night after they were caught at a ruined White Fang professors are part of a group of nine that have joined Beacon only a few weeks ago. It is presumed the men destroyed the base themselves in what the commander of the apprehending force, quote 'a deal gone wrong'. Atlas claims the professors have been working for the Fang for some time, but they've only betrayed the Fang now."

The TV showed images of the eight mercenaries on screen. Curiously, Spy was missing.

"It is suspected the attack was the result of the Fang failing to deliver on whatever they promised to the professors, or maybe even the other way around. This is supported by the discovery of one of the nine professors found dead in their staff home in Beacon." An image of Spy was shown. "How the Fang managed to stay undetected by Beacon security during the act is unknown, but it is believed the attack on the base was in retaliation of the Fang's assassination. Currently, all eight professors are under Atlesian custody. There has been no further word on Atlas of the matter, neither has there been word from Headmaster Ozpin." Yang shut the TV off, and Team RWBY once again looked like their spirits were crushed.

"It's not true..." Ruby refused to believe it. "They wouldn't work for the White Fang! Would they?"

"I don't see why they won't..." Blake growled. "They are mercenaries after all..."

"Blake! Come on! They're our friends!" Yang tried to defend them.

"Yeah! They invited us to their house a bunch of times! And just yesterday they took us to their own world!" Weiss added.

"What if it was only because they were trying to gain our trust? They're mercenaries. They fight for money and nothing else. Guess a teaching job doesn't pay enough for them. Not to mention how they killed all those misguided Faunus without a se-"

Clapping was heard behind all the girls, and they snapped their heads in the direction of the noise.

"Ladies..." A familiar masked man greeted them. "Don't you know that you can't always trust the news?"

* * *

 **Atlesian Airship, "Blue 2"**

The eight mercenaries had been imprisoned aboard Ironwood's flagship. They had their hands bound behind their backs since Atlas knew they could literally pull weapons out of thin air should they leave them unbound in their cells.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE! I AM AN AMERICAN WHO KILLED A BUNCH OF TERRORISTS, AND THIS IS HOW YOU THANK ME!?" Soldier banged his helmeted head against his cell door.

"Just give it up, Soldier. These doors ain't gonna budge for nobody." Engie calmly said. The cells were made in such a manner that you can't see who was in the other cells near you.

"Give it up!? Cowardly Texan, I bet you wish Texas was as great as America!"

"Texas is part of America, dummy."

"Oh, would you two shut up!?" Roman Torchwick's voice sounded off.

"Torchwick? Is that you?" Engie asked.

"Orange-haired maggot!?" Soldier added for no reason.

"Yes! It's me! Now shut up! You've been yelling since last night!"

"Is it even daytime yet?" Demo's voice sounded off. "I can't even see me watch."

"Quiet prisoners!" The guard watching the prison bay shouted. He was certain at this point they were yelling just to fuck with him. "The general's here to see you!"

"I'll take it from here, sergeant." Ironwood said as he walked up to one of the cells to begin questioning. You know, these are the mercenaries of TF2. These guys are as stubborn as all Hell, and they answered with absolutely dick to any of Ironwood's questions.

"Piss off." An uncooperative Australian.

"I ain't telling you jack, general! But what I will tell you, is how I'm the best-*door closes*" Too annoying.

"Terrorism does not answer to America! Oh wait... I think I-" Too delusional and insane.

"Mphm-mphm!" Can't understand him. The soldier that tried to remove Pyro's mask was scarred for life.

"Bloody Hell, you're a dumb bastard, ain't ye?" Too drunk.

"Heavy will say nothing. If little man wishes to force Heavy, than I will crush you." Uncooperative.

"Can I see vat is under your skin? Zat metal plate on your head's got me curious!" Too creepy.

Ironwood was now on the last mercenary. Engineer. He knew he would probably get nothing from this man, but he had to try nonetheless.

"Hello." Ironwood greeted Engineer.

"Howdy."

"What were you men doing at the White Fang base?"

"Went out for a stroll." Engie replied.

"A stroll? That looked more like an attack that ended in a total massacre."

"So it does." The Texan responded. "We went out for a stroll, and found a bunch of terrorists rightfully in need of some killin', so we obliged them."

"Mind explaining why you attacked this base and failed to inform Ozpin or even myself?"

"I just said why."

"Then tell me how you knew where this base was. I refuse to believe you were casually driving around and stumbled upon it."

"...nah."

"No? You won't tell me why?" Ironwood was getting frustrated. These men were hard to deal with...

"Nope."

"Okay... tell me what happened to your friend then, Spy. How did he die?"

"I don't know. Maybe the Frenchie tripped on one of his own knives and killed himself. Dumb bastard." Engie gave Ironwood a smile when it became apparent that Ironwood's frustration was showing. Ironwood took a deep breath, and continued.

"Mr. Engineer, though you've indeed done me a favor and wiped out a Fang base, your highly unsubtle way of doing it has gotten the kingdom scared. On top of what happened at the Coliseum last night involving one of your students, Yang Xiao Long, the people are afraid that something is wrong more than ever before. You are aware how the Grimm are attracted to negative emotion, correct?" engineer nodded his head.

"Then you understand why this is such a bad thing. My forces work day and night alongside local huntsmen and the Vale Defense Force to hold off the ever intensifying Grimm presence at the kingdom's defenses, and yet we have you men making everything worse. Do you have any idea how many reports I've received already about how hard the Grimm have been hitting since last night?" Ironwood was completely serious about this. The Grimm have been hitting harder since last night.

"What are you hiding?" Ironwood leaned in close to Engineer.

"I ain't hiding a damn thing." Engie claimed. He saw Ironwood's fist clench. "Do it. I dare ya, you sissy."

"Just tell me-"

"Nope. Now are ya going to hit me or are you going to sissy out like a little girl?"

"He's a pussy!" Scout yelled from his cell. At that cue, all the other mercenaries began insulting Ironwood.

"Bloody bogan!"

"Tiny coward!"

"Bloody two eyed bastard!"

"Dishonorable son of a bitch! I was always a better soldier than you!"

"Mphhm #$ # % $ # $ Mphm!" Pyro flipped the general off (wut), sticking it's hand out of the cell window.

"Schweinhund!"

"ENOUGH!" Ironwood punched the wall right next to Engie's head with his cyborg arm, leaving a sizable dent in it. "Tell me now.." He threatened. Engie looked like he gave zero fucks about Ironwood's threat.

"You missed." Engie smiled. Ironwood was done. He stood up and walked out of Engie's cell and closed the door.

"Until further notice, you and your companions will be kept on this ship." With that, the general left. Totally unaware that Engineer slipped his glove off after he left. The glove containing the Gunslinger.

* * *

 **Cinder's Room**

Team Evil was in Cinder's room. They had just finished watching the VNN broadcast of what happened last night. Cinder was upset to say the least. The loss of that Fang base was very hurtful to her plans, and it was only made worse since the plan begins its final stage tonight.

"Told you we should've gotten rid of those new professors. Now look what happened." Mercury said.

"At least Atlas arrested them, now they're not a problem anymore. Right?" Emerald asked.

"Indeed." Cinder said. She was thinking about what to do now. "Good work on killing Spy, Neo." The ice cream girl nodded her head.

"How are the Grimm going to break through the kingdom's defenses now?" Emerald asked, and Cinder looked up at her.

"We have to count on enough fear and panic being caused tonight for the Grimm to be able to break through. Now keep calm, we have to stay the course more than ever. It is far too late to change anything now." Cinder looked outside and saw the Sun was setting.

"Soon..." She held her scroll up, showing Penny vs. Pyyrha in tonight's singles match. "...we'll see if our efforts succeed.

* * *

 **Team RWBY's Dorm**

"Whoa..." Ruby was at a loss for words. All of RWBY was. Spy had dropped multiple facts on them that were hard to believe.

"So you're saying that you just let me get disqualified all because you want to make some bad guys suffer!?" Yang shouted angrily at Spy.

"Why can't you just avoid all of that trouble and tell Professor Ozpin?" Weiss was just as angry as Spy was, believing that Spy was stupid.

"Evil must suffer, ladies." Spy told them. "And what better way to make her suffer than to crush her hopes at the moment where she's happiest?"

"B-but that's-" Ruby was cut off by Spy.

"STUPID!" Blake exploded.

"Ladies, I know it sounds terrible. But understand that this is very personal to me. This woman intends on making a city burn. I have seen cities burn. I _hate_ it. My friends and myself hate evil with all of our hearts, and we simply wish to make evildoers suffer." Spy looked out and saw the sun was setting. "And they will not suffer to the proper degree if they are simply put in prison..."

" Bu-" Spy cut Ruby off again.

"Apologies, but time is running out. Believe me or not, we must make our move."

"As if! That sound like all made up mumbo jumbo! Why-" Spy cut Weiss off.

"Stop. Letting me hear your objections is not going to help anything. I must make my leave now..." Spy walked to the window, but stopped in place. "Oh, and Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"You should hurry and save your robot friend. Next match is Penny vs Pyyrha. Now... I bid you ladies, adieu." Spy cloaked himself and left out the window, leaving Team RWBY to think over what he said.

"And here I was thinking he was the only sane one..." Weiss mumbled.

"This all sounds too strange to be true..." Blake mused. "He did say how he knew where the Fang base was...

"So what? He could just be lying to us. What if Spy's the real bad guy here?"

"Don't saw that, Weiss! If Spy was the bad guy, why would he tell us this?" Ruby defended Spy.

"Obviously, he's trying to gain our trust again."

"And why would he say Mercury, Emerald, and Cinder are trying to destroy Beacon? I say it's because he's trying to use what happened last night against them to win us over."

"That's not true though! Mercury did attack me!" Yang shouted.

"What if the general was telling the truth-"

"Excuse me?" Spy was still at the windowsill though he was still invisible to them. "I have spent the last five minutes listening to you argue, and I refuse to listen to another. Also, did I not say that Pyyrha was going to face Penny? You know, robot vs polarity? You should go stop it if you care for Penny, Ruby."

"OH! HE'S RIGHT!" Ruby zoomed out the window, completely knocking invisible Spy off the window and a French scream was heard as he fell.

"Ruby!" Her team shouted after her, but she was long gone.

"We'll talk more about this later." Weiss said. "Let's go Blake." Blake and Weiss left, leaving Yang alone with Zwei for real this time. Yang laid in bed and went over everything that just happened.

"You're not still there... are you Mr. Spy?" She got no response.

* * *

"Oh... dammit Ruby..." Spy rubbed his invisible back as he made his way over to where Neo promised to meet him. His classroom. When he got there, the girl was in an Atlesian military uniform, ready for her infiltration on the ship.

"Ready?" She mouthed at Spy. It was so much easier to mouth than sign language for her. This was one of the things about Spy she was happy about.

"Yes." She took Spy's arms, and in a flash they were on top of an Atlesian Cruiser. "Are you sure this is the right one?" He asked Neo. The girl nodded and winked at him, for some reason...

"Good." Spy disguised himself as an Atlesian soldier, and they entered the ship. It became apparent that the disguise was completely unnecessary when they found that there were almost no Atlesian personnel to be found on board. Neo and Spy gave each other confused looks, and decided to cautiously enter the prison bay. What they found surprised them to say the least. They found that Spy's friends had already escaped of their own accord and had beat the shit out of all the Atlas personnel on the ship already. Currently, they were stuffing the unconscious bodies of the crew into some of the prison cells they were contained in.

Not surprisingly, since Spy and Neo were disguised in Atlesian uniforms, they were immediately attacked by the mercenaries.

"Achtung! Ve have one more over there!" Medic yelled. The German unloaded an entire cartridge of tranquilizer needles into Spy and Neo's general direction, where both took cover on the sides.

"Stop you idiots! It's- Gaaaaschakh!" Heavy and Soldier had already rushed the hall and were strangling both of them into submission.

"Heavy will break you like the rest of tiny soldier men!" Heavy shouted as he wrangled the hell out of Spy's neck. Soldier was just yelling a loud and glorious battle cry as poor Neo attempted everything to get this psycho off of her.

"Stop! Stop!" Spy wheezed when he finally managed to undisguise himself, making Heavy drop him in shock.

"Oh..." Soldier went at the realization that he was strangling an ally. He then continued strangling Neo for a bit until Heavy punched him off of her.

"Spy! 'Bout time you showed up!" Scout went as he dragged some soldiers into a cell.

"Of course I'll show up..." Spy declared as he dusted himself off. "I'm rather impressed that you all managed to get rid of the crew without alerting the general."

"Not exactly mate..." Sniper said from the large viewport in the prison bay. It was revealed that flights of Atlesian dropships were circling the airship the mercs were on, as well as the other cruisers in the fleet. Transmissions from the other ship captains can be heard for the mercs to stand down, but of course, they were ignored.

"Ugh..." Spy grunted at the sight of Atlas surrounding them. Still, a couple hundred trained professional soldiers who far outgun the mercenaries is no reason for concern at all, so Spy ordered Neo to free Roman. It didn't take long at all to find Roman's cell since Engie pointed it out, and soon, Roman Torchwick was revealed to all. First thing Neo did after seeing Torchwick again was to give him a big long hug.

"Spy? Oh, so you chose to stay with Cinder..." Roman trailed off when he saw the rest of the mercs were with Spy. "Did you convince the rest of them to join too?" He asked in a mix of confusion and worry.

"No. We're still going to ruin everything for her. I just had some much needed help..." Spy motioned to Neo, and the girl looked like she couldn't be happy enough to Spy for helping her free Roman. "As much as I would hate to bother this tender moment, we must hurry to the bridge! Cinder is going to enact her plan soon..."

They all made their way to the bridge where they faced absolutely no opposition since the mercenaries had already dealt with the crew before Spy got there. There were still signs of conflict everywhere, but at least the bridge itself was largely intact.

"Neo, how much more time-" Spy was interrupted when Cinder answered his question for him.

"This was not an accident..." Cinder's voice came across the whole kingdom. If Cinder was still broadcasting this message, that can only mean one thing...

"Oh no..." The mercenaries turned on a live feed from Amity Coliseum, and they saw Pyyrha Nikos standing aghast before the destroyed body of Penny Polendina. Against Spy's predictions, Ruby failed to save Penny.

"This is what happens when you place your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be your guardians. But are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our academies' headmasters contain more power than most armies. And one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference..."

"Holy crap..." Scout was looking out of the bridge, and Grimm can be seen gathering up all the way from mountain Glenn. Their angry red eyes set on Vale.

"...and what I ask you, has Ozpin been teaching his students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy. Yet I have witnessed neither. Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps, this is his message to a tyrannical dictator who has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue to who is right and who is wrong..."

Cinder's voice was cut short when Heavy smashed the feed with his fists. "Evil woman makes Heavy very angry..." He growled.

"You and me both, pal!" Scout flicked his nose like how Bruce Lee would've. "What say you smash this damn bitch's teeth in already?"

"I'm with ya, boy." Engie went, revving up his Gunslinger. It was unanimous that all the mercs were in on this, now their attention was turned on Roman and Neo. They wondered if they were going to stay with them or not.

"What? You expect us to stay here with you guys?" They nodded, and all Roman could do was sigh. "Look, you guys may want to die, but Neo and I have a life ahead of us. Now if you'll excuse us, we'll make our leave now." Roman turned around and began walking off somewhere into the ship, looking for a dropship or something to get off this cruiser. Neo went with him, but before she did, she gave Spy the scroll containing Cinder's computer virus. The virus that was supposed to turn the robotic Atlesian forces on the kingdom of Vale. Spy smiled at the device. He had no idea how it worked, but he hoped his Ap-Sap did.

"Hello!" Wheatley, otherwise known as the Ap-Sap, greeted the Frenchman. "Um, pardon me, but are you aware that you have a knife in your pocket? Several knives in fact."

"Oui. I'm aware."

"Great! Now... um, where are we?" The British accented device said as it's single glowing blue eye looked around the bridge.

"Doesn't matter, what I need you to do now is hack into this." Spy held up the virus scroll. "The technology is out of Earth's league, but I hope a device such as yourself can do a little reprogramming."

"I... sure can!" Wheatley went. "Now what exactly do you have in mind?"

"I want you to reprogram this scroll so that when activated, it brings all of the Atlesian robots to our control. Is that something you can do?" This was an absolutely necessary measure mind you. It was only to make sure Atlas didn't have the firepower advantage over them after they foil Cinder's plans and Atlas is still aiming for the mercs' heads. The androids would still defend Vale, just not under Atlas' control.

"Yes! Absolutely!" Spy then placed the Ap-Sap on the scroll, and waited for it to do its technological magic. The rest of the mercenaries were getting themselves hyped for battle, but it was hard to not get at least a little unnerved at all the Grimm coming into Vale. The other airship and dropships of the Atlesian fleet had already redirected their attention on the bigger threat of the invading Grimm, leaving only one airship to watch the one the mercs were on. It was not pretty. Transmissions flooded into the bridge containing all sorts of reports about positions getting overrun and reinforcements being needed. There was indeed so much more Grimm than expected.

"Roman, why haven't the androids fallen to our control yet?" Cinder's voice came from the scroll Wheatley was reprogramming.

"Um... hi?" Wheatley said. There was a silence on the other side, before Cinder's voice came back in a much more serious tone.

" _Who is this_?"

" _Your first nightmare_." Spy responded in a totally cliche way. "Wheatley, is the scroll ready?"

"Yes it is, my good man!" Wheatley responded, then it saw a nevermore fly outside. "Ah! What was that!? Was that-" Spy shoved the talking sapper into his pocket and went to the control panel of the bridge.

"Spy!?" Cinder shouted from the scroll. "But- how!?"

"I have my ways..." Spy chuckled. "Now are you ready to see your dreams fall apart, mon cheri?" Cinder's only response was to shut her mouth, and the transmission ended there. She's probably raging right now as Spy plugged the scroll into the ship's android control.

"Spy! We got trouble!" Engie called out when he spotted several bullheads, all bearing the marks of the White Fang, land boarding parties onto the airship that was left to watch this one. In Spy's stress about losing his gang, he had completely forgot about the White Fang. Thinking it wasn't too late, he immediately whipped out the detonator for the invisible bombs he placed just yesterday, and pushed it. Several of the Fang bullheads spontaneously blew up mid-flight, and he could only wonder about the damage done at the main base, with the bombs being planted at Grimm cages and all. They didn't plant a lot of bombs, but the hope was that they would destroy what was most important with what little they had.

Unfortunately, it seemed it was too late. Though he did severely cripple the Fang's ability to evacuate and fight, they still managed to land their forces at Beacon and were now running amok in the school as well as all the Grimm flooding into the place. The mercenaries watched from above as Grimm rushed into Vale. They never expected this many to show up, and it seemed that even with the androids still around, the Grimm still were threatening to overrun Vale. Damn useless androids... How the fuck were these thing supposed to replace men in the field anyway? The fucking battle droids from Star Wars are better than these guys...

"Plans are destined to fail, gentlemen." Spy told his fellow men. "Unless you're willing to adapt..."

* * *

 **It has begun.**

 **I felt like it may be rushed, but this is the beginning of the Battle of Beacon. Obviously, it deviates from what happened in the show, but we'll see if my insanity hold out.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Z2010Deadmeat: Fuq Atlas.**

 **buzzsaw935:... redeemed myself of what? And I'll get to your chapter tomorrow. I promise.**

 **ATTF: Thx m8. wood u leik sum Doritos n Mountain Dew?**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: I don't have Garfield Cart anyway T_T.**

 **Battle9921: "Are you robbing me?" *Kills Ruby* "YEAH MOTHERFUQA, NOW GIVE ME YO SHIT!"**

 **Unzealots: Adam was at the other base, but I tell you he made it out of the other base before Spy blew the bombs up. Cinder did not know any of this was happening as she believed that all the mercs except for Spy were just dumb assholes. And since she believed Spy was dead at the hands of Neo, she thought she had nothing to worry about from the other mercenaries, though what they did to the last base was quite a shock to her.**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: It's still coming along, m80.**

 **Boriva: Nice recap. Good cummary. Much information. Such Doge.**

 **Piss pot: Atlas wish they could put a fight against the Grimm right now. The mercs are the least of their concerns for the moment.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: Let's hope so.**

 **Mr. G37: FOR THE EMPERO- I MEAN, FOR JUSTICE!**

 **A fan: I don't live in Texas so I can't get to that bookshop. Sorry.**


	29. Battle of Beacon

**Amity Coliseum**

All Ruby could do was stare in disbelief. Only a few moments ago, she was making her way to Professors Port and Oobleck when Mercury attacked her. She ran for it since she left Crescent Rose down in her locker, but as she made her escape from Mercury, she saw it happen. Penny was torn to pieces by her own swords when Pyyrha used her semblance on her.

"P-penny..." Ruby teared up, falling to her knees. Mercury had got up to her, but when he saw what happened, the gray haired boy decided it was probably best to leave the coliseum now. The brave young girl known as Ruby Rose, a huntress in training, and a staunch believer in heroes, was crying. No, she had to be strong now. She can't let anymore of her friends get hurt today. Gathering all of her strength, Ruby stood up and saw a giant Nevermore had managed to breach the Coliseum's energy barrier, threatening to kill Pyyrha since she was still in a state of shock for killing Penny.

In a blur, Ruby had instantly closed the distance at breakneck speeds, and stabbed the massive Nervermore with one of Penny's swords.

"Leave her alone!" She yelled in defiance against the massive beast. The beast roared at her, but it was suddenly pinned when several rocket lockers crashed on top of it, the weapon lockers of all of her friends. Working quickly, all of the teams who participated in the Vytal Tournament slayed the Nevermore in no time at all.

"I-I'm so sorry..." Pyyrha sobbed. Ruby knew the pain she must be feeling now, but she also knew that there was no time to cry. People needed their help, so Ruby encouraged her to stand with them. Suddenly, griffons began to swarm the Coliseum all around them, but then Professors Port and Oobleck saved them.

The professors ordered the students to evacuate the stadium. They hesitated, but some further ordering got them to leave the Coliseum while Professors Port and Oobleck stayed behind to hold the Griffons back. Ruby led the combined teams to the air docks where they found Ironwood had just killed a rather large alpha Beowolf, the beast's corpse fading away into black smoke. People had gathered up here in the air docks where they waited to be evacuated. Atlesian Soldiers and knights handled the evacuation while also defending them from any Grimm that made it onto the Coliseum.

"What's going on!?" Ruby asked the general.

"Grimm are crawling all over the city, the White Fang have invaded Beacon, and to make matters worse, your mercenary friends have seized one of my ships." The mention of the mercenaries sent a shockwave through Ruby's body. What were they doing on Ironwood's cruiser?

"Until we regain command, the skies are out of our control. So I'm-" The General paused to take a shot at a creep trying to jump them. "-going to take it back." He stepped into the dropship he was going to take to Blue 2.

"What should we do!?" Jaune asked.

"You have two choices: defend your kingdom and your school, or save yourselves. No one will fault you if you leave." With those words in the students' minds, the general turned back into his ship and yelled out. "Let's move out!"

"Come on! We can take a ship to Beacon!" Sun suggested, to which they rushed to find an airbus to take them down to the campus. They managed to find an airbus that still had enough room to fit all of them, and they began their descent back down to Beacon. As they were descending though, everyone gasped in shock as the dropship Ironwood commandeered had just been knocked out of the sky by a Nevermore.

Ruby's eyes went wide when she watched Ironwood's dropship plummet to the ground, but still, she stayed strong. If Ironwood can't reclaim the ship, then she will. She exited the airbus and shot herself up back to the coliseum and ran all the way back to her rocket locker. She punched some coordinates in, and she was off to the cruiser. The one thing in her mind while she did all of this was how she was going to deal with all of the mercenaries...

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

Cinder couldn't believe it. Things had gone so smoothly, yet now it was all falling apart. She had just finished with making her declaration to the world on the true evils of Ironwood and Ozpin, and was pleased to find out that the Grimm ended up overrunning the kingdom's defenses without the help of the White Fang base at the train yard. This is where things stopped going her way. She had just touched down on the ground to meet up with Mercury and Emerald, when she noticed the Atlesian androids had not started attacking the citizens of Vale, and that the Atlesian cruisers were still standing.

"Roman, why haven't the androids fallen to our control yet?" She called for the gentleman thief on her scroll. Roman should've taken control of the ship by now since she sent Neo up there to give the virus to him.

"Um...hi?" A robotic voice in a strange accent responded on the other side. Cinder froze at the sound of the voice.

" _Who is this?_ " She hissed with all seriousness.

"Your worst nightmare..." A voice she thought she would never hear again answered. A voice that was supposed to be silenced yesterday.

"Spy!? But- how!?" She shouted into the device.

"I have my ways..." The Frenchman chuckled. "Now are you ready to see your dreams fall apart, mon cheri?" Cinder did not answer him. Instead, she melted the scroll in her very hands with the flames of anger that welled up within her.

" _Neo..._ " She hissed. Worse yet, she got a call in from Adam saying that over half of the White Fang had been destroyed, including their main base outside of the kingdom. His words were confirmed when she looked to the sky and saw several bullheads of the White Fang blow up in the sky. Adam himself was nearly killed when the bullhead that dropped him off blew up a mere moment after he stepped off of it. Her carefully worked on plan was falling apart at the seams, but Cinder is not one to give up. She refused to be beaten so easily by some men from another world.

"Adam..." She called for the bull. "Take whatever airships you have left and take control of that cruiser." Her eyes were on the one that was circling the one Roman should've been.

"What about the others?" His voice came across. The bull himself was here at Beacon, killing students and soldiers alike.

"Ignore the one being swarmed by the Grimm. What I need is for you take this one..." She took a video on her scroll, and tapped on the one she wanted his men to board. "Do it. _Now._ " Adam did not respond, but she was confident that he'll do her bidding. As for how she was going to blame Atlas for this mess, well... Emerald and Mercury had just arrived.

"Emerald?"

"Yes, Cinder?"

"Ready your semblance. You're going to need every ounce of strength for what I am about to ask you." Emerald nodded, and began putting herself into a calm state. "Mercury?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Take out your scroll. We have one more broadcast for Remnant..."

* * *

 **Atlesian Cruiser, "Blue 2"**

"Giant ship's tiny guns are not working!" Heavy complained when he tried to use the complicated weapons system on the cruiser. It kept flashing red because he didn't have access or something like that. All of the mercs were trying their damnest to try and get anything on the ship to work, but in a combination of genuine stupidity/incompetence and lack of knowing how the ship worked, nothing got done.

"Come on lummox, that cruiser's gonna be on us any second now!" Scout warned him when it seemed like the White Fang who boarded the other ship were close to taking control of the bridge. "Ah to Hell with this! Move fatass!" Scout bumped into Heavy's space where he and the Russian ended up pressing random buttons on the ship.

"Scout stop pushin' buttons!" Enige yelled at the boy while he himself was trying to figure out how to move the ship around.

"Relax cowboy, I know what I'm doing!" Scout assured him.

"You can't even read though!"

"So? I got this-" Suddenly, all systems in the ship went down except for the mechanisms that keep it afloat in the air. "...crap." Scout's entire team looked like they wanted to wrangle the fuck out of his scrawny neck. Spy considered using Wheatley to control the ship, but he didn't want to risk the time. The flashes of gunfire were visible on the bridge of the other cruiser.

"SCOUT YOU BLOODY WANKER!" Sniper actually did pounce on Scout and strangle him, but he was pulled off by the Spy.

"Now is not the time for this! We have to move now or that airship will blow us out of the sky!" The Frenchman yelled. "What we need is help. The situation has deteriorated far beyond what I thought it would be, and I'm afraid we can't do this ourselves..." Spy looked at Engineer and gave him a nod, and the Texan nodded back as he pulled out a toolbox. The situation was made much more complicaed when Ruby suddenly crashed through the glass of the bridge deck. scythe at the ready.

"Guys!" She cheered happily at the sight of them. At least they were okay... but she still had questiona that needed to be asked. "What's going on? Why did you take control of this ship?" She demanded from them.

"Ain't no time for questions, missy!" Engie placed down the portal to Earth, and a bright red glow filled the dark bridge. "We're all gonna be goners if we don't move our behinds now!" Engie rushed into the portal and so did the other mercenaries.

"Wait!" Ruby hesitated to go back in since she wasn't sure if she could trust them, but Medic urged her in.

"Come on!" Medic urged. Then, a great roar shook the ship, and something came out of Mountain Glenn. A motherfucking dragon. A motherfucking dragon that was coming straight for them.

"Gott im Himmel..." Medic gasped at the sight of the massive Grimm. "Ruby, schnell!" Medic and Ruby entered the portal with no trouble at all, and the teleporter containing the portal had disappeared soon after they did so.

* * *

 **Atlesian Cruiser, "Blue 3"**

"Mayday! Mayday! This is Blue 3! The White Fang have breached the bridge! Requesting immediate- Gah!" The captain of the cruiser known as Blue 4 had just been shot in the head. His aura had kept him alive, but that didn't matter to the second shot that broke it. The elite fighters of the Fang had successfully captured the ship and were now taking control of the bridge.

"Adam? We have taken the Human airship as asked." The female leader of the boarding party reported. She appeared to be a bear or something.

"Good. Power of the ship's weapons and fire on the other cruiser when ready.." The bull of the Fang ordered.

"Copy that." She turned to give out orders to the new all Faunus crew of the cruiser. The main laser cannon of the ship charged up in only a couple of seconds, and a bright lance of crimson death pierced through the bridge of the other ship, making a fiery blossom of red and orange explosions. The burning ship known as Blue 2 came crashing down in a fiery mess nose first like an animal since the ship lost the bridge, its 'head'.

The Fang cheered merrily at their work, but their cheers were died when they saw the falling form of Blue 2 get severed in half by a massive flying dragon Grimm. A dragon that was coming straight at them. They screamed and tried to charge up the laser cannon again...

They didn't get the chance.

* * *

 **Down at Beacon**

Cinder smiled at the sight of the airships crashing into the ground. It was a little concerning that she lost the android control ship as well as the ship she sent the Fang to capture, but at least she was sure the mercenaries were dead now. The fact that the last Atlas cruiser had finally been overrun by Grimm was also smiled inducing, and the Grimm dragon had woken up was also smile inducing.

"So much for ruining my dreams, Jacques..." She giggled to herself. What a silly man, believing he could beat her so easily...

"Keep it up Emerald, we're getting some nice shots here..." Mercury said to his partner. Emerald's face looked like she was absolutely stressed right now, and that's because she was. It was a huge strain on her mind to make these projections of Atlesian soldiers and androids attack innocent civilians, but she managed the task nonetheless. Finally, the girl collapsed on the ground from the strain it took on her mind, and she clutched her head in agony.

"Rest..." Cinder put a hand on Emerald's forehead. "You deserve it..." Emerald nodded through her pained expressions, and Cinder motioned for Mercury to come and take her.

"Get Emerald to a safe spot, and stay with her until she's able to move again." Mercury nodded, and carried Emerald off to the dorms.

Meanwhile, Cinder observed the destruction and chaos happening in Beacon. From her rooftop position, she could see some Beacon professors, some of the braver students who were willing to defend their school, as well as any remaining Atlas soldier hopelessly fight back against the ever growing horde of Grimm flooding into the school. The situation grew more hopeless with the loss of the android control ship, making all Atlesian knights and drone paladins collapse into useless metal humanoids, and much more worse with the appearance of the Grimm dragon as it constantly spawned more Grimm directly at the school.

She spotted Ozpin himself along with a girl she remembered as Pyyrha Nikos and a blonde boy running towards Beacon tower. Cinder softly laughed to herself as she jumped down from the roof and onto the ground. The Fall Maiden was waiting for her in the Vault...

Adam Taurus of the White Fang also watched the ships crash, and he snarled in anger at losing even more of his men to this Human woman's cause. There was nothing he can do for them now other than free Faunus-kind from the tyranny of Humanity. So the bull continued his killing spree across Beacon.

Not too far off in Beacon's courtyard, the combined forces of the teams who participated in the Vytal tournament banded together to hold the Grimm off long enough for Atlas to evacuate the students. The fight was unbelievably grueling, yet it was there duty to do it, and do it they will. They fought admirably, but who knows how long they could keep this up. Unless someone came to help them, they would be either overrun or forced to retreat.

Unbeknownst to them, help was preparing itself.

* * *

 **Mann. Co HQ**

The mercenaries and Ruby plopped down right in the middle of their locker room at Mann Co.

"What are we doing back here?" Ruby demanded. She has so many questions, but almost no answers to any of them.

"Engineer, call Ms. Pauling. We're going to need help..." Spy ordered the Texan. The mercenaries had gone and resupplied their stuff, and as for Spy, he got out a key and opened up a large garage door that revealed a booth with the word "UPGRADES" on it.

"Gentlemen, I hope you have a lot of money saved..." The mercenaries had giddily ran up to the upgrade booth like children to a candy store, leaving Ruby confused.

"Why won't someone answer me!?" Ruby demanded. Laughing and cashing machine noises were heards as the mercs did something to their weapons.

"I answered all of your questions before this all began." Spy said without looking away from his weapons as they were getting upgraded.

"Jacques! Pauling gave me control of the bots!" Engie shouted from the wall phone. The mercenaries hooted and hollered in jubilation at that news.

"Bots?" Ruby gasped. "The robots! We're going to use the robots to save Vale!" She said with a look of hope and joy on her face as the Teufort Nine turned away from the upgrade station to face her, posing as a team.

"The robots ain't the only thing we're packing..." Scout chuckled as they began walking out of the building. Ruby followed them.

"What was that upgrade shop looking thing anyway?" She asked. The mercenaries seemed extremely happy about it, and she wondered why.

"Exactly what it sounds like." Heavy said.

"Are your weapons all upgraded and stuff now?" She inquired with a look of awe on her face.

"You'll see when we get there, girly!" Soldier chuckled as they made it out to the front of Mann Co. HQ, where hundreds of robots, be they of each class, giants, sentry busters, and even three red versions of the combat tanks seen scattered around Mann Co. HQ in metal wrecks. Their battle cannons ready for combat, and their automated sentry-like turrets ready to tear into the enemy.

The sun was rising on Earth, and the glistening red robot army looked glorious and magnificent against the backdrop of the Badlands. Ruby was in total awe at the sight. Her expression of awe turned into a huge smile, when she realized that there was no way they could possibly lose to the Grimm with these robots.

"Alright guys, here it is." Ms. Pauling said as she walked up to them. "The robot army you asked for. I don't know why you need them, but whatever."

"Thanks Ms. Pauling!" Ruby gave the purple clad woman a huge hug.

"Oh! Uh... your welcome." Ms. Pauling gingerly hugged her back. Engineer plopped the portal to Remnant behind them, and set it to the largest size it could get.

"Brother? What are you doing back here so soon?" Zhanna asked Heavy as the rest family came to see what the fuss was about.

"Heavy is going to war." He took them all in a big hug. "I will destroy all evil I see."

"Go get them, brother!" Yana said.

"Rip those fu-uh... thugs apart!" Bronislava yelled.

"Be careful, my baby." Heavy's mom tenderly hugged her son. She was well aware that Heavy was an able fighter. It was just that you never know when being able was enough...

"Heavy will, mama." Mikhail assured her.

"Promise Zhanna you will come home..." Zhanna and Soldier were with each other.

"Zhanna, my home is wherever America needs me, and America needs me on the other side of that portal so I got crack some skulls open!" He gave her a double thumbs up, making her smile. She gave Soldier a kiss, and left to be with her family because after all, she was the second oldest of Heavy's siblings so it was her duty to watch over them in his absence.

"Alrighty then..." Engineer began while pumping his Frontier Justice. "Let's get a move on bots and boys! YEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAWW!" The Texan hooted as he gave the bots the order to move in. In a thunderous roar of metallic footsteps, the robots rushed in the portal while the mercenaries waited their turn. At this time, Saxton Hale had just arrived by Australian airship when his trip to convince the Australian king to lend him money failed. Still, he prepared jumping out of the damn airship instead of waiting for it to land. That and Australian airships were specially made for jumping out of anyway...

"What is this now!?" Saxton asked at the sight of the portal.

"Going to war, Hale!" Scout whooped as now the mercenaries and Ruby rushed into the portal.

"War!?" Saxton lit up. "Wait for me, chaps! I want to kill stuff too!" Hale ran full speed towards the portal, but he slammed against it as if it was a hard concrete wall, or rather a diamond wall since Hale can easily break concrete. A face appeared on the portal, and it was an automated message from Gaben. It read 'Ur trip 2 Remnant haz ben delayed 4ever. lel' complete with the glorious face of Gaben smiling.

...

"COME ON!" Hale bent to his knees and covered his face. Bidwell and Reddy came to calm him down. "Well... if it didn't work for me when those kids were here, then I guess I should've seen this coming..."

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

The fight down at Beacon had not gotten better at all. The few students who weren't the combined tournament teams, professors who stayed to fight at the initial stages of the battle, and the few Atlas soldiers left had retreated back to the air docks when the situation grew ever more hopeless.

The Fang were pushing down the center with their own fighters and captured Atlesian Paladins (piloted paladins). They had a force of androids controlled by a source separate from Atlas, but it went out of commission when their base suddenly blew up and Grimm began swarming it. The Fang felt for their fallen brothers, but the time of battle was now, and there was no time to mourn them. The Grimm, though technically a third faction that attacked anything, focused primarily on the panicking civilians as their fear attracted the creatures too them.

Facing down all these threats was the combined forces of Teams, SSSN, JNPR, ABRN, and Blake and Weiss of Team RWBY.

It seemed like they won't be able to buy much more time though, as now the heat of battle was wearing away at them and they felt exhausted. The fact that they used their semblances to the fullest didn't help either, as it even though it helped out a lot, it still drained them of a lot of energy. That and continuous damage taken from fighting Grimm and the Fang has left been in various states of injury. They were taking a rest as they had just beaten back the last wave of attackers, but it seemed like the next wave was coming very soon.

"I think we should get outta here now..." Sun suggested between breaths.

"No! We have to stay!" Coco grunted in pain and nearly fell over when she said that. Luckily, Yatsuhashi caught her, and even he looked pretty banged up.

In a single moment, the area around them was lit up by a glowing red light when a portal opened up in front of them. The teams were startled, and raised their weapons at the portal. Three large tanks rolled out of it and took lined up, and legions of robotic versions of nine familiar faces came out as well as accompanying giants and sentry busters. All lined up in a formation facing the enemy. The last ones to come out of the portal were none other than Ruby Rose, followed by the Teufort Nine.

"Ruby!" Her friends yelled in relief when they saw she was okay.

"What is all this now!?" Weiss gestured wildly at all the robots and tanks she brought with her.

"Reinforcements!" Soldier yelled happily as he wore an American flag around him like a cape. The patriot roared a mighty battle cry as he led a charge not too dissimilar to the one described in his D-day story, as it was robotic versions of him and his friends instead of American troops.

"You kids go on and leave! We'll take it from here..." Spy smiled at the ass whooping the mercenaries were about to lay down on these evil little shits. The mercenaries ran forward behind their robotic army as all the firepower they had at their disposal opened up on the enemy, tearing flesh with bullets or shrapnel, blowing body parts off with explosions, and burning them to ashes with flame.

The tournament kids hesitated, but they were glad they could finally rest. Team RWBY saw to it that their friends got to the evac point safely. At this time, Yang came running in with Zwei.

"Ruby!" Yang tackled Ruby and gave her a big sisterly hug now that she knew she was safe. "Where have you been!? You had me worried sick!"

"Just getting some help." Ruby crossed her arms and pointed a thumb over to the robot army the mercs brought with them. "Now come on! Let's go help them out!"

"Yeah!" Team RWBY cheered as they ran off to join the mercenaries in battle. They were pretty much the only team fit for combat, and logically, they should've listened to the mercs on getting out of here. But hey, you do not leave your friends behind.

It surprised them at how effective the bots were. Alongside the tanks, the robots and mercs had pushed the Grimm and Fang really, and I mean _really_ far back into the school. So far in fact, that the entrance to Beacon Tower was in sight. Everyone could've actually stopped fighting now since all the civilians in the school had managed to reach the evac point with the robots covering them, but the mercs still wanted a piece of Grimm ass. The girls noticed something was off about the mercenaries...

They seemed... better. The mercenaries were already highly elite, but this time around, they seemed to be fighting far more effectively than before. Might have something to do with all the upgrades they put on their weapons...

Heavy had fully upgraded his minigun, fists, and shotgun. Medic had fully upgraded his Crusader's Crossbow, Kritzkrieg, and Ubersaw. Spy had fully upgraded the Ambassador and his Black Rose butterfly knife. Soldier had fully upgraded his default Rocket Launcher, the Reserve Shooter, and his Market Gardner. Demoman upgraded his Grenade Launcher, Charge n' Targe, and Eyelander. Engineer's Frontier Justice was fully upgraded, his wrench, and his pistol. Sniper fully upgraded his entire default set, except instead of the kukri, he was using the Bushwacka. Pyro fully upgraded its flamethrower, its Reserve Shooter, and its Fire Axe. Scout fully upgraded his Sandman, Winger, and Force of Nature.

Oh baby, so much rape is going to be laid down, and it is being laid down as I speak as a matter of fact!

Team RWBY was only staring at all at the significantly improved combat prowess of the mercenaries in awe.

"Oh!" Ruby gasped with a smile as she remembered that they were at an upgrade station.

"What is it?" Weiss asked while Ruby only giggled to herself.

"Oh nothing... come on! Let's help!" With that, Team RWBY ran forward to join the battle. Ruby had a smile on her face the whole time. The dreams she had a couple of knights ago was coming true. Team RWBY and the mercenaries will become heroes! Saving the day against the bad guys like the stories she read as a child! Ruby thought about Penny, and her resolve to fight only grew stronger. She had to do this for her.

Demoman was so hyped to be use Eyelander, that the moment his unrealistically large Grenade Launcher ran out of pills, he charged straight into the Grimm to collect heads. As you know, Demo gains more health, speed, and power from every head Eyelander takes, at least for a few hours as that's all the time it'll last. Heads of Grimm and White Fang flew everywhere as the Scotsman chopped and diced everything with his haunted blade. He got so filled with lust for battle, that he pulled out his Half-Zatoichi to induce even more rape on the Grimm. (ATTF reference)

His killing spree was interrupted when he saw Team RWBY rush at the enemy with him.

"Oy! I thought we told ya to stay put!" Demo yelled as he got back to back with Team RWBY, Grimm circling around them.

"We can't let you guys have all the fun!" Yang cocked her shotgun gauntlets, more like shotgauntlets! Eh... let's keep going.

"Just try and keep up with us then, eh?" Demo smiled. Team RWBY his one eye was glowing red sparks, but they eagerly followed the Scot into combat alongside the other mercenaries.

* * *

 **The Vault**

Cinder Fall was taking her sweet, sweet time walking down the long corridors of the secret underground structure in Beacon known as "The Vault". The only noise that could be heard was the echoing clicks of her heels bouncing off the walls every time she took a step. She was eager to reach the end of this long corridor and claim what was rightfully hers. The title of Fall Maiden. A ringing noise was heard, and she got out her scroll to see she got a call from Mercury.

"Yes?" Cinder said in a confident tone, happy that victory was so close.

"Those mercenaries are back!" Cinder froze in place at the mention of mercenaries. "And they brought a lot of fucking robots!"

" _Show me_." Grolwed Cinder in a very serious tone. Sure enough, she looked at her scroll and got a live feed of Beacon Courtyard. The angle of the shot appeared to be coming from one of the dorms as it was also a little far from the fight, meaning Emerald and Mercury had hidden out at the dorms. As for what was happening on her scroll, all nine mercenaries as well as several hundred robots that looked like them among other variants and three fucking tanks were mowing Grimm down in the field. She could just make out the Fang trying to hold back against the onslaught, but it seemed like they were beginning to panic from the mercenary forces, and you know what kind of mood panic gets the Grimm in...

"What do we do?" Mercury asked from across her scroll, showing a legitimately worried face alongside a still hurting Emerald. Cinder was angry. They were supposed to be dead. DEAD! Why are they still alive!? She took a deep breath, and gave orders to her lackeys.

"Is Emerald able to move?" Emerald gave her a thumbs up through her still pained expression. "Good. I want the two of you to meet with Adam and see what you can do." Emerald and Mercury nodded their heads and the connection was ended there.

"So... you still come to me even after death, huh?" Cinder said to herself, eyes flowing with fire. "No matter..." She continued walking down to where the Fall Maiden was.

"Soon enough... you'll be wishing you went down with the ship..."

* * *

 **The time for rape is near. Question is, how much rape will there be?**

 **We are so close to the end...**

 **If you want to know what the tanks look like, go on YouTube and search up "SFM Infatry Tank" and you should see a combat version of the tanks robot uses. Imagine an automated machinie turret on top of it while you were at it.**

 **As mentioned before, there are actually 2 versions of Paladins. One is a drone, while the other is piloted.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Guest: Saxton Hale hopes he can come back himself.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: It sort of is. Not really...**

 **ATTF: Quite escalated this story is getting.**

 **MrtheratedG: Teh climax is nere.**

 **A fan: Yeah, sorry. I don't really have an interest in playing Super Paper Mario anyway.**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: This is the day we've been waiting for, this is the day the mercs beat the hell out of them all...**

 **Unzealots: Here they are.**

 **Battle9921: My thoughts exactly!**

 **Idk: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!**

 **Gaspachu: They're all going to gang up on her no matter what. Why? Because Cinder is bitch.**

 **Mr. G37: Yeeeeeaaaaaaaahhh Buddy!**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: Well if you can't find the words to describe how much you love me, then I'll describe how much I love u. "luv u, k bye, no homo, gg, nah jk." there you go. Memes...**

 **An peepul: Probably not. He's such a pussy I don't see him as being very useful now that he knows there's evil shit everywhere.**

 **Lazors24: Here's the thing... I know you wish for Yang to get Kritzkireged... yet she is not capable of Ubercharge since Ruby is the only one who got the heart operation for it. Why? Because Medic decided he might as well do it since Ruby's heart got fukt with BONK! Yet much pain will be unleashed.**

 **darkromdemon: Such exciting this is? Well thx mon ami. Or mi amigo if you prefer Spanish. Or mio amico if you prefer Italian. Probably Spanish...**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: I'm sorry T_T. I know Penny was your bae but plz, I sorry.**


	30. The Collapse And The Fall

**Beacon Academy**

The battle rages on. Mercs and huntresses versus the creatures of Grimm and the forces of the White Fang. Grimm constantly came in from the surrounding area while the mercs kept reinforcing themselves with small batches of robots coming out of the still open portal every now and then.

The robot forces of the mercs split into three spearheads led by the tanks. One on each flank, and another that stayed with the mercenaries and Team RWBY as they pushed ever closer to Beacon Tower. As a matter of fact, they had already reached Beacon Tower. It's just a matter of securing the area around it now, and then the whole school.

"How's it feel to fight battles, girls?" Scout asked as he was somehow blowing more than two shells out of his Force-A-Nature without reloading.

"Tiring..." Weiss sighed after spearing a Boarbatusk through the belly with Myretenaster. She had been fighting non-stop since the battle began.

"Better get used to it, ice girl!" Heavy yelled as his minigun roared with automatic fire.

"You cupcakes better not stop now!" Soldier yelled when he sliced a beowolf's chest open with the sharp edges to the Market Gardner. "If you want to take a break, then finish this fight!" Soldier replaced the Market Gardner with the Reserve Shooter when a pack of beowolves tried to attack from above. That was no good.

"If you want something easier, then take the center!" The girls looked at the patriot in confusion. "Okay... allow me to put this in civilian terms..." Soldier caught a beowolf by the neck, and snapped it with a single motion. "The center is that-a-way!" He threw the corpse of the beowolf towards the cafeteria, which where the Fang were before they started retreating. They were still there, it's just that they were still in the process of retreating as the Grimm saw the robots as a much bigger threat than the Faunus militants.

"Your call, Blake." Ruby said to the former member as they turned their attention on her. Blake looked a little hesitant to face her former brothers. Eventually, Blake decided that she'll do it if only to try and convince some of them to surrender with their lives. She really did not want anyone else to die today, especially if they were misguided Faunus.

"Let's go." Team RWBY nodded at the cat's decision, and rushed to the cafeteria.

Spy watched them go as he backstabbed a beowolf and blew some ursas heads off with the Ambassador.

"Someone go with them and make sure they are safe." Spy ordered as he kicked the harmless, headless corpse of the evil bear down to the ground.

"Ja, I'll go with zem!" Medic yelled right after he got done sawing a small King Taijitsu into pieces. The girls were way faster than the German, but Spy was sure he would make it to them. Medic wasn't really needed over here anyway. Engineer got them covered with dispensers if they needed to be healed. The current situation of the battle was that the robots had secured over half of the academy since they reached Beacon Tower, and were still fighting their way to the other half of the school. It became much harder to push forward as they went further, but the mercs swore on their souls that they'll recapture this school as if it were one giant control point, even if it took the whole night.

Aerial Grimm that circled around and harassed the mercs' forces were kept at bay by various sentry guns erected by robot engineers. As for Engineer himself, the Texan focused his own sentries on the Grimm dragon, hoping to at least destroy the dark globs that fell off of it as they fell. Pyro and Heavy kept him safe from attack while Demoman and Soldier went 100% offense against the Grimm, closing in with blades or blowing them up with their explosives. Spy was coordinating the robot forces as Engie was busy, and Sniper was doing the usual from on top of the tank that stayed with them. The robots that stayed with them did their part in helping the mercenaries fight. As for the new robots coming from Earth in small groups, they were sent to the flanks as reinforcements as Spy was sure the Teufort Nine and their robot entourage were enough to hold their area.

Now it was only a matter of clearing Beacon Tower, and then...

Find Cinder and beating her fucking face in.

* * *

 **Beacon Cafeteria**

Team RWBY was at the cafeteria doing exactly what Soldier told them too. Except they were surprised to find a lack of White Fang in the area. The girls only found a few scattered grunts who were hiding from the Grimm. Blake told them that Team RWBY will get them out of there alive if they just surrendered, and not surprisingly, they took that offer. Especially when Blake revealed herself to be a Faunus to them.

"Stay here." Blake ordered them to hide underneath a large piece of a collapsed wall.

"Thank you, sister." The grateful Fang hid under it as asked. The rest of Team RWBY were holding off Grimm not too far off, and Blake was about to join them had she not seen a few more grunts near the entrance to the cafeteria. Medic was with the rest of RWBY by the way.

"Brothers of the White Fang!" She called out to them. "Please surrender! It's the only way you're getting out of this alive!" They did not listen to her, and they ran into the cafeteria. Blake who was not one for seeing anyone killed, ran after them because she still wanted to save them. Unaware that an old friend of her's was waiting within...

"Adam?" I think you know what happens immediately after...

...

Meanwhile, Team RWBY was facing off the Grimm pretty well. It was mostly due to the Grimm focusing on the robots and Medic keeping them in tip top fighting shape.

"Man, that thing's amazing!" Yang just cracked a beowolf's face mask open. "I don't feel tired at all anymore!"

"Ja. It is, isn't it?" Medic was happy someone complimented him on his invention. Then he realized that the B in RWBY was missing. He looked around and saw Blake run into the cafeteria by herself.

"Vait!" Medic yelled after her, but the cat had already ran in. "Ugh, stay here! I'll go after Blake..." Medic groaned.

"No problem!" Ruby shouted, still happy about the way things were going.

"Hope he gets back here soon." Weiss said, worried about getting tired out again.

"It's okay Weiss. Soon, he'll be back with Blake and we can finish this!" Ruby assured her.

Back with Blake, Medic came in to find Blake standing in the middle of the ruined cafeteria with her back turned to him. He was a little suspicious, but he trusted that this was Blake.

"Augh!" Medic scoffed at Blake's recklessness. "Did we not teach you to never leave your tea- Oh-Augh-ahh..." Medic gasped as something just slashed across his back. He felt his back, and saw blood on his gloved hands when he looked at it. Slowly turning around, he saw a man with a Grimm mask covering the top part of his face, and he had bullhorns...

Medic felt everything in his body slow down from his injury, and he felt really light headed as he fell flat on his back. He turned his head upwards just a little bit to see that Blake was an illusion, and that the real one was actually beaten and off to the side.

"Friedrich!" Blake yelled at the top of her lungs.

 _Friedrich? How nice... she actually remembers my first name..._

Blake was horrified. First her school and home had come under attack by the Grimm and the White Fang, Penny was killed, and now she witnessed what was probably the final death of Friedrich Heilburger, the Medic. Worse yet, it was done at the hand of Adam Taurus...

"You see Blake?" Adam pointed his sword at the fallen German. "I told you humans were weak. Their entire filthy race should be exterminated for such weakness, such arrogance..." Emerald and Mercury revealed themselves and went up to Adam, and so did the rest of the White Fang who were still fighting. It seemed like they only feigned retreat for a trap...

"Leave." He ordered.

"Are you sure?" Emerald asked. She still seemed a little stressed about overusing her semblance. "Cinder told us to-"

"Leave." Adam said once more. "This is personal. If you want to do something useful than help the rest of my brothers and sisters escape. As for me?" The masked bull looked down at Blake who was nearly at the verge of tears. "This is gonna take a while..." They left soon after, understanding what Adam meant.

"No..."

"Yes." Adam countered. "I already told you that I was going to destroy everything you love. However, this man's death was solely for all the brothers him and his friends have killed." Nearby, a familiar blonde brawler was heard calling out for Blake and Medic. Adam grinned at Blake's eyes as they got wider.

"It begins with her..."

"Blake!? Medic!?" Yang called out desperately in search of her friends. That's when she saw it. Medic lying back first on the floor, and Adam plunging his blade into the side of Blake's belly, making Blake scream out in pain. Yang froze. Her partner, her friend, just got seriously hurt. She can't let him get away with this...

 ** _"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_**

Yang had turned into a fireball of anger and rage as she flew at Adam with the intent of killing him. Adam grinned, and put his hand on his sheathed blade...

In a single swipe of the blade, Yang's right arm was severed clean off, and the fearless brawler had instantly went unconscious with shock. She tumbled far with all the momentum from her short flight, and Adam slowly walked towards her with his blade out. Blake had managed to throw herself on top of Yang despite her injury, and she gave Adam a defiant look of anger. The bull stared back with unfeeling eyes.

"Why must you hurt me Blake..." He said in a tone that told you he didn't care much for what he was going to do next. The bull raised his sword, and brought it down...

Everyone was shocked. Blake stared with eyes as wide as plates, while Adam wondered what happened. It took Adam a full moment to realize that his right hand was missing. Screaming bloody murder, Adam fell to the ground, writhing in total agony at losing his hand. Medic had just saved Blake's life with his upgraded Ubersaw. An Ubersaw full of energy from the kills he got with it earlier.

"You should have cut deeper... Schweinhund..." Medic spat at Adam as he rolled around in pain. Miraculously, Medic was alive, but barely. He still looked terrible from his injury, but his automatic self-healing allowed him to stand up after a few minutes even if it was a slow process. Still, the German fell to his knees and coughed out blood as he surveyed Blake and Yang.

"Medic..." Blake gasped at him.

"Ja?" Medic coughed.

"You're-"

"Hurt. I know. Do not worry about me, I vill be fine." Medic managed a pained smile for the cat. "Now... take Yang and leave."

"But what about you?"

"Just give me some more time. Zis self-healing takes a while to fully heal mine injuries. I'll take care of you and Yang later... gah!" Medic coughed out even more blood when Blake took him in a big, tear filled hug.

" _Thank you..._ " Blake sobbed.

"Ja, ja, you're velcome. Now please, if zat blade didn't kill me zen maybe your embraces vill!" Medic managed to laugh at a moment of dark humor even in his state. Oh mercenaries...

Soon after, Blake ran off with Yang in tow, and Medic watched them leave as he stood back on shaky feet. Adam was still writhing in pain as the German went to pick up Yang's severed arm.

"Hmm... I can re-attach zis with no problem..." Medic placed the arm in a cooler, and put it away so he could help Yang out later. As for Adam, he pulled out his blood covered Ubersaw, and walked to the down bull.

"You see zis?" Medic smiled as he showed the bloodied blade of the Ubersaw to Adam. Adam was clutching his severed hand and had managed to stop rolling around to stare back at Medic under his mask, still making grunts of severe pain.

"Zis, did zis." He pointed the bloodied surgical blade to his severed hand. "Would you like a guess at what zis is going to do next? Hmm, my dear patient?"

"G-go to Hell..." Adam growled in pain, making the German smile.

"Already been zer, mein freund! Multiple times actually!" Medic chuckled. "But no. That is not at all what I had in mind. Though I suppose it's technically correct since ve all are going to hell... so... vould u like a second opinion?" Adam didn't say anything as he held his severed hand, still looking at the madman on top of him.

"I'M GOING TO SAW THROUGH YOUR-" Medic was interrupted when the fire that consumed the cafeteria had reached the ceiling and timbers started falling down. Looking back down at the bull, he smiled.

"You know vat? I think ze fire is a fate much more fit for a bastard such as you. With the burning... the charring of your flesh, ze splintering of your bones, your flesh falling off ze bones like tender cooked chicken... well, hehe... I think you understand."

Medic bowed at Adam before he left the burning cafeteria, confident that the flames will take him. The screaming he heard soon after seemed to confirmed his suspicions...

* * *

 **Beacon Airdocks**

Blake ran for the air docks. She snuck around the Grimm since they were still focusing on the robot forces. Fortunately, she didn't have to sneak around for long as the robots were really close by when she escaped the cafeteria. Unfortunately, the Medic bots seemed like they were not meant for healing living allies as they focused on their fellow robots even when Blake demanded them too. It must have been because they do not recognize her as someone to take orders from.

When she finally got there, she collapsed on the ground from the burning pain of her stab wound. Ruby and Weiss came running in surprisingly soon.

"Blake!? What happened!?" Ruby yelled, not seeing how serious of a condition Yang was in yet. "Medic told us to come back here and he looked really-" Ruby gasped mid-sentence when she saw Yang was missing an arm.

"Y-yang..."

"I'm sorry..." Blake teared up. Ruby looked crushed. She hoped that she wouldn't see anymore of her friends hurt today, much less her own, brave, big sister. Weiss saw Ruby's state and decided something must be done.

"Don't worry!" Weiss said, trying to calm the situation down. The last thing they needed now was to break when one of their own was severely injured. "Medic will take care of her later. I know he will." Ruby did seem to cheer up at that. Having a miracle man of medicine was always a plus, but it still hurt seeing Yang without an arm.

"Guys!" Sun shouted when he saw Team RWBY was here. "Come on, the soldiers have ships ready to take you guys down to Vale where you'll be safe."

"But Sun! We can win this!" Ruby yelled.

"I'm not so sure about that, Ruby." Sun said. "Who knows if the mercenaries really can win with those robots?"

"They can!" Weiss supported Ruby.

"You don't know that! For now, let's just get out of here. You know, just in case they can't do it..."

"We can't leave!" Nora grunted. The girl was clutching the side of her belly and was on the ground next to a kneeling Ren. "Pyyrha and Jaune are still out there!"

"We're not... leaving! Hrng!" Ren grunted.

"Don't wor-" Sun was cut off by Ruby.

"I'll find them." The little red reaper said with all seriousness. Determined to not see anyone else she loved get hurt. "I'll find them, and I'll bring them back!"

"No! We'll bring them back." Weiss stood at Ruby's side and gave her a reassuring smile. "Watch after Blake and Yang. We'll be back."

Ruby and Weiss made their way back to Beacon Tower in hope of getting some robots to help them find Jaune and Pyyrha, but they found something else...

"Oh dust..." Weiss gasped.

"Guys!" Ruby screamed.

A giant circular wall of fire surrounded the tower, cutting them off from the mercenaries. Worse yet, a lot of the robots had been destroyed, and their appears to be no more reinforcements coming in. The Grimm were retaking the school...

"Ruby, Weiss!" Pyyrha shouted as she ran over to them, alone. Weiss suddenly got a call on her scroll.

"Weiss!" Jaune shouted. "You got to stop Pyyrha! She's-"

"Right here!" Weiss showed Pyyrha to Jaune. Jaune's face lit up when he saw Pyyrha was safe, but before he can say anything else, a Beowolf had thrown a brick right at Weiss. The brick hit her scroll, destroying it.

"Looks like we got bigger problems to worry about..."

* * *

 **Beacon Tower**

It was a grueling task, but they were pretty much done now. The area around Beacon Tower had been secured, and the mercenaries were resting up by their dispensers as their near-tireless robot army fought on. Remember how I said that it got harder to push as they went further? Now that they reached past Beacon Tower, it had reached a stalemate as Grimm poured in faster and not enough reinforcements were coming in to make further pushing possible unless Engie made another teleporter to Earth.

Speaking of Earth, somehow, a living a loaf of bread had managed to crawl into the portal and was now wreaking havoc on the Grimm as it turned into a bread monster. Luckily, Heavy was able to throw it far out into the Grimm horde before it reached a dangerous size. A plus for the mercs I guess. I mean as long as its killing Grimm, it's a friend. Breadzilla was even trying to get at the Grimm Dragon, the fucking Dragon versus a giant bread monster.

"Hahaha! Much evil has been killed today!" Heavy cheered with his minigun raised in one hand.

"Yes-sir-re! We sure licked the Hell out of these bastards, didn't we boys?" Engie chuckled out as he opened up a fresh beer.

"You said it, cowboy!" Scout started dancing the conga, encouraging the other mercenaries to dance in had not Spy halted them with a raise of his hand. They stopped, and looked to the direction of Beacon Tower.

"She's here..." Spy stood up and dusted his suit off as Cinder Fall stood at the entrance of Beacon Tower. Medic had just arrived and the mercenaries advanced on her with their weapons ready. She did not seem to be afraid of all by the mercs' display. In fact, she was smiling as if she were amused.

"Gentlemen." Cinder greeted them with a little bow.

"Surrender now, and I promise only break most of you." Heavy said with his minigun ready to spin at any moment.

"Best listen to him, sheila." Sniper added. "Who knows, maybe we'll just leave the parts of you need and break everything else." Sniper softly chuckled to himself at his evil thought.

"Charming." Cinder's smile was still there, and it was annoying the mercs since it seemed like she thought she wasn't in deep shit right now.

"What's with that look?!" Scout yelled. "You look like a dumb- gah!" In an instant, an arrow had been shot into his leg. All the mercenaries looked at Scout, then back at Cinder, who had materialized a bow, and laughed their asses off

"Y-you must really want to die ya damn whore!" Scout laughed alongside his friends. "Gonna take a lot more than an arrow to-"

Cinder snapped her fingers, and Scout exploded into a raging fireball of Scout parts and flame, knocking all the mercs to the ground from the force of it. Fire started forming around Cinder as her smiling face remained unchanged. Emerald and Mercury came in from the side, wondering what just happened.

"Leave." She ordered them. Emerald and Mercury hesitated, but if Cinder really did have the power of that Maiden they fought, then they really did not want to get her even a little angry. "They're mine..." They left.

"Oh Jacques, you and your friends are so foolish..." Flame came out of her eyes as she levitated up, fire surrounding her very person.

She put her hand forward and a column of flame came out. It completely missed the mercenaries, but it wasn't for them anyway. She destroyed the teleporter to Earth, stopping robot reinforcements and any way of escape the mercs had. One last thing, she shot an arrow upwards, and it split off into several fiery trails that spread out into a circle around Beacon Tower. It then formed a huge firewall that destroyed a lot of robots, and worse yet, trapped the mercenaries inside it with her.

"Foolish indeed... believing you can be heroes today, but in the end, you are just men..." A bullet pinged off of her face, and Cinder grinned at the act of defiance.

"Exactly. We are men." Spy said slowly with a smoking Ambassador pointed at her.

"That won't save you from me, for I have the power of the Fall Maiden. You stand no chance against me-" A bullet pinged off of her face again, and this time she gave a straight face. Spy was a little unnerved that the .50 cal bullets of the Ambassador pinged off of her face despite it's extra headshot damage, but he figured that she must have been a lot stronger than originally thought. Still, that's no reason to pussy out now.

"Neither will this 'Fall Maiden' power you speak of save you from us men." Spy retorted. Cinder smiled once more, and shot forward at speeds too fast for the mercs to react as she grabbed Spy by the throat with one hand.

"Let's see if it does..." She slammed the Frenchman down onto the ground with a shockwave of fire knocking all the other mercenaries back. Here's the shitty part, despite them fighting Pyro multiple times in the past, fire is still the bane of their existence. Everyone who wasn't Pyro ran around frantically looking for anyway to put themselves out, even asking to get Jarate'd on when Medic was busy healing someone.

Giggling to herself at all the power she had, she easily broke Spy's arm as if it were a twig. Spy grunted in pain, much to Cinder's disappointment. "Fascinating. Normal men would scream bloody murder if their arms were broken." She smiled. "Let's test that with your other arm-" Cinder suddenly got an extremely hard hit to the face. A hit so hard, that even with all the power of the Fall Maiden she some a of it.

She landed on her feet and saw the Pyro was the one who had done it. Pyro had it's Axetinguisher out since using fire against her clearly wasn't an option.

"MPHMPHM!" Pyro mphmed at her. _The Fire Queen hurt my friend. Nobody hurts my friends._

Cinder scoffed at the flame suited person. "To think I used to be afraid of you..." She simply raised a hand, and a pillar of fire came out of it. You should have seen her smug face turn into a surprised one when Pyro walked right through the fire and struck her on the chest with the Lollichop. Pyro roared under its mask as it continued its attack on Cinder. However, Cinder easily dodged it all and the hits she did take did little against her. After Pyro missed a swing, she kicked it out all the way to a wall where it broke right through it, and then she blocked gunfire coming right from the other mercenaries.

The mercenaries laid everything they got into her, but this woman was impossible. She merely held her hands out to block projectiles as she blasted even more fire onto the mercs. Soldier rocket jumped into the air and rained rockets down on her. The Fall Maiden simply started flying, completely negating Soldier's advantage because his rockets did not track, and she moved really quickly. She flew at Soldier and tackled him, intent on flying him right into the firewall. This patriot did not give a fuck on what this woman intended for him as he punched her in the face to no avail, so when good ole' fists didn't work, he smacked her with the Market Gardner. Cinder actually dropped him from the surprise of actually feeling some damage from it, and she got hit with some shells from the Reserve Shooter as Soldier fell back to the ground.

Then, Cinder suffered a long lance of crimson laserfire straight to her head that actually almost pierced her aura. She was still getting shot at when she turned to see the source of the light came from Sniper who was camping with Engineer's sentry. Blocking bullets with a smile, she simply raised a hand at the stationary target.

"MOVE!" Sniper yelled as he pushed Engie out of the way of the pillar of fire that came from her. Engineer's machines were instantly melted into useless molten metal.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Engie cursed as his machines were destroyed. He stood up, but was suddenly greeted with Cinder's face when she teleported in a puff of fire to his location. She uppercut the Texan up into the air and slashed poor Sniper right in half with a fiery blade just as he was about to drop Jarate on her. Engie gasped at another one of his coworkers dying. The entire team gasped in fact. They weren't sure if they were able to come back from this one...

Cinder was distracted with blocking bullets from Heavy as she got ready to shoot forward and take care of the Russian and German duo had a mechanical harm not flipped her over and slammed her on the ground. She actually gasped as she hit the ground, and she was then welcomed to the sight of a Engineer jamming the Frontier Justice onto her stomach and fired all the shells stored in its upgraded magazine in quick succession, crit and regular. Cinder grunted in pain from it, so she grabbed the barrel of the shotgun as he was firing and lit the entire gun on fire. Engineer immediately dropped the destroyed weapon and held his burnt flesh hand as Cinder stood up and kneed him in the gut.

She held the Texan in front of her, making Heavy stop firing his minigun lest he kill his Texan pal. Engineer reached around and clumsily threw a pained Gunslinger fist at her. The metal fist was caught, and then heated up to the point where it was turned into molten slag. Engineer struggled with all his might to keep her from touching his face with the hot metal, but it was no use.

Engie screamed and fell to the floor as he clutched his burnt face in agony. Then Cinder stomped on his face, killing him instantly. She then turned her attention on Heavy who was still firing on her. Grinning, she made a ball of fire surround herself and flew at the Russian with the intent to bowl over him. Heavy's massive reserve of ammo had ran out just now, but he gave no fucks about what she intended. Luckily, the Kritzkrieg was ready.

"Now doctor!" Medic activated the Ubercharge just when Cinder was about to hit them. Heavy stopped the full force of her charge and crit boosted uppercut her up into the sky. She gasped at how much it actually hurt to take a critical hit like that even with her power, but she recovered and shot some arrows down at Heavy. The arrows hit him, but the Kritzkrieg made sure Heavy was fine. That's when she turned her attention on the Medic...

She didn't get the chance to nock an arrow though because Soldier had rocket jumped up to her and headbutted her like a living bullet. While still in mid-air, Soldier stood on top of her and jammed his rocket launcher onto her face.

"SAY HELLO TO THE ROCKET JUMP EXPRESS!" He rocket jumped off of her, sending her back down to Heavy. Cinder saw the Russian waiting for her, and simply turned into a fireball. Heavy wasn't having none of that shit and he began blasting off POWS from his finger guns at her. The POWS did seem to get rid of the fire around her, but it did not stop her from punching him square in the face.

Heavy was perfectly fine though because of Medic, but what wasn't fine was how Cinder easily dodged all of his other attacks. That wasn't good at all, since it meant this Kritz ubercharge was going to be a waste, and Heavy couldn't afford that shit. Finally, he managed to grab one of Cinder's arms and hold her in a death grip as he started beating her silly with critical punches. Cinder couldn't believe that she was getting the air knocked out of her by this man. What power is contained within that Doctor's devices!? She could feel her aura drop as she continuously took damage. However, Cinder was a woman who could adapt.

Good things never last, however, and the ubercharge ended.

"Uh-oh." Heavy went when he saw his punches weren't dealing as much damage as before. Cinder grinned, and broke the arm holding her with only one hand. The arm was healed right away, but Heavy still had to let go. Heavy coughed out blood when Cinder punched straight through his heart, killing him. Medic panicked at the sight of Cinder's hand coming out of Heavy's back, and he tried to run.

Cinder caught the back of Medic's neck. The German tried to swing around with his Ubersaw, but he couldn't reach her as she lifted him up, and snapped his neck.

"Doctor..." Heavy coughed for his best friend. It seems like the last bit of healing managed to close up the hole where his heart should be, but he was still dying from blood loss as the hole was still big. Cinder grabbed the Kritzkrieg as the German fell to the ground and raised a fist in the air for Soldier to land his balls on when he tried to come back down with the Market Gardner. Fumbling with the device, she easily figured out how to heal herself with it.

"RAAGH! THIS PATRIOTS COMES WITH STANDARD ISSUE BALLS OF STEEL!" Soldier yelled as he got and tried to charge her. Cinder responded by taking a step to the side and tripping him up.

"What a useful device. My thanks, doctor." She looked back down at Medic, and then the Kritzkrieg was sliced in half when Demo came in with his Eyelander and began fighting her in melee combat. She caught the haunted blade with her hands as Demo tried to force her down to the ground.

"Nobody uses teh doc's stuff but us!" Demo shouted in her face. Cinder headbutted him and kicked him away with Eyelander still in her hands.

" _Bloody witch_!" Eyelander shouted, much to Cinder's surprise. " _When I was alive, your filthy kind were to be burned at the stake!"_

"I think you are the one to be burned." Cinder's hands heated up and Eyelander screamed in pain as the metal of his blade turned red hot. She then dodged a punch from Demoman, but failed to dodge a bottle of scrumpy getting smashed on her forehead.

"Nobody hurts me bloody sword!" Demo took hold of Eyelamder and went back at it with her in melee combat. Cinder found it was surprisingly difficult to face him with the sword since it makes the user more powerful with every head he gets. It seemed like Demo got enough heads to match her power... just barely. Thinking about her options, Cinder simply levitated and sped backwards until Demo was out of reach.

"Oy! Ye bloody coward!" Demo ran after her, slashing at a single arrow she shot at him as she retreated. The arrow was shattered by Eyelander, but it magically reformed itself and kept going until it struck Demoman right in his only good eye. Cinder delighted at the sight of him dropping dead. Soldier, did not.

"HA!" Soldier screeched as he ran to tackle her again only for her to simply roll over and kick him up into the air. Reacting quickly, Soldier got out his rocket launcher and tried to blast her to bits, but she had already shot several arrows up at him. The one rocket he managed to fire was destroyed by an arrow as he was struck by several arrows. He landed back down with a thud, struggling to get up.

"Humph." Cinder grinned at the dead and dying mercenaries around her.

"Just because... I have multiple arrows in me... doesn't... mean..." Soldier coughed out blood, unable to finish his sentence. Cinder knew that he was an absolute fanatic about whatever country that giant flag of his represented, so she made sure he watched when she sent a small jet of flame over to the flag. The jet of flame immediately exploded into a fireball that destroyed the mercs whole house, and incinerated the American flag.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Rage and adrenaline fueled Soldier's body as he instantly got the strength to get up and start punching her repeatedly. She dodged a lot of them, but the punches she did take hurt a lot, even with her increased aura. She gave no fucks about Soldier's anger, and she simply shot arrows at the joints of his legs so he couldn't move. Soldier was lifted up to her face when she grabbed him so she could stare at his angry eyes.

"America cannot be defeated!"

"But you can." She materialized a sword and sticked him with it. Now, Soldier felt his body slow down, dreams of killing evil in the name of America fading away. Still, he managed to hook a finger to a grenade pin.

"God bless America..." John motherfucking Doe, was no more. Smoke covered the area where Cinder was, and the mercs hoped that managed to kill her. Their hopes seemed to come true when there was no trace of her left also. Spy was limping over to the scene when it happened, but their hopes were dashed when Cinder revealed that she could teleport with her maiden powers, reappearing in a puff of flame in front of Spy. Spy attempted to run around her and stab her back, but he simply fell over when Cinder pushed him.

"How pathetic..." She grabbed Spy by the throat and moved him around so he can see his broken team. Scout had been blown to bits, and whatever was left burned to ashes. Soldier was nonexistent. Pyro was nowhere to be seen. Sniper was sliced in half. Heavy lay dying. Medic's neck was broken. Demo had an arrow through his one good eye. Engie's face was missing.

"Look around, Jacques. Has being men saved you from me?" Cinder motioned to his friends. "Foolish, just as I said you all were..." She rubbed the back of her hand across his face, and took his mask off. "Oh my..." Spy was disgusted at the woman admiring his face, the same one who killed his friends.

"From the first day I saw you, I felt you were quite the looker. Now I know that to be true..." Cinder giggled. "I'll give you a choice. You can be mine forever, listen to my every order and demand, and I'll let you live. What do you say, hmm?" She purred.

"Fuck you." Her grip tightened on his neck.

"Excuse me?"

"I said fuck you." She grinned at him.

"Oh my dear Jacques... don't make me do this do you. I already hurt you enough-"

"Madame, do you think a sane man such as myself would even consider doing a thing with you after what you just did to my coworkers? The answer is no, and I cannot stress how much I want to get this point across, but FUCK YOU!" To Cinder's surprise, Spy lifted the Ambassador to her stomach and fired once. Still, she was fine though and she simply broke his legs.

"Yes, I think I'll keep you." Cinder smiled at the screaming Spy. "You're definitely a keeper."

Cinder snapped her fingers. The giant firewall that had them surrounded began to close up. It didn't go away, no, it got smaller. She took Spy with her into the Tower as he helplessly watched his friends' bodies get incinerated by the flames.

"You don't need your foolish friends anymore." Cinder said. "You have me now..." Spy did not answer. There was only one thing going through his mind right now. He failed for a second time. First Vichy, now Vale.

Cinder suddenly stopped walking, and she dropped Spy when she was suddenly knocked back by a huge pillar of fire that rivaled the ones she makes. Pyro was back, and it had enough of the Fire Queen's bullshit. In Pyro's mind, she was no longer the sweet angel of a woman it once saw her. Now, she was just a fucking bitch.

Fire surrounded Pyro as it shot itself at her like a thrown spear of fire, landing a devastating punch of hate on her face. Cinder responded by covering it in a blanket of flame, but she immediately regretted it when Pyro popped out of the flames like a demon and struck her with it's Axetinguisher to devastating affect. Cinder was knocked back into a wall, and she quickly blocked another hit from Pyro, a hit that had enough force to push her deeper into the wall. Cinder countered with a quick volley of punches that Pyro had no hope of dodging or countering.

Eventually, she managed to daze the maniac enough for her to push off the wall and rush it into several of the columns of the CCT. Pyro was not having this shit, and hadouken'd the fuck out of her. The blast of energy made her let go of Pyro, and Pyro slammed her down to the ground with the Axetinguisher. It was going to stomp on her face had she not started phasing in and out all over the place with her Maiden powers. Pyro swung around wildy and blasted fire everywhere in an attempt to hit her, but she was too damn fast for Pyro, and Pyro soon felt a blade slash across its back among other gashes from Cinder's blades.

 _This wasn't fair at all. The prettiest person I've ever seen is playing real dirty. First she makes all my friends go on time out forever, and now she wants me to take a time out too. Someone should give her a time out..._

Pyro slammed the Axetinguisher on the ground and a shock wave shook the entire Tower. Cinder was knocked her feet and she tumbled right into a devastating uppercut from Pyro. Cinder thought one of her teeth came out from that last hit, and she responded with a headbutt on Pyro and a stomp on its chest. The stomp was a bad move since Pyro caught her leg and twisted it so that she fell over. Pyro started strangling Cinder, and she struggled with all of her might.

"No, please... no!" Cinder resisted looking into Pyro's eyes. Last thing she wanted to do was to have visions of Hell while being strangled by a gasmasked madman. Her aura was still up, it was just the insane amount of hate Pyro had simply negated it somehow.

" _You."_ The first intelligible words anyone has ever heard from Pyro were spoken in a demonic voice. " _I will send you to Hell. The flame of the Devil himself will consume what puny hopes of-"_

Cinder stabbed Pyro long before it even finished it's monologue. Bad guys don't play fair indeed...

The blade had went all the way through its body, severing the spine, and stopping all forms of movement from Pyro. It's oxygen tank was also breached, and Pyro was launched forward and into a wall where it finally blew up. Another one down...

"Gah!" Cinder grunted as she stood herself up. She used her aura reserves to heal her injuries, and she went up the tower, seemingly forgetting about Spy. Spy was absolutely still. She was playing with them earlier! She could have wiped them out from the beginning with her powers, yet she chose to hold back on them! He can't let her get away with this...

* * *

"Look!" Weiss shouted at the sight of the wall of fire shrinking back until it finally disappeared upon reaching the Tower building itself. This whole time, they were out here fighting the Grimm while also trying to get into the tower. All the robots were gone. The only thing keeping the vast horde of Grimm back was the large bread monster that spawned from the portal to Earth. It seemed like something about teleporting to a different world entirely affected its growth, as it was way bigger than the ones who came before it. Hence forward, it will be named Breadzilla.

"Guys..." Ruby looked crushed. There was no trace of the mercenaries at all, meaning that they failed to beat Cinder...

All three girls were hurt by the sight, but for Pyyrha, she still had a duty she felt that needs doing.

"Pyyrha, wait!" Weiss shouted after Pyyrha as she ran to the tower. She would have run after her had not even more Grimm appeared. Forcing her and Ruby to stay and hold them off. Pyyrha didn't even notice the still Spy as she ran into the elevator and used her polarity semblance to shoot herself up to face Cinder.

* * *

 **Vichy, France, 1942**

Things had gone horribly. The rebellion was crushed in only an hour, and as punishment for hiding rebels, the Nazis set Vichy aflame. Every building was set on fire or blown up, and the citizens were lined up to be either executed or taken to work camps. How could all this happen? How could this will planned rebellion fail so quickly?

The answer was simple...

Jacques Moreau squealed like a pig when the Nazis found him out. Unable to take further torture from Nazi interrogators, he spilled his guts out to them. They dumped him into a river when they thought he succumbed to his injuries, but he was alive. He tried to warn the resistance, but it was too late. The rebellion began, and they were slaughtered. Jacques could barely hold his tears in as he slowly crawled through streets full of corpses to avoid Nazi detection.

When he got to the chapel that served as their secret base, he came just in time to witness a mass execution.

Jules as well as several other members of the Resistance were lined up against the wall of the chapel where they awaited execution. Some were crying, while others stood strong and brave, like Jules...

"VIVE LA FRANCE!" Jules shouted in defiance before they opened fire on them. This was too much for the young Moreau, and his tears began flowing down his cheeks. In an act of revenge, he snuck up on a machine gunner who was keeping overwatch of the event, killed him, and mowed the Nazis down with an Maschinengewehr 42, otherwise known as the MG42, or more appropriately in this case as "Hitler's buzzsaw."

When the long belt magazine of the weapon ran out, Jacques simply took out his Ambassador and a Luger he stole to keep shooting at the Nazis down below. He caught them entirely by surprise. They were scattering for cover as the open chapel courtyard left them extremely vulnerable to him. When the guns ran out, he ditched the Luger and grabbed some grenades and a knife from the machinegunner he just killed, and charged at the Nazis with his petty arsenal.

He didn't care about the bullets that grazed him as he shot back at them. His tears certainly didn't care and his heart most definitely did not care at all. If he died today, then so be it.

"KILL ME YOU FUCKING ANIMALS!" Jacques screamed with teary eyes at them. "KILL ME!" They would oblige him, but he simply killed them all off before they got the chance. All except one...

He ran out of weapons to use. No more bullets, no more grenades, no more knife as he literally snapped that in half when it got stuck in a soldier's ribcage. This was no reason to stop now, and he ran to the last fuck that needed killing. And SS officer named Baldemar Schulte.

Jacques tackled the officer to the ground and laid into his face until the officer's face looked like straight up ground beef. His fists screamed for him to stop, and eventually he did take a break. Nothing but pain in his hands and blood all over his body, Jacques moreau leaned back and screamed out to the night sky. The night sky lit up by the burning city he caused.

"Hehehe..." The officer softly laughed through the blood in his mouth. "I be damned..." Jacques looked down at him with the anger still in his eyes. "Killed by a filthy Frenchman... who would have thought it?" He laughed out some more blood, an annoying smile forming on his face.

"All these people, gone, and it's all your fault. Hoffman, or should I say, Moreau?"

"I do not need to be reminded..." Jacques muttered out.

"Oh don't worry, this city here'll will remind you plenty..." He coughed some blood out, and died on the spot. Jacques stared down at the lifeless body, until he finally stood up and took another look at the destruction around him. Then he spotted Jules' body. Walking slowly and solemnly, he reached the old man and kneeled.

"Hey boyo..." Jules sputtered out. He had been shot in the chest, and was barely clinging to life. "Looks like I'm not going to make it, huh?" He laughed.

"Yes... that seems to be the case..." Tears formed in the young man's eyes again.

"Oh Jacques, you disappoint me..."

"I-I'm sorry! I fai-"

"No! I mean how could you cry now when I specifically asked you earlier not too? Now wipe those tears before I got to smack the boy out of this man."

"Oh uncle..."

"Don't 'oh uncle' me, you devil. This city here, it's not your fault. No single person can take the blame for something such as this." Jules got into a coughing fit while Jacques held him up.

"These deaths are not on your head... do not take the guilt or else you'll never become a true man. But... just know that no matter who you are... you can't save them all..."

* * *

 **Present**

"Yet I can still save most of them..." Spy returned to the present where he found that all of limbs save for his right arm. Reaching into his endless pockets, he made contact with some Mann Co. health kits that he kept handy on him. He opened up the cases and poured the contents on him. In an instant, he felt magically better as he got up to his feet.

The Ambassador was reloaded, the Black Rose was flicked open, and he made his way to the elevator. It was a long climb to the top, but did he give any fucks? Fuck no. With sheer determination to kill Cinder Fall, it took him ten minutes to scale the elevator shaft. Thank god for parkour. Some people like to say parkour is the French martial art of running away, but for Spy and so many others like him, it was simply an easier way of getting around.

He reached the top of the shaft, and saw Pyyrha Nikos was on her knees with an arrow stuck in her heel.

The only thing that mattered to Jacques now was how well he lined up this next shot... A bang, and then a bullet hit Cinder's head.

"Mr. Spy!?" Pyyrha shouted.

"WHAT!?" Cinder screamed at the sight of Spy.

"Bonjour."

He fanned the hammer of the Ambassador so that rapid fire was poured on her. Cinder dodged and blocked all the bullets and shot an arrow at him. Spy swiftly dodged and landed one more hit from his Ambassador before she closed in on him and threw a punch at him. She was stronger than him, yes, but he could use her momentum against her. Yelling with all of his might, he caught the punch and threw her away from him. Cinder landed on her feet and expected to be shot at some more, but she was surprised to see Spy slam a metal bar against her head. She caught the next swing of the bar and melted it, but Spy ended up giving her a strong hook to the face.

Against all expectations, Cinder actually felt it. It seemed like she really was drained of aura from her fight with the mercs earlier. Maybe it just took this last bout with Pyyrha to get it down to acceptable levels for an ass kicking. He and Cinder fought hand to hand, his prowess in martial arts matching her own. Eventually, Cinder caught one of his arms and tried to throw him herself, but Spy held on to her and slammed her on the ground where he rapidly punched her with a flurry of punches. Cinder kicked him off of her and got back to her feet only to find he had disappeared.

Cinder had no time for this. She spouted fire everywhere to burn this auraless man to a crisp. Pyyrha lay flat on the ground lest she burn, but Cinder saw no sight of a burning invisible man. Then, she sensed him. Turning around, she saw Spy come down at her with the Black Rose knife, Assassin's Creed style. It actually worked and Cinder was pinned to the ground as the serrated blade bit into her collar. Cinder screamed. Her aura was running low. Really low.

Cinder punched Spy off of her and stood up, materializing blades in her hands. Spy dodged but some of the slashes hit him, not like he really cared. He saw no opening so he made one by shooting at one of her swords, knocking it away so she was open. His slashed Black Rose across her other sword hand, and when she tried to block the other stab, he extended his Sharp Dresser and stabbed through her hand. Her screams were music to his ears.

The Fall Maiden blew him back with a fist of flame as she took time to heal her hands with what little aura reserve she had left.

"You can't beat me..." Cinder growled at Spy's stoic expression. "I am the Fall Maid-AH!" Spy shot her in the gut, but she did not drop to her knees. She simply began shakily walking towards the edge. She was afraid of him.

"You say that like it is still relevant." Spy said, reloading the Ambassador.

"Y-you-"

"I-I what?" Spy mocked. They were very near to the edge now, and that Grimm Dragon was still circling the Tower. "What were you about to say? Because if it was something insulting, then I will be glad to inform you that it means nothing to me." Cinder was only an inch from falling off, and the Ambassador was pressed against her head.

"The only thing that means anything to me now, is your death." Pyyrha was busy pulling the arrow out of her heel while all of this went down.

Spy moved to pull the trigger, but then the Grimm Dragon flew by and knocked him and Cinder off the Tower from the force of its fly-by. The Ambassador fell out of his hand, but Spy gave no fucks. If he can't kill her by shooting her, then he'll make sure she dies on the fall down to the floor. He grabbed Cinder as they fell, but was given a headbutt for his troubles from Cinder.

The last thing he saw was a wicked smile on Cinder's face before she disappeared in a puff of flame. Probably back up to the top...

"Oy, Mon Dieu..." Spy sighed. This is how it ends for him, huh? Two failures in one lifetime. Just perfect... He could possibly Dead Ringer this, but what would it matter if the area was still crawling with Grimm.

The last thing Spy saw before making contact with the ground was that Breadzila had actually started fighting the Grimm Dragon on top of the Tower, and Ruby practically fly up the side of the Tower.

* * *

 **Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck... Much butthurt will be accumulated today. Just like Volume 3's canon ending!**

 **I am going to get so much shit for this, but the mercs all lost because if you think about it, Cinder is really fucking OP. Her fight with Pyyrha was from a technical standpoint, laughable and she was one of the best in the school, and the fact that she killed Ozpin who also had powerful abilities off screen in the Vault should be a huge indication of how badly any fight with her would go down. That and we saw some of what she could do down in the Vault! Well, unless you're Ruby and you pretty much rekt her in one shot off screen...**

 **Seemed like weapon upgrades were not enough for our boys, but calm yo shits cuz I'm here to say this is not where it ends. I still feel like I'm going to lose viewers for this outcome though. Despite mercenary intervention, barely anything changed. How could things change anyway? Even if Spy did kill Cinder, that wouldn't stop Beacon from falling and Salem would simply find another person to take Cinder's place.**

 **I'm afraid the fight scenes might be rushed because they're so many of them that I lost focus.**

 **Don't worry, what happens in between Volume 3 and 4 will be epic, and you can only imagine how much rape the mercenaries owe Remnant in Volume 4...**

 **Review Reponses:**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: That's right bitch. Ain't nobody come here. But what the fuck!? You don't know how to swim!?**

 **The questioneer: Is not done, and I don't know about other crossovers.**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: Excellent.**

 **Unzealots: Multiple bomb but no cookie is no happiness. Time to go to gulag where eternal hard labor waits for me.**

 **BLUScout859: *reads your review*... shit.**

 **gr33444: You know what? Why not? There's a lot of things that need explaining anyway.**

 **Freddo5: Freddo, u can send your scary bullshit over to my place and it won't mean a damn thing. I'll simply make both of them my bitches with the sheer amount of pointless RAGE contained in myself. It's so massive, that it has spilled over into ATTF's stories. I don't know how I'm going to top this finale off mang...**

 **ATTF: 2 true...**

 **Pissinpoots: Nah. I'm okay with Overwatch.**

 **PersonaQeminod1: Thanks for the idea. I'll think about it.**

 **Lazors24: Okay, thanks for clearing it up. Yes indeed, much butt hurt there is to be had when the mercs reveal it.**

 **Guest: Much. Put a name next time.**

 **darkromdemon: Okay, mein freund *troll face* Thanks for your praise by the way. Wish I could speak Spanish, but you know, Asian American.**

 **SilentAngel33: I'M NEVER FUCKING WRONG! Lol jk. who gives a fuck though? it 2 much cool 4 story though.**

 **Jaws: Hopes.**

 **A fan: fuck... i gave answer above**

 **buzzsaw935: raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: S-she thought she *giggles* I'm sorry i just can't- that fucking bitch thought she could- blahahahahaha!**

 **Mr. G37: it going down 2 hard in this bitch**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: K, sup like only female viewer. how day go?**

 **Unzealots: I don't want to add the dreadnoughts or spider tank. My boy ATTF got that shit down in his story. I knew about them already.**

 **Battle9921: I was thinking about the Air Strike, and then I thought naaaaahhhh...**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: Try me. I live in California. See if you can make it...**


	31. Aftermath

**The Void**

The Teufort Nine, the greatest mercenaries the world had ever seen, were dead. Killed at the hands of Cinder Fall.

Where do people like them go when they die? To Heaven, or maybe even to Hell? Well they've been to Hell on multiple occasions and the Devil himself would probably send them right back up to Heaven. Not because they could kick his ass, no, it was because the Devil had enough of their fuckery whenever they ran amok in Hell.

On the other hand, they weren't going to Heaven either. Why? Because Heaven was also tired of their fuckery. God himself has had multiple headaches with these guys running around. So the boys were left to drift in the void with Gaben and Monty. Technically, it wasn't that bad of a fate. Mostly because they can't feel anything as they were just souls floating around in the void.

"Welp, guess they're done." Monty whistled as Gabe brought the orbs that were the mercenaries' souls to him.

"Yep. They're going to be staying with me." Gabe said.

"God won't take them?" Monty asked. Gaben shook his head.

"Neither will Hell. Kinda makes you wonder what exactly they did to not get accepted in either place." Gaben wondered.

"So what, they're just going to stay with us in the void forever?" Monty asked. "I mean, do you want to at least make them like our angels or something?" Gaben and Monty gave each other straight faces, and laughed.

" _Nah!"_ The two of them laughed at the silly idea of making the mercenaries angels, and Gabe made their souls into a giant necklace looking thing since it had like a glowing chain of light connecting the nine of them. It was then placed on his throne.

"By the way, how did that business with that author go?"

"He's why this is still going."

"Oh yeah..."

* * *

 **Remnant**

Ruby sat alone in her room, trying to cope with everything that happened last week. She had woken up from a coma only yesterday to find that her world had changed forever. Beacon had fallen, Team RWBY was divided, and several people had been killed in the attacks. Some of her friends being included among those dead. Penny, and the mercenaries. The only good news that came from this was that she had somehow managed to freeze the Grimm dragon on top of Beacon Tower with a power she didn't even know how to use. Something having to do with her silver eyes.

What was especially hard for her was that she failed to stop Beacon from falling even with the mercenaries' help. Penny was killed before it all began, but the mercs' deaths were especially hard on her since she truly believed that they were going to save the school. Yet, quite the opposite happened...

After Qrow explained everything that happened to her, he gave Ruby a black butterfly knife. It was the only thing left of the mercenaries he could find. She was currently looking at the blade right now, remembering the mercs. Remembered the good times at Beacon, her team, her friends, everything before this all happened.

"Divided...we fall..." She quoted a Frenchman as she daintily held the blade. Clumsily, she flicked the blade back into its carry form and put it in her pocket. "Looks like we'll just have to stop being divided then, right guys?" Ruby said to herself. The mercs and Penny were gone. Nothing could change that, but she can at least try and fix this. She can still be the hero. For her family, for her kingdom, and for her friends.

She waited a whole month before setting off on this crazy journey of hers. Snow had covered the land and the leaves had since fallen out of the trees when she stepped outside her house to meet the standing members of Team JNPR. Ruby felt bad that she was leaving her family behind, but she felt it was her duty to go off and stop the one's responsible for all of this. So there they go, four young huntsmen going off to a whole other kingdom, following the only lead they had on their targets.

As for her older sister, Yang, she stayed home. She was no longer the brave and proud big sister type everyone knew her as. Yang was merely a shadow of her former self since the loss of her arm, Beacon, and her team. It's gonna take some time before our Dragon gets back in action, if it ever happens at all.

Weiss had gone back to Atlas at the will of her father. She didn't want to leave Vale after all that happened, but her father's word was final. Our Ice Queen was alone once more with the troubled family of the world's largest producer of dust.

Blake ran away the moment she was sure Yang and the others were safe in Vale. She couldn't help but feel that what happened to her friends was all her fault. Our cat was afraid that her very presence endangered people due to her old ties with the White Fang, so she decided to get as far away as them as possible to keep them safe while still going after the White Fang.

On a much larger scale, Remnant had gone to absolute shit. Before the destruction of the CCT, the other kingdoms got images and visuals of Atlas attacking innocent civilians and students. Tensions were high between the four kingdoms. No one knew who they could trust and it seemed like Remnant was on the brink of another great war only a little less than a century from the first one. All these negative emotions equals all these Grimm. Villages and settlements are falling faster than ever before, and attacks on major towns and cities have only grown bigger in scale. Whoever these fucking assholes were who are responsible for all of this need to stop, but obviously, they won't. What a bunch of dicks.

Oh my, what a mess. Team RNJR is off on what is pretty much a suicide mission, the peace in Remnant is highly unstable, and Beacon academy has fallen. More happened on Remnant of course, but I know you guys are itching to find out "wut about the boys?" We'll get to that now and save the rest of Remnant for later.

Let's see if anything's better on Earth.

* * *

 **Mann Co.**

"Mother?" Bronislava knocked on her mother's door. "It is time." The door opened, and Heavy's mother came out wearing black clothing.

"Let us go. Misha is waiting for us." Bronislava helped her mother walk out to meet with the others. It was the one month anniversary of the mercs' final disappearance. They simply never came back from the portal after it shut down, and after Engineer or some other force didn't reopen it, they simply had to assume the worst.

Heavy's family was here, Ms. Pauling, Lieutenant Bites and his raccoon squad, some living bread, Demoman's mom, and Archimedes and his gang of doves. Yeah... the mercs didn't really have a lot of friends, but for once, someone who wasn't the listed was here. Scout's mom and his seven brothers were here for the first time. Seems like she finally managed to gather all her sons up to go see their lost runt.

"Geez, this where little bro worked?" Jeremiah Charlesston whistled as he took in the sights of Mann Co. He was the oldest of the eight brothers and he was in the army.

"Guess so." The second oldest brother, Nick Charleston, added. He was also in the army.

"Ma! You really had to bring us over to bake in this damn desert?" Robby, the second youngest, complained to which he was smacked on the head with a purse. He was also in the army by the way.

"Pipe it down, boys!" Annabelle Charleston chastised her sons. "Your little brother is missin', and none of ya give a damn? Humph! No wonder why he wanted to leave the home..."

"Ah, ma! Don't talk like that! Course we care for the little runt!" Ms. Pauling came over to meet them and Annabelle hushed her sons.

"You Ms. Pauling?"

"Yes. I'm the one who called you here." Ms. Pauling was wearing black just to fit the mood. "I'm so sorry for your son..." Annabelle simply looked over Ms. Pauling.

"Hmm... no wonder my boy couldn't stop talking about ya..." Scout's mom smiled while Pauling blushed. "Ahhh! It ain't nothin' to worry about! Especially since... you know..."

"Right." Pauling said.

She took them over to where the service was being held which was right in front of the entrance to the main building. I would like to say this memorial was mainly the doing of Heavy's family. Mikhail promised he would come back, yet he never did. Heavy has spent longer periods away from home, but it was just that he never had the problem of being stuck in another world. That and with the permanent closing of the portal, it seems like they will never see him again, if he was alive at all.

So they all took their seats in front of a memorial made out of nine Spy bots permanently disguised as each of the mercs. They were posed together as if looking at something in the distance like heroes. Zhanna was going to start off.

"We are gathered here today to-" A manly yell was heard as all eyes looked up to see an Australian airship in the sky. Speaking of Australians...

"SAXTON HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE!" Hale slammed onto the ground near them, shattering the pavement. "Haha!" Hale was very excited. "Finally did it! The king's got my back!" Then he noticed the memorial being held.

"Holy crap, it's Saxton Hale!" One of Scout's other brothers yelled. "Can I have your autograph!?" He held a paper and pen for Hale, but Hale waved him away.

"Paddlestick, who are all these people?" Hale asked.

"This is Scout's family." Pauling answered. "They're here for the mercs' memorial..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"What? You know, a month ago? The portal closed and the mercs never came back?"

"Really?" Hale looked a little surprised. "Huh, guess I didn't notice..."

"Seriously, you didn't notice that your mercenaries were gone for a month?"

"Apparently not, now get out of the way! The King of Australia is sending his best scientists here to finally solve our dimension problems!" Hale proclaimed with a proud smile. Oh shit mang, Australia is in the mix now!

"Really!?" Heavy's family shouted, happy that there was a possibility that they could bring dear old Misha back.

"Strong mustache man!" Heavy's mom jumped on Hale. Her Russian level was such that she actually managed to knock Hale to the ground. "I will do anything to bring my baby back!"

"Oof! Sure thing, ma'am! Now please get off of me!" Heavy's mom helped Hale up to his feet while the other mercenary family members rejoiced.

"Humph! I ought to travel to this other world and beat me son silly fer not comin' baeck!" Demo's mom declared.

"You and me both!" Annabelle added. "Nerve of him to get stuck there! Don't he care 'bout his mother?"

"I don't think he had much of a choice..." Pauling mumbled.

Everyone was pretty happy about this news. If the world's most technologically advanced people could actually make another portal to this other world, then they could bring them home! Still, it worried Pauling as to why they didn't come back. Couldn't they just make another portal if they were still in the other world?

"Don't worry guys, we're coming..."

* * *

Oh okay, at least something kinda positive is happening on Earth. I mean, really though. Ain't it nice to see something sort of good happening after all of this? Hold on a minute, I was actually wrong when I said that the boys will spend an eternity as souls that felt nothing. It's true that they were just souls, but you have to remember these were the things that made the mercenaries who they were. So what's happening inside the souls?

Let's take a look at what's it like to be a mercenary soul.

Hmm... let's do Soldier first.

* * *

 **Soldier**

Soldier woke with a start.

"COMMUNIST LADY!?" He yelled, remembering Cinder. The patriot looked around, and saw he was not in Beacon. Where he was could not be any more different from the grand academy he died in. This place was a calming forest setting, and it all felt strangely familiar...

"Damn lady! Sending me off to a damn-" Soldier noticed something was very wrong. He saw his arms, and noticed he wasn't wearing his Mann Co. made army coat. Panicking, Soldier looked over his entire self and found that he had gotten younger. In fact, he appeared to be something like 10 years old again.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! YOU THINK TURNING ME INTO A DAMN CHILD WILL SAVE YOU FROM AMERICA'S WRATH!?" Little Soldier looked around for something to kill stuff with, and he saw there was an old bolt-action hunting rifle next to him. Something about it was really familiar, but the only thing that mattered to Soldier was finding some Communists to kill.

With the rifle in hand, he ran through the forest. Something about this place was uncomfortably familiar, especially since he eventually came across a farmstead. He actually stopped charging once he caught sight of the little farm. It was really familiar to him, but he couldn't understand how he knew this place. No matter. All that mattered to him was securing that house of any Communists or anything else that he hates.

His resolve only grew when he heard gunshots coming from behind the house. The little patriot ran into the house, breaking through the door and crashing into any furniture in the way until he came to the door leading out to the back. He stopped against the door, and tactically peaked his head out the door window...

...and his heart stopped.

Soldier dropped his rifle as his eyes widened at who was shooting in the back.

"Grandaddy..." Howard Doe was the one shooting stuff in the back. The old man was shirtless, revealing a century's worth of battle scars, and he was reloading a hunting shotgun as he practiced on hay bales that looked like Nazis and stuff. He hadn't noticed his grandson yet, and he was singing song as he placed shell after shell in the weapon. Soldier recognized this song. It was the _Battle Hymn of the Republic_.

 _"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord;_

 _He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;_

 _He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:_

 _His truth is marching on._

 _Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!_

 _Glory, Glory, Hallelujah..."_

The manly American kept singing in his gruff voice while Soldier slumped down, back against the door. He couldn't believe it. Grandpa Howard in the flesh. Soldier took a look around the house he was in, and finally realized this was his childhood home. Everything from the actual skulls taken from slain bad guys to several antique American guns over the years was here!

At first, Soldier was extremely happy after getting over his initial shock. This was the first time he's seen his grandfather in a little over thirty years, and he couldn't by any happier to see the only man who cared for him in his childhood. He was actually going to open the door and meet his grandfather in a loving embrace, but then he realized something...

"I failed..." Remembering how he was killed at Beacon. What did any of his previous achievements matter if he failed to spread the light of American freedom and democracy to Remnant? Feeling very distraught, Soldier stood up, looked at his grandfather one last time, and turned to leave. He couldn't stand telling him what happened.

*BANG*

A blast suddenly blew the handle off the door, and the door swung open as there was nothing to keep it closed. Soldier was startled, and slowly turned around to see his grandfather was the one who had done it.

"Where in God's name do you think you're going? Johnny..." The old man gave his grandson a smile and pumped his shotgun.

"Grandpa..." Soldier whimpered, trying to hold back tears. His grandfather was no fool though. If there was ever anyone who truly knew Soldier, then it was him.

"Well, what are you waiting for? You gonna come and greet me like a real man or are you gonna stand there like a Commie?" No hesitation whatsoever, Soldier ran to his grandfather to give him a well deserved hug, but then his grandpa smashed the butt of his shotgun into young Soldier's face.

"Damn it, boy..." Howard shook his head. "Ain't you learned a thing from living with me?" Howard smiled, and extended a hand for his boy. "You greet other men with a firm handshake..." He helped Soldier up, and despite being over a century in age, his grip was still hurting boy Soldier's hand.

"Ah ha! That's how real men do it!" Then he took his grandson in for a big hug. "You see? You give a handshake then hug the bastard!" He laughed. "Now I know you ain't some Commie son of a bitch!"

"That doesn't make any sense, grandpa..." Soldier wiped some blood from his nose, not realizing he actually thought something didn't make sense.

"Ah, so what if it don't?" Howard laughed. He gave Soldier the shotgun and took out a cigar. "Least I know you're my grandson. Only little Johnny would fall for the old shotgun to the face trick, haha!"

"Oh, grandad!" Soldier laughed with him, completely disregarding the fact his grandpa just broke his face. I should have mentioned Howard was also a crazy motherfucker, but wasn't that a given considering how he's fought wars for over 100 years? Howard is the original insane patriot, though he's more 'loving' for lack of better words.

* * *

 **Heavy**

(The dialogues is technically spoken in Russian but is translated to English.)

Heavy woke with a start.

He frantically looked around and saw he was in a damp, dark, concrete room. His cell at the gulag...

"Misha..." Heavy snapped his head to the direction of the voice and saw it belonged to his sister, Yana. This is where Heavy saw his whole family was here, including his father. He felt his head and found that he still had a full head of hair. He was young again, and his whole family was young for that matter.

"Papa is sick..." Heavy's heart dropped. This was the night his father died. Sure enough, he saw his father slumped against the wall of the cell. The only thing that told anyone he was alive was the slow heaving of his chest that meant he was still breathing. Heavy's mother and other sisters were crying.

"Papa..." Heavy went to his father's side. He already knew there was nothing he could do for his father. After all, he lived through this night before, but that didn't make it any easier on him. Mikhail Cherinkov was 19 years old. He put a hand on his father's shoulder, but he was completely unresponsive. As said before, he already knows what's going to happen, so he's going to do exactly what he did thirty years ago, and that was to hug his father one last time.

He died a couple of hours later, his son comforting him the whole time, and even after his death Heavy held onto him. Heavy held his lifeless corpse all the way until the morning where the guards came in to bring the family to work.

"Ah, he's the fourth one this morning..." One of the guards sighed as he opened up the cell. Other guards held their AK-47s up as he entered. "Come. You have much work to do." The guards went and dragged Heavy's still crying sisters and mother away as Heavy still held onto his father's corpse, not paying attention to anything other than what he was doing right now.

"Come on, there's no-" The guard place a hand on Heavy's father's corpse, and he was greeted with a fist to the face. Heavy went berserk on them, but ultimately, the guards beat him down with clubs and the butts of their guns. Mikhail watched helplessly as they dragged his corpse away, unable to do anything because they were beating him senseless.

 _Never again._ Heavy thought as his vision began to fade. _Heavy will destroy all evil._

Then, he blacked out as a guard slammed him on the head.

* * *

 **Demoman**

Demoman woke with a start.

He was in some meadow full of flowers.

"Am I in Heaven?" He asked himself, where he noticed he sounded younger. Quickly looking over himself, Demo found that he was just a boy again. "Cripe... Oh well, least I'm in Heaven!" His hopes of Heaven were dashed when he felt a shoe get thrown to the back of his head.

"Tavish!" He heard his mother call for him. "We didn't drop ye off just for ye to play with some posies!" Demo saw his parents were close by in a truck that his blind father drove somehow.

"Get yer rear over to teh castle!" His father shouted, to which he looked back and saw an eldritch looking castle. It wasn't Merasmus' castle, but it definitely had a creepy magic vibe to it. "We'll be back once yer job is done!" They drove off, and Demo sighed as he walked up to the castle door. He swore this place was familiar, but he knew it wasn't Merasmus' place since he found that his eye was still gone. Young Demo was hesitant about all of this since it felt like he did all of this before, but as his parents say "teh job is alwehs yer top priority!"

*knock knock* He waited for a response, and after a couple of minutes, a very beautiful black haired woman answered the door.

"Yes?" She answered in the most angelic voice Demo has ever heard in his life. He noticed that she was wearing a witch hat and was wearing some kind of robe or dress thing that fit her black color scheme.

"I'm here for teh job." Demo said plainly. He didn't remember what job it was for, but if there was anything about his young life Demo knew, it was that he spent a lot of it looking for work.

"Job? Oh! You must be here to clean the place..." She led Demo inside where he found the inside of the castle was actually finely decorated and fancy looking, despite its outward appearance being really grimy and spooky. He also noticed the woman did not speak in a Scottish accent, but in an English accent.

"Just give me a second..." She whipped out a wand thing, and twirled it around until a broom magically appeared. "Here's your broom!" She passed it to Demo with a heart warming smile. "I'm so sorry about the messy place, but that's also sort of why you're here, isn't it?"

"Aye."

"Oh goodie!" She jumped up and down as if she were a little girl. "Thank you so much~" She gave Demo a kiss on the cheek, and he blushed. "Okay, if there's anythiing you need I'll be right up in my room up in the tower, okay sweetie?"

"Sure thing, miss." Demo had already began cleaning the place out.

"Great!" She started levitating and floated up the stairs before stopping abruptly. "I almost forgot! When you're done cleaning, there's a delicious cake waiting for you in the kitchen!"

"Ah, no need ma'am. I just need money." Young Demo said.

"Oh... can't you just have a couple of slices? It's an awfully big cake and I don't know if little old me can finish it..." She pouted.

"Uh... ah, why not? I'll have some cake with ye."

"Yay!" She floated over to Demo and lifted him up in the air to give him a hug. "Oh what a sweet little Scot you are! But why's your skin black? Oh never mind that, you're still a sweet Scottish boy!" She then gently put him down and flew off to her room.

"My Lord... what a woman..." Young Demo whistled. He swore she's the sweetest thing he's ever seen, including his mother. Welp, time to get back to work...

* * *

 **Scout**

Scout woke up with a- oh wait. He woke up with a bat to the face. Scout covered his face in excruciating pain as he heard several young voices cheering around him.

"Get up, wimp!" Scout cried out in agony when someone kicked him in the side. Painfully, Scout opened his eyes and saw who was attacking him. The pack of bullies who plagued him throughout his childhood. The much older boy picked him up by the collar for all to see.

"Oh! I'm Willy! I'm a little runt! I like to pee myself at night because I'm such a wimp!" The kids laughed at him.

"Get off of me!" Scout socked the kid in the face, and he found that he was a lot younger than he was before, maybe 12 years of age. The kid responded by pushing Scout to the ground with his bat and then followed it up with a bat slam to the chest.

"Oh you're gonna pay for that..." The group of bullies closed in on Scout, and proceeded to beat him. Scout covered himself up as best he could to ward off the blows, but no matter how hard he tried the bullies' attacks hurt. It hurt really bad. He didn't understand why this was happening. A moment ago, he was laughing with his mercenary pals at Cinder after she landed an arrow in his leg, and now he was getting beat by his old bullies.

"Stop!" He started crying, but they wouldn't let up. They kept beating him for what felt like an eternity, but it was really only a couple of minutes. A couple of minutes of non-stop punches and kicks.

"Alright, that should teach him..." The lead bully spat on Scout. "Let's go boys. Pop's on me." The little gang went off to get some soda, not before some of the little delinquents kicked Scout a further few times. "Don't ever show ya face around here again!"

Little Charleston lay in the dirt, not wanting to move since everything hurt. He just laid on the ground, softly crying to himself.

"It ain't fair..."

* * *

 **Medic**

(Following dialogue is technically spoken in German but written in English for convenience."

"Mr. Sauer?" Medic suddenly woke up at the calling of his name. He glanced all around him and saw he was at some wedding. A very familiar wedding.

"Yes?" He answered to which he found it was a woman.

"Please no sleeping in the fountain." He finally noticed that he was absolutely soaked, and quickly got out of the water, splashing other people as he went.

"Oh! My apologies!" Medic gave a nervous look to the people he just splashed, but they simply scoffed and walked away. "Something is wrong..." He looked all over himself and found he was in a tuxedo and he seemed younger, but only by 10 years or so. Then there's this wedding. It all felt so familiar, but he couldn't understand how he was in a wedding if only a moment ago he tried to run away from Cinder Fall.

It was clear that he was here for the wedding, but he wasn't exactly sure _how_ he was here. He took a moment to examine the faces of all the guests, and saw he only recognized one. The Prime Minister of Germany.

"Oh my..." Medic understood now. It seems like he was somehow sent back in time to the one and only wedding he has ever attended. That's when he realized why he even came to this wedding.

"Scholz..."

* * *

 **Pyro**

Pyro woke up to find a gloomy landscape. He was in Pyroland, but something was horribly wrong. All the color was gone. The joy and life that once existed in this happy land was all gone. The inflatable cats and doggies were flat, the flowers had been trampled, and the rainbows were gone.

"Mphm!" Pyro ran around with its Rainblower, desperately trying to restore the joy to everything. It was all for nothing as whatever the rainbows touched simply stayed a shade of gray. Pyro panicked when it noticed the rainbow blasting device of happiness suddenly catch on fire. It dropped it, and then several burning babies flew by him.

"MY FLESH! IT BURNS!" A baby Heavy screamed as his flesh was peeling off the skin. Pyro watched in horror as all the nice babies he's ever known were flying around in circles, screaming as flames covered their chubby bodies. It wanted to help really badly, so it jumped up and caught a baby Scout.

"FIRE! FIRE!FI-UMF!" Pyro smushed the baby Scout onto the dead gray grass, where the grass also caught on fire.

"MPHM!" It lifted Scout away from the flames and began trying to blow the fire off of him through its mask. Then, in an instant, a fire axe was thrown right at them and it planted itself firmly in Scout's head. Pyro audibly gasped through its mask, and turned to see who had done it.

It was himself.

"HMMHPMHPHMHMHPHM!" The evil Pyro laughed. It looked just like it, but this other Pyro was clearly evil. The only thing this Pyro was capable of doing was death and destruction. So much of it...

"MPHMHPMH!?" Good Pyro demanded. The evil Pyro simply laughed, and conjured up another fireaxe to slam it onto the ground. A great shaking was heard, and it was revealed that the very land was splitting open into several mighty cracks where evil demonic creatures flowed out. The creatures attacked whatever was left of the denizens of Pyroland, baby mercenaries, puppies, kittens, birthday cakes...

"NUUUUUUUUUUHMP!" Good Pyro despaired.

"OUH YEAASHM!" Evil Pyro laughed, lifting its fire axe in the process. "Mpmh phmhphm..."

Pyro stepped back in fear, and tried to run away had a crack in the ground not opened up, blocking its escape.

"Hmat Mhrongh? MPhred Mphm hm?" Evil Pyro slowly came closer, maniacally laughing under its mask. What made this all the more terrifying was that Evil Pyro began developing straight up demonic features. It might as well have been the Devil himself coming for Pyro. Maybe it was...

Pyro stepped backwards until it couldn't for fear of falling down into eternal hellfire.

 _How could this all happen?_ Pyro took a look at the burning landscape as the Devil was coming closer. _All this love and happiness... gone..._

" _HAHAHAAHAAHAA!"_ The demon had closed in and was about to cleave Pyro in half with its demonic fire axe, but then Pyro blocked it with the Lollichop. The demon simply reached for Pyro's throat and threw the masked person out to the side.

"YOU DARE TO RESIST!?" The demon smiled. The top half of its face was still covered by the mask, but the bottom portion where the respirators were was gone. Pyro simply got up with the Lollichop. He wasn't afraid anymore.

"Mphm hmphm..."

"FOOL! YOU CAN'T RESIST ME! FOR I AM YOU!"

"Mpmh MPHM!" Pyro ran at the monstrosity with the Lollichop ready for a swing.

* * *

 **Spy**

Spy woke up to find he was back in streets filled with the dead. He never wanted to come back to Vichy, yet he was here somehow. He took an anguished look around, seeing the dead looks in all the people around him before simply sitting down on the middle of the blood covered street. He heard voices, German voices, shouting from somewhere, but he didn't care about that.

"Figures..." He reached a shaky hand into his suit and pulled out a cigarette. "Sent to my own personal Hell, hmm?" He lit the cigarette. Spy was very aware about where he was and what happened only a moment ago.

"Damn... suppose I do deserve having my brains splattered on Beacon's courtyard..." A glance at the dead told him he probably did deserve it. Another look around also revealed he was sitting in the place where he massacred the Nazis, and also... the place where Jules died. Speaking of the man, his body was just next to Spy. The dead look on his face stared deeply into Spy's own hopeless eyes.

"Humph..." Spy closed Jules' eyes. "Good night, uncle..."

There he was. Jacques Moreau, sitting alone in a city of corpses. Not long after, the soft sounds of someone weeping can be heard amidst the distant gunfire and screams.

* * *

 **Sniper**

Sniper woke up to find he was in his old Australian primary school.

"Bloody Hell..." It was only a matter of time before one of the Australian boys- *BODY SLAM* ...yep.

"Ha!"

Sniper was just pinned to the ground by a much stronger Australian boy. The damning thing about this guy was that he was actually two grades below Sniper, and it was just the fact that he was Australian that made him so much stronger.

"Argh! Off of me you bloody twat!" Sniper's insult made everyone stop what they were doing, which was also fighting each other. Mindless fights is pretty much 70% of Austrlaisn schooling from Primary to College.

"Ooooh! Ricky said a bad word!" One of the girls said.

"Yeah, it ain't nice to say bad things!" the kid on top of him said.

"Well maybe if you'd get offa me then we wouldn't have this problem, now would we!?" Sniper remarked. He then got grabbed by his scrawny neck.

"This ought to teach ya not to swear!" The boy began spinning Sniper around quickly then threw him once he reached maximum velocity.

Young Sniper screamed as he flew out into the outback, eventually getting stuck in a tree.

"Ah piss..." Sniper spat out some leaves. "My Hell is just to go back home?" Then he saw the boys were still coming after him, still wanting a piece of his ass for saying a naughty word. He didn't even swear that much as a kid, it was just that he still remembered that he was an adult only a moment ago. Sniper knew 100% he was dead because he remembered the last thing he saw before blacking out was Cinder slashing at him and his whole front half sliding backward. His own eyes saw that he had been cut in half.

"Oy! Ricky! Get down 'ere, we ain't done with ya yet!"

"Piss..." Sniper jumped out of his tree and ran further out into the outback. He'd rather get his ass eaten off by some of the fuck dangerous creatures who lived here than get manhandled by the other boys. Eventually, he got his wish when he encountered a giant land koala. The koala roared at him, and Sniper simply stood there for it to kill him.

"Eh, I'm dead anyway..." Sniper shrugged. The second death never came as the Australian boys had caught up to him and were now fighting the giant koala because Australia. The boys had completely forgot about him since this much more fun fight showed itself, and Sniper simply continued running out into the Australian Outback.

* * *

 **Engineer**

Engineer woke up in a cold sweat. He looked around, and saw he was back in his room at his family ranch. Dell jumped out of bed and ran to his mirror where he found he was a kid again. He seemed to be a teenager since his hair was back, but what he couldn't get over was how he was here at home when the last thing he felt was the metled Gunslinger getting shoved into his face. Then, his heart stopped when he heard shouting downstairs. His father was at it again.

"BITCH!" Randy Conagher slapped the hell out of his wife. "DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE INTEL IS!?"

"I don't know what you're talking about..." Engie's mom cried.

"DON'T YOU LIE TO ME YOU SLIMY LITTLE PIG!" He slapped her again. "I KNOW YOU WORK FOR THE OTHER TEAM, NOW TELL ME WHERE THE INTEL IS!" Yep. Randy wasn't quite the same since he was let go of Mann Co... and that rodeo accident.

"Pa!" Engie ran to restrain his father. "Stop it! You're bein' delusional again! Snap out of it! You don't work for that damn company no more!" Engie's father kicked him off with his mechanical legs.

"BOY, WHO SAID YOU CAN LAY YOUR HANDS ON YOUR FATHER!?" He socked young Engie right in the face, and he fell to the ground. "Don't you ever put your hands on your daddy!" He furiously beat Engie, and Dell began crying. "I'M THE MAN OF THE HOUSE! YOU HEAR!?"

"Y-yes..."

"DON'T YOU TALK BACK TO ME!" Randy slapped his son again.

Guess getting your legs crushed by a bull on top of several years of non-stop killing does that to you, but Engie could never understand himself how life under Mann Co. could do this to his father. It was sort of a family tradition since he was actually encouraged to go work for Mann Co. when he got older, and his family enjoyed the nice pay that came along with his father's job. It just never made any sense to Engie how this drastic change in his father's personality happened. Engie never felt anything like this when he worked for Mann Co., but that didn't matter now. What mattered now was how he was going to stop him...

* * *

 **Yeah...not really feeling positive anymore. Seems like you're stuck in purgatory or some shit when you're not accepted into both Heaven and Hell. Welp, things had gone straight to shit indeed. Let's see if our gang could fix this.**

 **Imma apologize for the no game night yesterday. I thought I was free, but I ended up going out of a town during that time. Sorry if you wanted to laugh at me for raging at TF2 because you're all better- NO YOU'RE FUCKING NOT! I'm hella good at TF2 I don't know what the fuck you guys are talking about...**

 **I'm not mad...**

 **But anyway, we're back at it. The story is continuing. Keep in mind the intermission was mostly non-canon and just a joke for you to enjoy. I didn't really feel like jumping right back into it after finishing Volume 3, and felt more like doing something funny and retarded, just the way i like it.**

 **For those of you who wish to place a review as a guest, PUT A FUCKING NAME FOR YOURSELF. You know how hard the shits is when I have to sort out every labeled "Guest" in black font? Speaking of reviews, go ahead and place them, but please say more than just "I like dis story" or "Yo dawg dis story fire." That's all nice to hear but I want to know what you feel and what you liked about it, I mean what the fuck? Saying "dis story makes my dick hard" is... nice to hear I guess, but tell me more! It's not helpful at all if you just say "Imma like dis story" though it is nice to hear, don't get me wrong.**

 **Tell me what you feel and how you like, K? I don't mean to come off as offensive. I'm a nice guy, I like talking to my viewers as if they're bros not just some faggolas who like my shit. If you played with me on the game nights we hold, then you know how I talk to people online. I'm nice, I like interacting with you guys. Is why I talk in such an informal way because I don't believe in that staying professional theme. Bitch if I wanted to be professional, my ass would be writing for some news outlet or some lame shit like that. I'd rather be mineself and stay real.**

 **Yeah though, I do like all of you who consistently come and see my story, even if it still blows my fucking mind. I check my view graph everyday, and it seems like an average of 500-600 of you come and see my story DAILY. Not sure if that means half of you come back to check on it, but holy damn is that something else. Appreciated much is your like and support for me, though I ain't no bitch lookin' for attention on the internet because that is pathetic, petty, bullshittery.**

 **Watch, there's gonna be a moudafouqa who's gonna still be named "Guest" and I still gonna bitch at him/them cuz I know you guys are going to do it now that I complained about it. I know how teh internet works! You guys are going to fuck with me, at least some of you!**

 **Just for the Hell of it, imma say a "fuck" every time I see a guest reviewer leave their name as "Guest".**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Battle9921: Lol, no one came.**

 **Questioneer: Realistically, maybe in the next couple of years. There is serious evidence that another Left 4 Dead or even Half-Life 3 FOR REAL THIS TIME is going to come out in the future.**

 **Grindstone Guest: fuck. I don't know what that means but I'm sure our boys will cause a stir with their return. I didn't want to say fuck since you seem so polite but I put a standard just now for every person just named "Guest" gets a fuck in their response.**

 **buzzsaw935: I was going to give the other Valve characters more time, but I was tired as fuck and wanted to get it done.**

 **Awesome Arod: Fucking damn it. Yo conozco qué tú significado. Nos hablamos sobre esto. If you can't read those full two sentences I wrote in Spanish based off of memory, then stop saying Spanish words to me. I have PTSD from Spanish class even if its a simple phrase. You good? Now come on, we got to get to RTX! Andiamo miei amici!**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: Bitch, I will make Yang teach you how to swim! NOW SWIM, OR THE WAIFU GETS IT!**

 **BLUScout859: Sure... wanna visit me home? Got some guys in kevlar who would like to meet ya, say they work for Roosterteeth.**

 **A fan: No. I mean I don't know what that is. You tell me these things as if I know what they are.**

 **Guest: fuck. Thanks for liking the story, it actually does mean a lot to me that people actually like it.**


	32. Memories and Progress

**Mann Co.**

Fuck yeah. The Australian scientists came as promised, and they successfully built a portal in only two days of work. Despite looking like every other ripped, manly motherfucker that was most of Australia, these men were very intelligent indeed, figuring out pretty quickly how to use Australium for interdimensional travel. After all, Australians were the ones who invented teleportation, invisibility, other high tech bullshit...

"Welp. There you have it, mate." The chief scientist shook Hale's hand. "Portal's ready."

"Are you sure this'll take us where we want to go?" Hale asked.

"It'll take you somewhere, that's for sure..." The scientist shrugged before heading to their airship. Hale waved after them, and took a step into the portal to find that he was still blocked by the face of Gaben.

"Damn author... who wants to go into the portal first?" Hale called out. The only people here were all the attendants of the memorial (including the creatures) and the robot army kept here. No one volunteered because they feared what could be on the other side. For all they know, they could be sent into outer space.

"Ah come one! The worst that could happen is that you'll be displaced in time and space or some other hippy gunk like that!" That didn't make them feel any better... but then Ms. Pauling was suddenly held up in the air.

"Ms. Pauling wants to go in portal!" Zhanna yelled, holding Pauling up high.

"Hey! Put me down!" Pauling demanded as Zhanna carried her over to Hale. "I am not going in there!"

"Yes, you will!" Zhanna shouted.

"No, I won't!" Pauling shouted back before Hale separated the two of them.

"Alright, alright, we'll settle this the old fashioned way!" He pulled out an empty glass bottle. "Everyone form a circle!" Everything formed a circle as asked and Hale knelt down in the middle of it with the bottle ready to be spun. "Alright you know the drill. Whoever the bottle points at goes in first." He then spun the bottle with all of his Australian strength, making it spin at ridiculously fast speeds. Everyone cringed when the bottle finally started slowing down, afraid of going into the portal. Eventually, it settled on Zhanna.

"Ha! In your face, Zhanna!" Pauling taunted to which Zhanna simply smashed the bottle over Pauling's head.

"Ms. Pauling wins..." Zhanna said nonchalantly as she dragged her over to the portal. No one had a problem with Pauling going first whatsoever.

* * *

 **The Void**

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Pauling screamed as she flew through this strange dimension at high speed. "I HATE YOU ZHANNA!" This world hurt her eyes. It was full of colors and these bubble things that looked like images from different universes and stuff.

"Oof!" She slammed into something hard, making her stop dead in her tracks. "Ow... huh?" She found that she had crashed into what looked like some kind of store that resembled a giant PC. She entered it, and found a fat guy sitting on top of a throne made of video games and gold.

"Hi. I'm Gabe Newell." The fat man atop the throne greeted. "Welcome to my Steam sale! All items are 99.99% off!" Pauling saw that there were racks and shelves full of various video games and other stuff apparently on sale.

"Um...hi?" Pauling cautiously greeted. "I'm looking for-"

"Nine mercenaries?" Gabe finished for her.

"Yeah! Do you know-"

"They're dead." Gabe stated. "Now are you going to buy something or not?"

"What!?" Pauling was shocked to find the worst did happen to them. "How!?"

"Killed in battle. Now buy something." Gabe said. Pauling simply fell to her knees, still not over it that the boys were dead.

"No thank you... I don't feel like-"

"Too bad." Gabe interrupted her. "Buy something now, or else you'll never leave here..." He threatened.

Pauling hesitantly stood up and gave him an annoyed look, but she started grumpily looking through the wares anyway since she was afraid of what he'll do to her. Gabe appeared to be a normal human, but it was obvious he was something much more greater. She really was not interested in any of the items on sale and she didn't even know what Steam was. That was until she came across a glowing chain connecting nine orbs together, orbs that had the mercs' symbols on it.

"Hey, what's this?" She called out to Gabe in a lazy voice, still not feeling it.

"That's the souls of your mercenaries." Pauling's eyes went wide. "You buying?" She didn't respond right away, only looking back at the souls.

"Guys..." She gently ran her hand along each of the orbs, making Gabe smile.

"YOU TOUCH IT, YOU BUY IT!" Gabe shouted, excited he just got another chance to earn money off of mortals.

"What!?" Pauling shouted. "No, no, I was just-"

"YOU BOUGHT IT!"

"I-ugh... fine." She pulled out her wallet. "Least I can sort of bring them home... how much?" Gabe simply pointed a finger at the price tag. The tag said "ALL OF YOUR MONEY."

"What!? I thought you said all items are 99.99% off!" Pauling yelled. Gabe simply troll faced her.

"Exactly, but what I forgot to mention is that 99.99% of _Infinity_ is off!" Gabe laughed. "Unfortunately, mortals typically don't have endless amounts of money, so I'm just gonna to settle on all of your money..." He lifted a hand up, and all the money in her wallet as well as several millions more appeared in a pile.

"Hey!" Gabe literally robbed her of every single cent she owned. She was going to yell some more, but then she flew out of the store at ludicrously fast speeds with the souls in tow, screaming bloody murder as she went.

"ALL SALES ARE FINAL!" She heard Gabe yell before sinking into a portal.

* * *

 **Mann Co.**

"Look! She's back already!" Hale shouted for all to see when Pauling was spat out of the portal. "What'd you find?"

"Oh..." Pauling moaned in pain as everyone gathered by her.

"Did you see my son?" Heavy's mom begged her.

"My baby too?" Scout's mom added.

"Sort of..." Pauling held up the chain of souls.

It took some explaining despite her trip lasting only a grand total of ten minutes or so, but it was safe to say that everyone was not happy about what happened to the mercenaries. Heavy's family was crying, and so was Scout's mother. Scout's brothers actually seemed sad to hear that their little bro is now just a soul connected to his coworkers. As for the animals and bread creatures, they left somewhere.

"Sucks for them..." Hale said. "You said you saw a fat man, right?" Pauling nodded. "Awesome! Thin there's anyway you can convince him to let good ole Hale in? Maybe even find a way to sneak me in if he says no?" Pauling did not answer and simply took the souls with her as she went away from the sad group. Besides the late Administrator, the mercenaries were the only ones she could sort of call 'friends'.

"How am I going to bring you guys back from the dead?" She wondered to herself, but then the answer was all too obvious. There was only one person on Earth, besides Medic, who can bring the dead back to life. At least as far as she knew.

"Merasmus..."

* * *

 **Remnant**

By some miracle of fate, Team RNJR had just enough money to but themselves onto an airship heading for Mistral. Only problem was the ship was heading to a port town on the western side of the continent of Anima, meaning they'll have to trek all across the continent once they hit Anima. Eh, they'll worry about that when they get there, but for now, they're waving Vale goodbye.

The city of Vale was still quite a pleasant sight to see from above even with the damages to the city still being repaired, but the view was very hurtful to them. Beacon was fully visible to them, and it still had Grimm swarming around it. It was hard to wave their home goodbye, but they were determined to reach Haven academy. Ruby was especially hurt at the sight of the Grimm dragon frozen at the top of Beacon Tower. She was surprised to find that the giant bread monster that climbed on top of the tower to fight it was missing. It's location is currently unknown with no sightings being reported at all despite it being huge.

"Don't worry Ruby... We'll come back." Ren assured her after noticing she looked a little down.

"I know..." She said. Team RNJR took their seats, and Ruby noticed Jaune didn't seem quite airsick as he used to be. "You feeling alright, Jaune?"

"Yeah."

"You know... don't feel like vomiting?" Jaune smiled at her.

"Nah, I'm over it already. It's a little embarrassing..." Team RNJR laughed together, but then they stopped when Jaune had a sad look on his face. Obviously thinking about what happened...

"How's Pyyrah?" Jaune was the only one who's been visiting Pyyrah regularly since what happened at Beacon. She had fallen into a coma due to an arrow narrowly missing her heart. Seems like Ruby's arrival and sudden use of her silver eyes startled Cinder enough for her to mess her shot up, but still... Pyyrha Nikos was in critical condition.

"The doctor's said she's stable, but they don't know if she'll ever wake up..." He felt the red sash he had tied to his waste so he could remember her.

"Of course she'll wake up!" Nora beamed. "She's Pyyrha! It's gonna take a lot more than a single arrow to stop her!" Team RNJR's spirits were raised, but Ruby still can't help but stare back at her home in Patch. The little island grew ever smaller and smaller as the airship left Vale.

* * *

"Mr. Schnee." Klein the Schnee family butler bowed when Jacques Schnee and Weiss entered their family mansion. "It's so good to see you have returned, sir."

"Yes, yes. Klein, take Weiss' things to her room." Jacques casually said as he made his way to his office.

"Very good, sir." Klein bowed as he left. Then he went for Weiss' bags. "Welcome home Ms. Schnee."

"Klein..." Weiss had her held down as she and Klein went to her quarters. Klein carrying her stuff of course.

* * *

Yang was at home in Patch. She was still recovering from her wound, and was still torn about the events at Beacon.

Her father, Taiyang Xiao Long, is downstairs desperately calling for anyone to help him find Ruby after she left home. Yang watched Ruby leave with Team JNPR, and she didn't say a word. She didn't know why she didn't yell or anything for her father to go and stop Ruby, but now she was regretting it.

Yang must have been a horrible sister to let Ruby go out into the world alone with Team JNPR. Still, she had some faith that Ruby could take care of herself without big sister Yang at her side. For now, Yang had a lot to think about.

* * *

Blake Belladonna was travelling the various port towns of the Valean sea. She had ran away from Vale and was undecided on where she should go next. Our cat feared too much that the Fang would go after her, and in the process find her friends. Sure, she was pretty sure Adam was killed by Medic, but even then the Fang would want vengeance for his death. Since the mercenaries were dead, the only logical means of revenge would be her.

It was all so stressful for her, all this anxiety. She really didn't want to leave her team behind but the fear of something even worse happening was too much. Hell, she believed that she was partly responsible for what happened at Beacon to an extent.

Wherever she decides to go, it just had to be away from Vale.

* * *

 **Soldier**

Two laughing voices echoed through the Ohio forest as gunshots rang off. One voice was gruff, the voice of an elder gentleman. The other was soft, a voice of a young one.

John and Howard were currently battling the great jumping fish menace. These goddamn fish are what scientist call "an invasive species" but as far as Howard was concered, they were fucking assholes that killed all the fish he was raising in his fish hatchery. It probably wasn't that good of an idea to build it in the Mississippi anyway, but Howard didn't give a fuck. These Canadian ass jumping fish just killed his good American fish!

Both Doe's were using guns to kill all of these damn fish since there was a metric fuck ton of them. Howard brought along his original crank-operated Gatling Gun just for the job, but it quickly got logged up with water and fish as they kept jumping into the boat. These jumping fish were technically harmless as their only form of attack is to jump out of the water and slap against whoever was on the boat, but the real threat was that there was so many of them, they fucked up the river the Doe's loved so much.

"THIS IS MY RIVER!" Howard threw a grenade out into the water, making an explosion that contained a lot of fish and water. "Pass me the Winchester, Johhny!"

"Here!" Soldier threw a Model 1886 Winchester to his granddad and the old man began expertly popping shots off with the lever-action against the fish hoard. "Ow! There's too many of 'em! Ow!" Fish kept slapping against Soldier as he tried his best to keep them back with a shotgun. Then he saw that the water was filled with nothing but these jumping fish. "WE'RE SURROUNDED!" Soldier yelled while his grandad only smiled.

"Surrounded? Perfect! That means we can shoot in every direction!" Howard laughed as he literally shot in every direction that contained fish. "No surrender! No retreat! We're gonna make these bastards pay for invading my river!"

John shouted a warcry and began using his shotgun as a club to bash fish away from the boat, even if they came in literal waves of jumping fish. "The boat's sinking!" He yelled when he noticed water was up to his knees.

"Haha! Nonsense! There ain't ever was a fish that..." Howard trailed off when he saw there was so much fish trapped in the boat, that they were making it sink. "Huh... oh well..." His response was to pull out a bundle of dynamite he kept with him just in case he wanted to take the son of a bitch who killed him to Hell with him, and light it.

"Come on John! Abandon ship!" He dropped the dynamite onto the boat.

"Abandon!? But America can't lose!" John was silenced when his grandfather grabbed him and jumped into the fish filled water.

"Who said America was losing!?"

The boat blew up right before they touched the water though, and both of them flew up into the air on top of several freshly blown up jumping fish. They landed back down in the water with a loud thud instead of a splash because there was that many fish in the water.

"Grandaddy! I'm drowning!" John gurgled as he splashed around wildly. His grandpa slapped him.

"Knock it off! The only people who drown are villains and British people!" Howard declared. "Why do you think the British never crossed the ocean back to America after the War of 1812?"

"Because they can't swim!" All of a sudden, Soldier stopped drowning. "Just like you said!" Both Americans laughed. Silly British people, no wonder why you need a navy to take you wherever you need to go...

"Haha...Huh!? Grandpa! Look out!" John pointed furiously in the air as a giant, more lethal version of the jumping fish lept out of the water to chomp down on his grandad. Howard grinned and simply grabbed an American flag that was on a piece of the boat's wreckage and speared it down the belly.

"Come on boy." He passed his giant ass Bowie knife that might as well been a short sword to his grandson. "Kill it just like how I showed ya." John happily took the knife and stabbed it in the gills until it pierced out the other side. Howard rubbed John's hair, but then even more of these dangerous varieties as well as another swarm of the harmless ones came. Smiling at each other, both Doe's swam furiously towards the fish to do battle with them. All of their guns were mostly waterlogged so they simply fought the fish in melee with weapons ranging from knives, hatchets, fists, fish...

They whooped so much ass, that their was enough dead fish in the river to stand on.

"Ha! Land advantage you fishy bastards!" Howard was now using an original M1911 Colt to shoot the dangerous varieties while John used a paddle to smack the harmless ones away. "Pffft! A paddle? Boy, use a real weapon for this job!" He threw a Model 1860 Cavalry Saber for John to use while he kept his Bowie knife. He got that sword after murdering its Confederate cavalryman with his own horse, picking the entire horse up and slamming it on him until he AND the horse died.

After a while, it seemed like they were done. Sure, there were so many dead fish that i clogged the GODDAMN Missisiipi to the point where the river flooded, but at least they killed all the fish! Ye-wait a second... oh shit... the queen is here. The huge, big as fuck, unrealistically big for a freshwater fish, queen of the Canadian jumping fish was here, and she was fucking mad that the Humans slaughtered the fuck out of her children.

"I think we're gonna need a bigger gun..." John whimpered while his grandfather scoffed. "Who needs a gun when you got a knife?" He grinned, holding up his Bowie knife. "Just watch..." The giant fish roared at Howard, but then he threw his American flag javelin style at its eye. The queen screeched in pain, but then she shut up when Howard threw himself into her mouth.

"GRANPA!" John screamed after seeing his grandad get eaten. His screams stopped when he saw the queen suddenly writhe and splash around in the water in agony. Then, after a full five minutes of getting its insides cut to shreds, Howard Doe emerged from its mouh. The queen weakly moaned, but she was quickly shut up when Howard began pouring whiskey inside her mouth. Four full bottles of Whiskey later, Howard lit a cigar, took a puff, and then threw it inside the queen.

"Hehe... looks like we're eating fish for dinner tonight." Howard chuckled to himself, putting his arm across John's back as they happily watched the giant fish burn to death. "Hold on a minute..." Another bottle of Whiskey, but this time it was poured onto a cut on her side where it also caught on fire. "There you go, some alcohol to disinfect that wound. Just trying to be a gentleman, you know?" He said to his grandson who just smiled.

"How are we gonna get rid of all these fish?" John asked, finally realizing how much fish they actually killed.

"Simple son, simple..." Howard retrieved the American flag before it burned up, and began waving it around while making screeching noises. A thundering noise from the West was heard in the skies, and thousands of Bald Eagles answered Howard's call. He basically yelled "FREE FISH", so you know the eagles were coming to feast on this fantastic occasion.

"There we go. Just give 'em a day or two and the river'll be all cleaned up." Both Doe's went home, wading through the now flooded forest as I wasn't bullshitting when I said the dead fish clogged the river. Howard gave Soldier a piggyback ride.

"Ah..." Soldier sighed happily. "American Heaven is the best thing ever..."

"Oh we ain't in American Heaven, son..." Howard puffed out of his cigar while Soldier froze.

"What!? B-but I thought all good Americans go to American Heaven!" Soldier shouted out loud.

"True, but you see son, I chose not to go to American Heaven..."

"WHA-" Howard popped his grandson on the top of his head.

"Hold on a minute, let grandpa explain! I did go to American Heaven, but then I left because I couldn't stand some of the people who lived there. Just seems like by some miracle, God chose to send you back here to me." Or God just couldn't stand him, but anyway, they reached their farmstead, and the first thing they did was check on all of their guns to make sure no squirrels tried to sabotage them.

"What about the farm?" John asked. "Why's the farm here?"

"Ah, the farm died soon after I did when that damn corporation bought my land." (wut) Howard was inspecting his various shotguns and rifles.

"Guess this old place, and all the land I own for that matter are true Americans after all..." He lovingly rubbed a hand against the worn wooden walls of the place. Damn, so American that his land went to the afterlife with him. "Anyway, I took myself and the farm right out of there because I REALLY couldn't stand some of the people there..."

"Like who?" John asked, inspecting a Remington pistol. He was soon hushed by his grandad as he heard shouting outside. Slowly, he and his grandson got to the window and saw a large group of men coming their direction far in the distance. They were coming out of portals from American Heaven, and most of them appeared to be either KKK or Confederate soldiers. The rest appeared to be slave owners and random civilians Howard's killed for being very un-American.

"Those people..." Howard went back and grabbed several of his weapons off the shelves. "Why God still lets those filth in is a damn mystery..." He threw a gun to John. "Come on boy. We got a fight ahead of us." Soldier and his grandpa quickly got to work, hastily fortifying the farm as the men got ever closer.

"Howard you old son of a bitch!" A man in a KKK uniform yelled. "You're gonna pay for killing us!"

"YEAH!" All the other men yelled, raising their torches and weapons up in the air.

"YEAH! We're gonna make him suffer for ending our lives... for the ninth time!"

"YEAH!"

"You killed them more than once?" John whispered as he aimed an original M1918A1 Browning Automatic Rifle down at them.

"When you die in Heaven, you sort of don't go anywhere else but back to Heaven..." Howard explained. "Don't worry. They killed me a bunch too. Not as many times as I did to them though..." Howard grinned, readying an M1928 Tommy Gun. "I don't intend on dying one more time to these bastards though..."

"So you're just gonna fight these guys for the rest of eternity?" Soldier asked.

"Pretty much." Howard shrugged. "I don't have a single problem with that though."

"GET YOUR YANKEE ASS OUT HERE!" The man yelled. They were startled to see Howard kick his farm door down with a Tommy gun ready to mow them down.

"IF YOU INSIST!" Howard opened fire, and the mob scrambled to take cover as dozens were riddled with bullets.

"AHAHA! LIGHT 'EM UP, JOHHNY BOY!" Soldier let loose with his gun, smiling like a madman as he and his grandfather fought an army of people he's killed before.

* * *

 **Medic**

(Dialogue is mostly spoken in German but written mostly in English for convenience)

Medic snaked his way through the crowds of wedding guests. He remembered why he was here, or at least why he was at the wedding before and not how he got here after Beacon. The German was here to avenge his lover's death.

"Excuse me..." He asked a woman. "Do you know where Dr. Scholz is?"

"Je suis désolé, je ne peux pas parler allemand." The woman said in French.

"Oh, my apologies." Medic went to ask someone else. That woman must have been the wife of a wealthy Frenchman if she was here at the Prime Minister's wedding. He went around asking lots of people, but no one seemed to know where his man was. It was frustrating. Medic had done this before yet he couldn't remember how he did it the first time.

Walking back to the fountain he found himself in, he scanned the place around again, carefully examining each face for his target. His eyes eventually set on the prime minister, and he decided he might as well ask him. The PM was talking with some other government officials with his wife at his side.

"Guten abend, Prime Minister." Medic held his hand out for a handshake. "I wish you a happy marriage."

"Appreciated..." The PM smiled. "Um... apologies, but who are you?"

"Ah, I am Dr. Sauer. University of Stuttgart." Medic bowed, lying about his identity. "Pardon me, but do you happen to know where a Dr. Scholz is?"

"Dr. Scholz?" The PM raised a brow. "Of course I do. He is my personal doctor after all." The PM and his newly wed wife softly laughed together while Medic looked like his balls dropped.

"Really now? My, I didn't know Anson's made it quite high in the world!" Medic chuckled. He was nervous. Killing the PM's doctor is definitely a life in prison or something like that, but he still really wanted to kill him.

"You know him?" The PM asked.

"Yes, yes I do. My apologies, I am quite anxious to meet my old friend so will you please point me to him?"

"Gladly. Anson should be somewhere in the guest rooms. That's last where I saw him at least."

"Thank you." Medic nodded and shook his hand before going off to meet his target. It still bothered him that he didn't understand why he was back here, but as long as he got to make Scholz squeal like he did the first time again, then he was perfectly fine with it. After making it to the guest rooms, the only problem now was which one contained his target, and there was a fuck ton of guest rooms.

Medic sighed, and began the long and tedious process of checking the rooms out.

*A fuck ton of doors later*

"Pardon me, but-" He stopped speaking when he saw who opened the door.

"HEILBURGER!?" Scholz yelled before Medic rushed him into the room and closed the door.

"Shhhh... why are you screaming?" Medic firmly covered his victim's mouth, enjoying the terror in his eyes. "I'm only here to see an old friend..."

It was a bit of a struggle, but Medic had managed to tie him up on the guest bed. Ready for his operation. Scholz tried to muffle out screams from under his gag as he watched Medic slowly place his operating instruments on the nightstand, whistling as he went. The madman went to the bathroom to get his hands cleaned for the operation, still whistling as Scholz continued to struggle.

"Now..." Medic picked up a scalpel and placed its tip on his dear patient's bare chest.

"Prepare for your examination..."

In only thirty minutes, Medic had surgically murdered Scholz in the most brutal way possible. The man was completely unrecognizable, so unrecognizable in fact that he no longer looked like a human being. Various parts of his body had been removed and/or replaced with parts from animals no matter how implausible the placement of the parts seemed. Worst part of all this? Scholz was still alive until the very end, courtesy of the medigun. It was very disturbing considering how Medic was singing and old German song about love as he did it, and this was twice as gruesome then what he did to Scholz's friend, the 'missing skeleton' patient.

"Okay... one more cut here... and you're done!" He gently slapped Scholz with a smile, not minding that he didn't really have a discernible face anymore. "Now, I suggest you take time off from work so you can recover from your injuries, and also I suggest you regularly take antibiotics to prevent infection."

Knocking was heard at the door, and Medic slowly turned his head.

"Hello? Are you in there Anson?" He recognized the voice as that of the PM. "Please come out. I believe I accidentally broke my wrist..." The door opened. "Ah, there-"

"A broken wrist?" The PM was greeted by the sight of Medic covered in blood. "Hmm... put a cast on it and you should be fine." Medic began walking away while the PM stared after him.

"M-mr. Sauer?" The PM stuttered out. He quickly looked into the room, and he quickly wished he didn't.

"SECURITY!"

* * *

 **Demoman**

"Ah... time to take a break!" Young Demo plopped himself down at the foot of a suit of armor. He was like halfway done with the woman's castle. The young Scot considered going to the kitchen and getting something to snack on, but it was a little far. Sighing, he simply decided to stay here until he felt like getting back to it.

" _Hmmpmh!"_ He heard a voice muffle. Demo panicked and jumped to his feet.

"PYRO!? IS THAT YOU!?" He shouted with the broom raised like how he normally would hold Eyelander. The voice muffled again, but this time he noticed that it was ghostly sounding.

"Eyelander?" Demo gasped. He remembered now. This was the day he got Eyelander.

" _MPMHPMH_!" Demo looked behind him and saw the suit of armor was holding a sheathed sword in front of it, a glowing sheathed sword.

"Eyelander ye rusty old butter knife!" Tavish happily grabbed the sword and unsheathed it. "There you are!"

" _*deep inhale* FUCK FUCK FUCK! FUCK THAT WITCH!"_ Demo winced when Eyelander suddenly started cursing wildly. Yep. This was definitely his sword. " _I FUCKING HATE GETTING PUT IN THAT SHEATHE! AND HOW THE FUCK DID I END UP BACK HERE!? THAT WITCH HAS GOTTEN ME TRAPPED HERE FOR THE LAST 800 YEARS!"_

"End up back here? Wait... Eyelander, ye also remember what happened? At Beacon?"

" _HOW COULD I FUCKING NOT!?"_ The haunted sword took a deep breath. " _Ugh... yes."_

"So this isn't a dream then..." Demo said at this realization. "Maybe we were sent back in time-"

" _No. Trust me boy, I'm a ghost sword, and I say we are very dead."_ If Eyelander could shrug, he would be doing it right now. _"That goddamn woman killed us."_

"D-dead?" Demo fell on his bottom, unbelieving. "We lost..."

 _"Yes, yes we did... OH SHIT!"_ Eyelander yelled out of nowhere. _"HIDE IN MY ARMOR!"_

"Armor!? What armor!?"

" _The one you pulled me off of you moron! Get inside me now!... uh, you get it!"_ Demo rushed into the centuries old suit of armor that Eyelander claims is his own, and placed Eyelander back in his sheathe so that he could hold it in the position that the armor was in before.

"Why are we hiding?" Demo whispered.

" _I remember. The witch is coming..."_ Sure enough, the beautiful witch came walking into the hallway.

"Scottie boy?" She called in that angelic voice of hers as she stopped right in front of Eyelander's suit of armor. Demo started to sweat when she looked straight at the armor. "Ohh... have you seen that cute little Scottish boy around here?" She asked the suit of armor. At first, Demo panicked because he thought she found him out, but he kept his silence and hoped she would go away.

"Hehe..." She giggled as she kissed the suit of armor. Then she took Eyelander.

"I still remember what you looked like... you were very cute too..." Eyelander muffled violently under his sheathe while the witch smiled. "Humph... and this is why I never play with you..." She placed Eyelander back and continued looking for Demoman. After a while, Demo finally had the balls to crawl out of the suit.

"That was strange... why'd you have me hide from her?" He unsheathed Eyelander and he took another deep breath.

 _"That witch is nowhere near as sweet as she makes herself appear! She killed me and trapped me in my own damn sword back when I was still alive all because I fell in love with her! Damn it! Knew I should have joined those witch hunts..."_

"What do we do now? I don't even remember how we got through this the first time!"

" _Me neither, but if one thing's for sure then we need to get the fuck out of here!"_ Both of them shut up when they heard footsteps coming down the halle.

"Hello? Where are- oh! There you are~" The witch smiled happily. Her smile faded a little when she saw Demo was holding Eyelander, but then it got bigger. "What do we have here? A Scot and a sword?"

" _FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING BITCH! I'M A KNIGHT GODDAMN IT!"_

"Whatever, what are you doing with that sword, Scottie? Has he told you a bunch of lies?"

"U-um..." Demo was afraid. He shouldn't be afraid since he had the mentality of a man, yet he was in a child's body.

 _"I TOLD HIM THE TRUTH YOU FUCKING BITCH!_ " A supernatural force suddenly shoved Eyelander back into his scabbard and the sword began furiously muffling again. The witch sighed.

"A shame... I guess you want to leave now..."

"If it's not too much trouble..." Young Demo backed up a couple of feet. It was obvious this witch was not gonna let him go just like that.

"Okay... Xonto Mordoo!" She yelled out some kind of spell, and she surrounded the entire castle in some kind of magical shield. There was no escape. Demo frantically looked out the windows and panicked when he saw she had suddenly disappeared.

"Tell you what..." He heard a female voice come from behind him. Demo was too afraid to look back as he felt her hands rub his shoulders. "I'll let you leave... only if you play a little game with me first. Minimus Mannius!" With that spell, Demo began shrinking until he was something like the size of a mouse. Maybe a little smaller. (Think that one spell from Scream Fortress that makes you small)

The witch laughed as she held Demo up. "How cute~" Demo crawled back on her hand as she gently rubbed him with a finger. "The game's simple. I'm going to give you a minute to hide anywhere in my castle and I have to come and find you in ten minutes. If I don't find you in that time, then you're free to go. If I do find you, then you get to stay with me forever! Understand?"

"Y-yes ma'am..." Tiny Demo nodded fearfully at her huge face.

"Good. Now go..." She put Demo down and he immediately ran as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, which was pretty fast because being smaller makes you faster for some reason. He turned back, and his heart dropped when he saw she had turned herself into a slick black cat that was softly giggling in her angelic voice. Eyealander was still with him, and he immediately unsheathed the sword.

"We're so doomed!"

" _Ya think? But we still have to try, boy!"_ Eyelander told him. _"_

 _We did this once, and we'll do it again!"_

* * *

 **Heavy**

(Dialogue is entirely in Russian but written in English for convenience.)

"All women to the workshop! Men to the mines!" A guard called out over hundreds of gulag prisoners starting their day's work.

It was cold. The Siberian winter was in full swing and the prisoners were suffering. Heavy and his family were no different. What hurt him the most during the day's of work was the time he spent away from his mother and sisters, never knowing if he'll see them again later that day when work was over. All around him was nothing but despair. Guards were barking out orders to the prisoners and executed those deemed lazy with their Mosin-Nagants or with their Tokarevs, beating already dying prisoners on accusations of faking their inability to work, and some were just plain assholes who beat people for no reason. Only the cruelest for Stalin's work prisons of death.

Mikhail was doing his usual thing, and that was smashing rocks with a sledgehammer where the gravel would be used in building projects later. Not only was the work long and hard, but it was also boring. He was shackled to a group of five other prisoners who were of similar build to his strong self, and they weren't allowed to even talk to each other as they worked. Only the sounds of gunshots, crying, despair, and hammers striking rocks filled their day.

"NO! PLEASE!" He heard a familiar voice cry out, making him stop his work.

"Zhanna..." Heavy then got a rifle butt to the back of his head.

"Keep working!" The guard watching his group ordered. Heavy refused, and he kept beating Heavy. Mikhail only did this so he could see what was happening to his sister, and he was not happy. Some guards had dragged Zhanna out into the snow and they were now beating her just like how he was.

"This ought to teach you not to slack on the job!" A commissar relentlessly kicked her before pulling his Tokarev out.

"Filthy pigs of the Motherland!" He called out for all the prisoner's attentions. The prisoners were glad that they could actually take a break even if it seemed like they were going to watch a young girl get executed. "As you all know, you were sent to this place for being cowards, traitors, and filthy dogs to the great Soviet Union! If you refuse to work for the betterment of the Motherland, then we will make you! Yet for those of you who still refuse..." He raised the pistol at Zhanna's head.

The shot never came as the Commissar's head suddenly exploded. The guard who was beating Heavy had stopped to watch the Commissar, and he was now getting ripped in half by a very angry Cherinkov. All the guards saw what was happening and started taking positions to fire on Heavy while the prisoners scattered. Heavy had no idea that making a finger pistol would actually work, but it did and he used it to blow the chains off his leg where he proceeded to run straight at the guards, not caring if bullets were flying at him.

Still holding on to his sledgehammer, he used it to smash two guards heads off with one swing and brutalized the rest as they struggled to fight him up close. The other prisoners saw what was happening, and they grew a pair of balls. A pair of Russian balls. It was time to man the fuck up and face evil.

All Hell broke loose as the prisoners rose up against the guards with the same rage and fury as Mikhail's brutal killing spree. The bolt-action Nagants were not enough to keep the surge of prisoners armed with the very tools they used from closing in on them, and the guards were forced to retreat as those who were too slow were torn to pieces by the prisoners.

"KILL THEM ALL!" Heavy screamed as he was ripping arms and legs off, and then used those same arms and legs as weapons against the guards. A truck full of gasoline was nearby and Heavy decided to use it to the prisoners' advantage. With all of his might, he did the impossible for a normal man. He lifted the motherfucking truck and threw it into the guard barracks where it blew up. The fireball was such that it made a shockwave that knocked everyone down, but the prisoners wouldn't stay down for long.

Unfortunately, that short pause was all the guards needed to set up better defenses. SGM and DP-28 machine guns were set up, and it was here that the prisoners began losing horribly. The firepower of the machine guns immediately stopped the horde as the ones who still wanted to fight took cover and fired back with captured guns while the vast majority ran back the way they came. Bodies piled up as the machine guns kept firing, and even Mikhail thought it was time to leave.

"Mama! We must leave this place!" Heavy had managed to gather up his family and he was making ready to leave.

However, it was too late. The guards had crushed the uprising and had surrounded the prisoners. They were a little pissed about getting slaughtered, so they began rounding up everyone for a mass execution. The prisoners were led into the snow covered center of the gulag now stained red from all the blood shed. Heavy's family remained undetected by the guards and they were watching them round everyone up from a safe spot.

"Misha, we can't let them do this..." Heavy's youngest sister, Bronislave cried.

"I know, but we must-"

"Son." Heavy's mother stopped him. "Your father wouldn't let this happen." She said very seriously.

"Mama, you cannot be serious! We will all die!" Mrs. Cherinkov simply pulled her son in for a hug.

"I know, but this is for your father." They separated and she stared deep into his eyes with a face of absolute determination.

"Let us make them squeal like pigs."

* * *

 **Sniper**

Little Rick was alone in the outback. He had spent the last couple of hours walking far away from his primary school, and he was now heading to his family's farm. Logically, people would have taken the relatively safe roads to get where they want in the outback, but that probably meant running into those much tougher Australian boys. Sniper was fully aware now that he wasn't Australian, but back when this was happening he didn't know that. He remembered never fitting in with the other kids who always wanted to fight for no fucking reason.

It took a quite of bit of walking as well as fending off some of the dangerous creatures of the outback, but he eventually made it home. No doubt his parents would get mad at him for not being at school, but he felt it was much more worth it to be at home then get beaten by the Australian kids. The Australian kids don't mean any ill will towards him. It was just in their nature to go around getting into fights. Fighting was an integral part of every Australian childhood.

"Mum? Dad? I'm home." He called out when he entered their small farmstead to find his mother was home but his father was out in the fields.

"Ricky? What are you doing home soon?" His adopted mother asked. Then she noticed her son looked like Hell. "What happened to you!?" She ran at her boy and immediately checked him over to see if any of the injuries were serious.

"Those boys at school, mom." Rick actually had a tear in his eye. It just hurt him a little to see his mom again. His mother immediately understood.

"Oh..." She hugged him. "They beat you again, didn't they?"

"Yep."

"Don't take it too hardly, Ricky. They're just boys. Australian boys. That's what they do. I suppose you're just a little... gentler, that's all." Sniper knew he was actually from New Zealand, but he didn't want to tell his mother this now. They spent their lives telling him he was Australian. Then, his father came home.

"Ricky? What're you doin' back here so soon?" His father demanded. "School don't end till four hours from now!"

"He ran here, Jonathan." His mother told him. "Said the boys beat him again."

"Oh..." He understood right away, and then he walked over to the kitchen to grab a drink.

"Should we send him back to school? The school ought to be worried about him."

"Don't bother. Just call 'em and say we got him back home."

Sniper went to his room and lay in bed after eating lunch with his parents. He thought about why he came here after death. Maybe you go back in time or something when you die? That didn't make any sense as why would he be sent back in time when he already knows everything that will happen? So what if this just him reliving a part of his life? That seems to be the case. He remembers a lot of what happened earlier, and he sort of remembers what happens next.

"Dad?" He came out of his room to talk to his father.

"Yeah?"

"Mind if I borrow your slingshot?"

"What for?"

"Just something to keep me busy..."

His father gave him the slingshot, and he went outside to practice with it just like how he remembered. If he can't fight them in close combat, then he'll fight them at a distance. Setting up several targets composed of tin cans and some milk bottles across the farm/sheep ranch, he easily blew through them all. Seems like he's just as good with marksmanship as he was before, but he did remember that he was just as good back when he did this the first time. Feeling confident about himself, Sniper got a backpack full of stones and brought a wooden club just in case.

"You're going back to school?" His mother asked when she saw the backpack.

"Yeah. Bye mom. Bye dad." He waved his parents goodbye, and set off through the outback again. Again, he could have chosen to go along the relatively safe roads, but he just felt more at home in the bush. He was raised in the bush, and so the bush was his home away from home no matter how dangerous the creatures who lived here were.

As for what he intended on going back to a primary school full of muscle bound Australian kids? He was gonna prove he ain't no wimp. They never meant any harm to him, but he was well aware that the other kids knew he was a total wimp. They weren't wrong, but he could at least show them he can handle himself on his own terms.

* * *

 **Scout**

William Charleston dragged himself home, beaten and tired after that run in with his bullies. He had figured by this time that he was probably killed at Beacon or something, or in the most extreme case, his entire life was just a dream. Mercenary job, Remnant, everything.

When he got home, he accidentally bumped into a man as he was about to knock on the door and he came out.

"Apologies." The man said in a French accent before leaving.

Scout muttered a curse out to the stranger before going inside his house, totally unaware he will meet this man in the future. He didn't really pay much attention to the man anyway as he was too sad to care about anything right now. His mother was in the living room talking to one of her friends on the phone and none of his brothers were home. Obviously, they were out doing greaser stuff.

Willy went to his room. Upon entering his room he had a realization. It all made sense now. This was the day he decided to stop being a wimp. Everything was exactly how he remembered it. The bullies, the bump in with the stranger walking out of his home, his brothers doing greaser stuff, and now him entering his room. It's a little strange it took him this long to realize it as it should have been obvious, but he knew what he was going to do today. He was going to go out there and kick some serious ass.

"Bye mom! I'm going to go crack some skulls!" He shouted out as he left the house with a baseball bat.

"Bye Willy, now I told you Mary was such a slut..." She kept talking to whoever was on the other side of the phone.

"Man, hope I'm fast enough in my little kid body..." Scout said to himself. He was a little unsure of this, but he was otherwise totally confident that he could pull this off.

He's done it before.

* * *

 **Pyro**

...was losing horribly. At first it had the other hand by catching the Demon totally by surprise with how determined it wanted to fight it with the Lollichop, but it all went downhill after the Demon got over it. Pyroland was long gone. If there was anything left of the once happy land, it had been destroyed by the flames or the monsters that had overrun it.

"Fool..." The Demon smacked Pyro aside when it feebly tried to defend itself from an attack. It grabbed Pyro's head and held him up so Pyro could see there was nothing left of his world. "Do you not see that there is nothing to fight for now? Look around you! All you have ever loved is gone. Dead like your dreams. Speaking of dreams, I believe it is time you join them in the grave..."

There was nothing Pyro could do as the demon threw it down into an eager horde of monsters that want nothing more than to feast on its flesh.

"THIS IS OUR WORLD NOW! PYROLAND IS NOW EVIL PYROLAND! MWAHAHAHA!" The Demon as well as all manner of scary monster laughed while Pyro soar through the sky. A monster opened its jaws to catch Pyro, but the flameproof person never came.

"HMPHM!?" Pyro gasped when he was suddenly caught by a Ballonicorn.

"Don't worry Mr. Pyro! We'll take our home back from these bullies!" The Balloonicorn neighed. If you could see under Pyro's mask, then you would see tears of joy flowing down. Pyro gave out a powerful muffle that shook the monsters to their core, and the Lollichop materialized in its hand. The monsters roared in agony as a bright light of joy covered the land, joy that hurt their evil skin.

"ARGH! TOO MUCH HAPPINESS!" Some of the lesser monsters turned into flower petals as they couldn't stand the bright light, but the rest of the monsters simply roared and rushed Pyro with the intent of smothering out this last bit of hope. Pyro patted the side of the Ballonicorn's head and mphmed out a command.

"You got it mister!" The Ballonicorn's wings instantly grew enormous and rainbows began emitting out of them as if it there were multiple rainbow guns on them. The monsters melted away when they were struck by the rainbows and Pyro itself even took out a bubble blower and blew out heart shaped bubbles at the monsters. Hearts for maximum damage!

"AH GOD, IT'S LIKE LOVE IS MURDERING US!" A monster yelled as a bubble heart melted its way into its chest, leaving a neat heart shaped hole in it.

"YOU THINK SOME LOVE CAN DEFEAT ME!?" The demon Pyro roared.

It summoned it's own mount to fight Pyro. A metal as fuck demonic skeleton horse with skeletal wings that had Hellfire coming out of it from every crack. Pyro saw it was coming and began blowing bubbles at it, but it merely slowed them down as they were dodging the heart shaped projectiles. The Demon Pyro blasted fire out from its demonic axe, and it singed the side of Pyro's beloved Balloonicorn.

The Balloonicorn brayed in pain, and Pyro put a little bandage on its boo boo.

"Mphm Phmm!" Pyro ordered.

"Are you sure?"

"Mpm!"

"Let's do it!" The Balloonicorn did a total 180 and began flying directly at the Demon Pyro. Demonic Pyro only laughed at what he thought was a foolish display and blasted a column of Hellfire out of its axe while its demonic steed did the same but from out of its mouth. Pyro simply blew a huge rainbow out from its Lollichop as well as blowing bubbles while the Balloonicorn blasted a love ray. The two beams of energy collided with each other and blew up into a massive explosion where colored dust clouds covered the sky.

"Argh!" Demon Pyro growled when it couldn't see shit through the clouds so it swiped its axe in the air to clear the clouds...

*LOVE PUNCH*

...and was met with Pyro jumping through the clouds with a fist covered in rainbows and hearts directly into the Demon's face. The Demon was knocked out of its mount and was currently getting the shit punched out of it as Pyro kept laying into it with its fist despite falling from such a high height. When they were near the ground, Pyro hadoukened the fuck out of the Demon, but instead of a fire Hadouken it was a love hadouken of hearts this time around. The force of love smashed the evil being into the ground where a huge crater was form, but Demon Pyro was far from gone. It quickly raised its axe to defend against a chop from the Lollichop and it began fighting Pyro in melee again.

The demonic horse flew in to help its master but it was tackled out of the sky by the Balloonicorn. The two steeds also began fighting each other. Pyro slipped a slash from the Demon and countered with an effective smash to its face. The Demon staggered backwards and kicked Pyro back before coming in with a blast of fire. Pyro magically summoned a shield made out of rainbows to defend itself and then threw it Captain America style at the Demon, but the Demon smacked it out of the way as it rushed Pyro bull style. It caught Pyro between its horns and it was gonna run him off into a crack to Hell had Pyro not slipped under it at the last second and kicked it into the crack.

Taking a breath of relief, Pyro thought he was safe. Then, it wasn't. Demon Pyro simply crawled back out of the crack covered in the fires and rage of Hell and feroiciously slashed at Pyro with its new demon claws. The demonic axe had been lost so the Demon simply turned its hands into massive metal claws covered in blood and torn flesh to destroy this cute and cuddly motherfucker. Pyro panicked and began retreating back as the Demon ran at him with all fours, until a blast of rainbows threw it far away from him. Looking back, Pyro saw that Balloonicorn had used the magical energy in its horn to save it. Speaking of magical energy, it impaled the demonic horse in the most metal way possible for an inflatable animal and blasted it up in the sky with every bit of happiness and love stored in its horn. The resulting explosion caused a mushroom cloud of rainbows to cover the land, and it seemed like life was suddenly returning to the land.

"No! NO!" Demon Pyro was absolutely furious at the sight of flowers, rainbows and some other un-metal and evil shit cover the land again. "ATTACK MY MONMSTERS! ATTACK!" Monsters began pouring out of the cracks from Hell and rushed to do battle with the newly revived forces of love and joy. Sure, it was composed mainly of babies, puppies, kitties, and cake, but goddamn will this cutesy stuff give them a fight this time!

Pyro mphmed out laughter and led its forces of happiness against the forces of evil.

* * *

 **Engineer**

Poor little Dell was still getting furiously beaten by his father. The beating was so furious, that his mother feared that his father was going to kill him.

"Leave him alone!" Mrs. Conagher jumped on his dad, but she was then slapped in the face.

"BITCH!" Dell's father turned his attention on his mother, and Engie lay there watching, crying as he did so. This is when he finally remembered what this night was. This was the night where he stood up the monster that used to be his father.

Randy Conagher was furiously beating his wife. So furious in fact that he didn't notice his own son sneaking up behind him.

"DON'T YOU EVER-OWW!" Randy fell to the ground as his son smashed a vase over his head. "BOY, WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" He screamed at his son. Engie did not move a single muscle. A very serious look of defiance was on his face.

"I'm being a man." He answered simply.

"A man? A MAN!? BOY YOU WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT A MAN WAS IF IT HIT YA IN THE GODDAMN HEAD!" Randy was caught totally off guard when his son tackled him back down to the ground.

"Shut your damn mouth!"

Father and son began fighting

* * *

 **Spy**

The dead.

The dead were the only things Jacques Moreau had to keep him company here in Vichy. That, and the night. He had been here for hours and it seemed like the moon hadn't moved an inch up in the night sky. Nothing seemed to change. The dead stayed still. The fires kept burning. The random gunfire and shouts in the distance kept doing their thing. And Jacques himself lay unmoving as he laid among the dead as if he were on of them. In a way, he really was one of them.

His tears ran out long ago.

* * *

 **Such sad, but such close to the return. That awkward moment where someone makes fishing 10x awesomer than normal.**

 **Also, FUCK. One of the largest chapters yet with 10,000+ words! Who said I don't care for my audience. _Fuck you guys..._ WHAT!? I didn't whisper anything! YOU MUST BE HEARING SOME BULLSHIT! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO FUCKING MUCH! I WOULD NEVER SHOW SIGNS OF HATRED!**

 **Seriously, why do you think uploads are fairly quick?**

 **Okay, feel free to ask questions and other shit and I'll respond like a total bro no matter what you say.**

 ***RESPONSES MAY VARY***

 **Review Responses:**

 **Mr Green 37: Mental trauma's a bitch.**

 **Lord hellfire913: She's... fine.**

 **TheMischievousPuppyDog: Eh... close enough.**

 **BLUScout859: Yeah... but I thought I made it clear that there is no distinction between RED and BLU team. Both teams combined to make the nine we know.**

 **A fan: Okay... but fuck me are your sentences hard to read. I know what you said about you typing stuff, but can you try and add periods?**

 **MrtheratedG: Yes.**

 **Ren Woods: You tell me.**

 **TheExpL0DiNgaPplE: I'm undecided about using the pills. There's still time to use it though so we'll see if I do. I think you're the one who asked me about Synergy for Half-Life 2, and I'm sad to say I don't know how to use mods though I have seen it in action before. Also, that name is so hard to spell.**

 **Guest: Fuck.**

 **Battle9921: Didn't see what coming?**

 **Rick: Eyelander was always dead. :) But yeah, he was destroyed at the battle when the flame wall closed in around the tower.**

 **Question neer: :D**

 **Marco Racko: I have only one problem with this review. Why do you keep expressing your honesty as if you're afraid I will be mad at you? I'm not, this is exactly what I'm encouraging. Now as for your review, tell me something I wasn't aware of :)**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: Um, yes. And no. By the way, how'd this name of yours come about?**

 **the Khajiit Ra'Koor: Thanks, but I had friends that warned me about this. They told me to beware the furry! I told them "nah mang, Khajit ain't furry" and they said "mutafuka wut? dat shit furry as fuq tho." They then pointe dout evidence of how Khajit's were furries, the biggest being multiple porn of them for some reason. My dick is no longer hard if your's is... LOL K.**

 **RobloxianXD: Sure, but for now there going to be some sad stuffs. The mischief will return though. The mercenaries are never one to stay sad for long.**

 **SkylordF: Would the Axetinguisher fit the theme of happiness that Pyro got in Pyroland?**


	33. The Return

**Some Bar on Earth**

"FOOLS! YOU DARE CHALLENGE THE GREAT MERASMUS!?" Merasmus' voice echoed across the bar. "FOR YOU SEE, MERASMUS IS THE GREATEST AT POKER!"

Merasmuss the Great was sat down at a Poker table where he was playing with a pack of bread creatures, Lieutenant Bites and his squad of raccoons, and Archimedes and his gang of doves. There were other people, as in Humans, in the bar, but no one felt like going to play a game with the guy in a dress who was also playing with animals and bread.

"Haha, Merasmus can just feel the- OW!" Lieutenant Bites just threw the youngest of the raccoon squad at Merasmus.

'Shut your eldritch face, wizard!' Lieutenant Bites animal languaged. 'If my human friend were here, he would have already shoved a rocket up your ass for how annoying you are!' The raccoon squad chittered out agreements.

'Ugh... just play!' The bread loaf growled.

'Ja. We can't be stuck here all night.' Archimedes cooed.

'You tell him, flying rat!' Lieutenant Bites snarled.

'Zat is a pigeon you filthy American-'

"ENOUGH!" Merasmus exploded. "MERASMUS WILL NOT TOLERATE MERE ANIMALS AND BREAD CREATURES TELLING HIM-" He shut up when some of the doves had secretly flown above him and pooped on his hat.

"HOW DARE-" He was threatened by glares from every single thing at his table, and he sighed. "Ugh... fine."

They finally started playing their game of cards. It was going surprisingly well despite the fact that only one of the players was a person. Some of the bread loaves were snarling to each other about how one of them went missing a month ago.

The door of the bar was suddenly kicked open, and all heads turned to see a woman dressed in all purple with what looked like nine orbs of light connected to each other by a glowing chain. Merasmus paid her no mind, not noticing that she was coming right for them.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, what is it that you need from Merasmus..." Merasmus said without looking away from his cards.

"Hi Merasmus. Um... can I ask you a favor?"

"A favor? What mortal dares to ask Merasmus for a favor?" He turned his head to look at the woman, and thought she looked very familiar. "Hmm... does Merasmus know you from somewhere?"

"Um, yes? I'm Ms. Pauling. You may know me from Halloween a couple of years ago..." Gears ticked in Merasmus' head until he remembered she was with the mercenaries.

"Yes... Merasmus remembers you. You are that woman who associates herself with those moronic mercenaries for some reason. What is it that you want?" Merasmus returned his attention to his hand of cards. "No doubt something about those mercenaries..."

"You're pretty close..." She showed him the mercs' souls. "These are their souls..."

"SOULS!?" Merasmus jumped out of his seat. "You mean someone killed them for me!?"

"Um... yes."

"HAHAHAHA! OH JOYOUS DAY!" Merasmus laughed maniacally in absolute joy at this happy news. For him at least. "You hear that friends? Those morons are dead! Drinks on me!" Merasmus declared while the other things at his table looked shocked. The raccoons, doves, and even the bread loaves were saddened by the news.

"Uh...hehehe... right..." Pauling laughed nervously. "I know you're having fun, but can you please... you know... bring them back to life?" Merasmus instantly stopped laughing, and slowly turned to Ms. Pauling.

"Bring. Them. Back?" Merasmus said one word at a time.

"Yes please. If it isn't too much trouble." Pauling sweated as Merasmus got really close to her face. She reached for the Derringer in her pocket as she feared Merasmus was about to turn violent.

"Hmm...NO." In only a few seconds, Merasmus brought his cane around and smacked Ms. Pauling right out of the bar, leaving a sizeable hole in the ceiling.

"Hey! You got to pay for that!" The bar owner shouted.

"Oh! Merasmus is terribly sorry sir, but have no fear! Merasmus will pay for it with his earnings in this game of poker!"

'Archimedes wins.' Lieutenant Bites chittered out.

"... CURSES!"

* * *

 **Merasmus' Newest Eldritch Castle of Terror**

Yep. He was forced to leave Tom Jones' place after Soldier murdered him so he went and bought another castle of eldritch horror that just happened to be for sale in the area. Ms. Pauling went back to Mann Co. and dropped off the mercs' souls. She changed into a black stealth suit and easily found out where Merasmus lives now. If Merasmus won't do some magic mumbo jumbo to bring the gents back, then she will... try to at least. Hell, she didn't know how to use magic, but it was her only shot at bringing them back from the dead.

Despite being a castle, this placed lacked a lot when it came to security. Ms. Pauling had no trouble at all crossing the empty moat and scaling the ten foot high stone walls. Still, she was cautious upon entering the place. Never get too comfy when in you're in a hostile area, especially with Merasmus since Pauling didn't know jack about how magic works. As for entering the castle itself, the idiot wizard left a window wide open where Ms. Pauling found some other guys were in here.

"Hey! We were robbing this place first, lady!" The lead thief shouted at her.

"Oh! Sorry! Um, do you mind if I like, steal stuff from the other rooms?"

"Don't bother..." A thief said as he was looking through a chest. "Place's filled with nothin' but fake spooky stuff 'n gypsy nonsense. There ain't a thing worth stealing here."

"Eh, he's right. Come on boys. Let's get out of here." The thieves began leaving. "Go ahead and look around, but I'm telling you, you ain't gonna find anything important." They told her right before leaving out the window.

"Maybe you just don't know what you're looking at.." Obviously, those thieves didn't know that the stuff here was actually magical. Then again, Ms. Pauling also didn't know which of the stuffs here could bring the guys back. Oh well, better start looking! So she searched and searched and came across stuff that was indeed magical, yet it wasn't what she was looking for. A book about bombs that talked in a vaguely Jamaican accent. A gargoyle statue that had a note saying "SOULS GO HERE".

However, she did come across two doors. One said "DO NOT ENTER" while the other said "PLEASE USE OTHER DOOR". Shrugging, Ms. Pauling broke both of them down to see what was inside before entering. She was so glad she did so because the door that said "DO NOT ENTER" led into a pitfall to Hell while the other had stairs going downwards.

"I guess those thieves have manners..." Pauling wondered as to why they didn't try and open this door. She went downstairs into what seemed like a totally wall-less room where only a platform was down beneath several hundred feet of steps. What creeped Pauling out was that this place was full of bats and wierd glowing eyes that stared out from the dark shadows around this place. When she reached the platform, there was a pedestal with a closed book on it. The book was old and ancient looking.

Pauling blew the dust off the top and read the title. " _Easy 2 Learn Magic 4 Dummies?_ Huh..." She might as well check it out, especially since this was like the only book written in English that might have what she needed.. Sure, there were other books written in English, but they were really unhelpful considering they were about either cooking recipes or magic she didn't need to know.

"Resurrection, resurrection, resurrection, resu- Ah!" A smile grew on her face when she saw this book indeed contained what she needed. Of course, caution was taken on removing the book from the pedestal. She's seen multiple movies where these things lead to a trap.

*click*

 _Annnnd_ it did! The very platform she was on began to collapse, and she quickly high tailed it out of there with the book. She nearly fell to her death when she almost didn't make it off of the collapsing stairs, but now she found that the entire place was collapsing. However, it was no big deal since the room she came out of was close to the front door, so she just bashed right through it and got right out of there.

* * *

 **Literally a Minute after Pauling got out of There**

"Augh! How could Merasmus lose to a bird!?" Merasmus grumbled to himself as he walked away from a taxi cab that just dropped him off. "Now I have to pay for reparations to that damn bar! Oh, I guess it isn't all bad. Those moronic mercenaries are dead after all! This is cause for celebration! I think I'll summons some ghouls to hang out with..." Merasmus trailed off when he saw his castle had collapsed.

"What!? B-but how!? Who would do such a thing to my castle!?" Merasmus shouted. Then some men in black ski masks came up to him.

"Hey buddy, this your place?"

"Yes, this is Merasmus' castle of eldritch horror..." Merasmus replied, still furious about losing his home AGAIN.

"Yeah, we're from the thieves' commission, and we must say your place is the worst we've ever broken into."

"WHAT!? Did you destroy Merasmus' castle!?"

"Us? Nah. It was some girl who came in after us. Saw her speeding off on a moped."

"Girl? But what girl... oh." Merasmus realized. " _Her..."_

"Hey! You listening?" The thief snapped his fingers. "We're suing you for wasting our time with this place."

"What? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Sure it does! The law says that a thief who finds nothing he want to take from a home can sue the homeowner for a certain sum of money."

"Oh for the love of- what country would have a law like that!?"

"We do. See you in court." The thieves left, and Merasmus was still rage filled.

"DAMN THOSE MERCENARIES AND THAT GIRL! Oh... if Merasmus couldn't kill the mercenaries himself, then he'll simply the girl! MWAHAHAHA!"

...

"Oh... Merasmus is so lonely..."

* * *

 **Mann Co.**

"Are you sure this will work?" Zhanna questioned Ms. Pauling. The woman came speeding in on her moped a minute ago and wildly claimed she had a way to bring the boys back. The families were overjoyed, but they were quite skeptical.

"Yes I'm sure! Now, we need candles, Human blood, gunpowder, a... rubber duck? Huh, weird..." Pauling listed off the list of stuff required for the resurrection ritual.

Meanwhile, Saxton Hale was patiently waiting at the portal to Remnant. If Pauling told him right, then that goddamned fat bastard was still guarding the way in. As for why he was waiting at the portal, he sent ons of Scout's brothers in there to be like a negotiator to try and convince Gaben to let Hale back in. It didn't work. He repeated the process a further seven times with the seven remaining brothers, and it failed each time. Mostly because Scout's brothers were just as arrogant as their little brother if not even more so. No one offends Gaben.

So, when the brothers failed, he sent in Mr. Bidwell. It also failed, but not because of arrogance. No, it was because Gaben actually did negotiate a deal, but the problem was the deal was literally impossible. Gabe said that if Hale wanted to get back into Remnant, he needed to provide and eternity of money to Gabe. Saxton Hale was so done. He seemed to give up on the portal for real this time as he walked up to his office like a sad bastard.

He walked by the Ms. Pauling, Heavy's family, Scout's mom, and Demo's mom as they were getting some stuff prepared for the return.

* * *

 **Soldier**

"Come get some you Un-American trash!" Howard yelled defiantly as he one handed his M1928 Tommy Gun at the bad guys while holding his giant Bowie Knife in the other hand. Both Doe's had rushed out of the house when they saw the enemy running for cover. Fucking pussies, hiding in places where we can't shoot you! Well if we can't shoot you, then we'll just have to beat you to death in manly melee combat!

Nearby, little Soldier was bashing a Confederate infantryman's brains out with the butt of his M1918A1 BAR. Once he was done, he looked up just in time to see his grandad get shot in the chest. Howard tanked the shot like a champ, but then a KKK member threw a Molotov on him.

"Grandpa!" Soldier screamed at seeing his grandfather catch aflame. He was going to run and help him but he was kicked back by an enemy.

"Damn child!" He yelled as he raised a pistol to execute John. John yelled in defiance and tackled the man to the ground, using all of his ten year old might to knee him in the balls and then beat him with his bare hands. However, he was still a child and the man threw him off and began strangling him. Soldier struggled for breath as he looked over to how his grandpa was holding up.

To his surprise, his grandpa was holding up just fine. The crazy old bastard had ripped his burning shirt off and was now using it to strangle a KKK guy to death. When Howard saw John, he simply grinned and roughly pulled out an axe from some logs that he was chopping up for firewood and threw it tomahawk style at Soldier. The man never saw it coming, and Soldier's face was covered in blood as he pushed the guy off of him and gave his grandpa a thumbs up.

"To the house, John! To the house!" The Doe's retreated back to their house when it became apparent that charging out in the open probably wasn't a good idea. Enemies with guns rifles and other guns shot at them as they ran, and the Doe's themselves used pistols and revolvers to shoot back until they got to the relative safety of their home.

"Hahaha! How's it feel to fight battles like a real man?" Howard asked his grandson as he grabbed an M1903 Springfield with bayonet.

"I fought manly battles before!" Little Soldier yelled as he grabbed a couple of Remington revolvers. "I did manage to get to Europe and kill some Nazis after all!" He blew some guy's arm off with the ridiculously powerful gun.

"Is that so? How'd it go?" Howard speared a guy through the chest with the bayonet on the Springfield, and then he proceeded to use that guy as a shield. You know how sometimes an MG would have a bullet shield on it? That's what the body was like as the gun was stabbed straight through him and he was now shooting out of it.

"Pretty fun! I think I killed a couple billion of them!" Soldier shouted as he threw a stick of dynamite back out of the house, killing the group who threw it.

"Couple billion!?" Howard yelled in disbelief. He had let go of the Springfield and was now using an M1897 Trench Gun. The 12 gauge shotgun brutalized the enemy up close. "Pffft! What are you, a girl?"

"What? Ow!" Soldier was knocked to the ground when a Confederate slammed himself right into the window on top of him. Unfortunately for him, he landed right on top of Soldier's new 1860 Cavalry Saber.

"That's right! Only a girl would leave after killing a couple billion of them!" Some guy dared to knock the Trench Gun out of Howard's hand and swing at him with a saber of the same model as Soldier's, but that man was now screaming in agony as Howard grabbed his face and jammed his thumbs in the man's eyes.

"Why if I were there I would of killed every single one of them! Crush them, like this!" Howard applied such force to the man's head, that his head exploded under the weight. A bloody mess covered Soldier's grandad as he laughed jollily. "Just like that!"

The two Doe's valiantly held their farm out against the hundreds of attackers with nothing but their American guns and steel. Technically, the guys who were attacking were American too, but no where near as American as these two.

"Retreat! Retreat!" A voice called out. The men who had surrounded the house began rushing out of it. Seems like the Doe's killed so many of them that they decided that it was time to run. The Doe's gave no shits about their retreat and simply picked them off as they ran with their guns, shooting them in the backs as they ran.

"Yeah! We did it!" Soldier cheered, waving his saber in the air. "That ought to teach them what it truly means to be American!"

"Shhh! Hush... something ain't right. They don't retreat this easily..." Right after Howard finished saying that, a tank shell crashed through the house and nearly took his head off. "Yep." Howard said completely unsurprised. "Knew that couldn't be it, but I don't remember killing no damn tank..."

"Hey Howard!" The Doe's heard a voice outside call. They went up to the windows and saw a man poking his head out from the hatch of an M4 Sherman painted in army green with a Confederate flag flying above it. The attackers had merely regrouped for another, more forceful attack. "Look what we bought with all of our Heaven dollars! Bet you wish you had a goddamn tank!"

The man soon got a rifle round to the head as he was laughing.

"Bastard." Howard passed John a smoking M1903 Springfield. Both Doe's soon dropped to the ground when the machine guns on the tank opened up on them. As well as the tank, it seemed like the attackers brought heavier weapons with them.

"Well shit." Howard cursed. They were absolutely pinned with all of this incoming fire. It didn't help that the tank rounds kept threatening to bring the house down right on top of them.

"What do we do now?" John asked, covering his face from all the splinters coming off from bullets striking the wooden home.

"Simple son..." Grandpa Doe rolled over to a box full of various grenades. "We do what Americans do best..." He pulled out a smoke grenade and threw it out where the tank was. "We're gonna show 'em some Democracy." He smiled. "Grab some guns and a knife or whatever else you want to stick 'em with..."

Despite the smoke, they kept riddling the house with bullets in the hopes that the sheer firepower would rip them to pieces.

"Hold fire! Hold fire!" Someone called out when the smoke cleared. The house was absolutely fucked, yet it was still standing but barely. "Someone go in there and drag their sorry behinds out there."

"Hehe... can't wait to lock Howard up. That son of a bitch is gonna regret everything when we torture him for eternity!" A guy said from the treeline, unaware that the guy he was talking to just got a knife stabbed into his brain.

"Right Edwa-" He didn't finish as Howard snapped his neck.

"Sure."

Both Doe's made snuck their way over to the tank, remaining completely undetected as the enemy were certain there was no way they survived all of that. They creeped behind the Sherman and quietly crawled up to the turret.

Howard was gonna jam his Bowie into the guy manning the M2 Browning, but Jogn stopped him and gave him a smile. He understood immediately, and smiled as he gave his grandson the knife. With no hesitation at all, little Soldier legitimately decapitated the man with the giant knife and immediately took hold of the .50 cal machine gun. His grandfather snapped the Confederate flag off of its post.

"DEMOCRACY!" Ten year old Soldier yelled as he lit up the enemies around them. The .50 cal bullets literally blew holes in them as a lot of them had gotten out of cover. While his grandson killed dozens of men, Howard crawled into the tank and manned the 75mm gun. He loaded a canister round into the cannon.

"Hehe..." Howard chuckled softly as he rotated the tank turret toward some guys trying to flank around the tank. In a moment, they were turned to bloody ribbons. The sudden turn of events was so shocking, that it caused the bad guys to retreat back into their portals.

"Oh no you don't!" Howard smiled manically as he rushed the tank into full gear towards the portals, crushing wounded or dying enemies with the treads.

"Where we going grandpa!?" Soldier screamed over the sound of the M2 (otherwise known as the Ma Deuce) firing full auto at the bad guys.

"We're going to teach these bastards a lesson!" Howard yelled out the hatch with a cigar in his mouth. Soldier looked up at the portals, and saw that they were going to go into American Heaven.

"AN AMERICAN LESSON!" Howard screamed as they entered the portal to American Heaven.

The portal took them into Dixie Land, the place reserved for the Confederate side of the Civil War. People screamed as the tank came speeding down with a kid blasting a heavy MG at whoever attacked them earlier. Eventually, Howard crashed the tank into a community center, and then that community center blew up shortly after.

"Well, guess that's over with..." One of the many surviving attackers said to himself as the others cheered, happy that the killing spree was suddenly over. Then it wasn't. Loud and proud laughing was heard as an older gentleman and a child walked out of the flames.

"Look! Bad guys! Millions of them! And they all hate Americans!" Howard smiled down at his boy. "And what do we do with people who hate America?"

"WE KILL THEM!" Soldier ran forward, waving his Cavalry Saber in the air while shooting a Remington revolver at the people who attacked them, but then his grandpa stopped him.

"Hold on there! We're going to need some help with this!" Howard made some screeching noises, and millions of Bald Eagles came flying over to Dixie Land.

"RUN! IT'S THE GREAT EAGLE SCOURGE!" People ran for their lives as Bald Eagles AND the Doe's started massacring them. The army that failed to destroy the Doe's fought back, but how can you win against DEMOCRACY.

Take Soldier for example. His grandfather passed him a M1919 Browning .30 cal LMG, and he was now using it to give democracy to all these people. There was a lot of them, but it was no problem for the Browning that had a fire rate of 600 Democracies per minute.

Their killing spree quickly attracted the attention of Uncle Sam. Basically, when the angels came to tell Uncle Sam what happened, they said two maniacs came into Dixie Land and began killing everyone and everything with a massive flying horde of Bald Eagles. Uncle Sam was not pleased, and he used his 'Murican powers to fly all the way to Dixie Land where he found he was not bullshitted too.

"Oh for Christ's sake..." Uncle Sam facepalmed when he saw who was responsible.

"Hello, Sam!" Howard yelled over the screams of a man who's face he was sticking into fire. "What brings you here? Want to help us defend democracy from these villains?"

"No, Howard." Uncle Sam uncovered his face and saw Howard even brought his recently dead grandson with him. Soldier was stabbing a KKK member to death with a brick. (How the fuck...) Uncle Sam surveyed all the damage and destruction and sighed once more. "Howard?"

"Yes?" The man in question just threw a grenade over to some guys trying to hide behind a wall.

"I'm going to ask you to kindly stop. This is the eigth attack this century!" Uncle Sam clapped his hands, and Howard and John were instantly frozen and brought to his side. He also scared the Bald Eagles away. "Do you boys know how long it takes to revive every single dead son of a bitch you kill!? It takes weeks! Even months sometimes!"

Uncle Sam unsheathed his American Saber of Freedom and cut open a portal. He then threw both Doe's back to there farm.

"Don't ever come back into American Heaven unless you have Angel Marine Escort and/or entire Army battalions escorting you!" Uncle Sam shouted before he shut the portal down.

"Welp..." Howard said as he and John dusted themselves off. "Least we performed a successful counter attack on 'em!"

"YEAH!" Soldier cheered, hugging his grandad. "We sure showed them, huh grandaddy?"

"We sure did..." Howard returned his grandson's loving hug. "Now, who wants to help me rebuild the farm!?"

"I DO!" Soldier jumped happily.

"Hehe... I know you do, and you can start by taking these bodies and burning them out back!"

"Okay!" Soldier immediately got to work and started hauling the hundred or so dead guys over to be burned in a mass fire.

"Just make sure you keep the ashes!" Howard yelled, starting to cut some wood. "We can use 'em for fertilizer!" There the two of them went. American grandfather and American grandson rebuilding their farm after righteously slaughtering the fuck out of those who tried to wipe this symbol of Freedom out of existence.

They were going well, but then a white portal opened up and a bright light came out of it as Soldier lit the bodies on fire.

"W-what..." John gasped as his grandfather came running with a Colt Revolver, thinking they were under attack again. Then Columbia herself came to them.

"Hello boys..." She curtsied.

"Columbia." Both Doe's nodded their heads. It was a pleasant surprise that the American Goddess of Freedom and Liberty came to visit them.

"What brings you to Doe Manor?" Howard put his Colt away.

"I'm here to tell you... that John... well..." The Doe's raised their brows at her.

"I'm what?" Soldier asked. Columbia lowered herself and put her hands on his shoulders.

"You've been given another chance." She smiled. Howard and John were surprised.

"Y-you mean..." John stuttered.

"Yes. You get to live again." A huge smile formed on Soldier's mouth, but then it went away when he realized that this meant one thing. He had to leave his beloved grandfather behind. Looking back, he only saw his grandfather had a proud smile on his face.

"Well, lucky you..." Howard's mustache moved. "Better get going, John. Who knows how long that portal'll last..." He turned around to resume work on his farm.

"I don't want to leave you!" Howard stopped in his tracks, and slowly turned around to see Soldier was crying. "We can stay here together in the farm forever! You and I can kill all the bad guys and make American Heaven the most democracy filled place the universe has ever seen! I don't wanna leave, I don't wanna!" John then braced himself for a slap when his grandpa walked up to him...

...and presented him his 1860 Calvalry Saber.

"Take it." Howard smiled. "You'll need it when you're breathing again."

"B-but..." Kid Soldier sniffled. "I don't wanna live again..." Now his grandpa slapped him.

"Now that's just stupid talk. Why wouldn't you? Are you afraid to go out there and keep spreading the word of America?" John gave a confused look while his grandpa put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, you're luckier than the rest of us, you know? You hardly ever see anyone get a second chance at life like this, and I expect you to take it."

"W-why?"

"Why else? You've just been given another chance to go back to the world of the living and beat the Hell out of all evil that opposes the American way! Now go. There's people who need you to keep them free." Howard had a single tear fall down his face. He didn't know he was still capable of crying. He kissed his grandson on the forehead and stood up.

"What about the farm?" Soldier asked. He was smiling now despite the tears over his face.

"Ah, don't worry about the farm. If I can defend this farm for 100 years in life, then I can sure as Hell defend it for an eternity in the afterlife. Those bastards who keep coming back will never burn it to the ground. That, I can promise you."

With one last hug, Soldier waved his grandfather goodbye. Welcome back to the world of the living.

* * *

 **Demoman**

"Scottie~ Where are you?" Demo shook in fear as he hid behind a bookshelf. That witch turned herself into a cat and was now looking for him. "Are you down here? No? Hmm, are you over here? No? Ah..." Demo felt like running for safety. He had been hiding from her for something like four minutes now, but it felt like hours.

 _"Damn it. She's toying with us!"_ Eyelander whispered. " _Careful, man. She's trying to scare us into showing ourselves!"_

"Did she do this to you too?" Demo shook.

" _Me? No, I just know these things from fighting dragons."_ Eyelander said. " _Trust me. I'm a knight."_

Demoman tip toed his way into a hole in the wall where he found mice. He screamed when he saw them since they were bigger than him, but he quickly covered his mouth when he heard the witch meow.

"RAWR! Got ya~" He barely got out of the way as her paw came in and snatched a mouse. "Hmm? Oh, you're not my cute little friend! Hmm, you are a cute little mousey though..." Demo didn't stay to know what she did with the mouse. He only crawled through the wall until he found a hole that led into what looked like a living room.

" _Look!"_ Eyelander took temporary control of himself and pointed up at the top of a chimney. " _I remember! That's the thing that got us out of this mess!"_ Demo saw it was some kind of amulet with a red gem on it.

"What is that supposed to do?" He still didn't remember what it did.

" _I don't know, but we have to get to it!"_

So Demo ran over to some curtains by the chimney and began climbing them.

"Oh Lord, this is tiring..." He was only halfway up and he still got tired. He had Eyelander strapped to his back. Then, he heard something coming their way. "Ah cripe!" He crawled around the curtains and hid behind them, holding on with all his might.

Eyelander wasn't completely sheathed by the way. He was only sheathed so Demo can easily carry him around, and the ghost blade was stuck a quarter of the way out so he can breathe properly and look around. He can still breathe sheathed, it was just stuffy, you know?

"What do you see?" Demo whispered. He was close enough to the edge of the curtain for Eyelander to peek out.

" _Shhh! She's here!"_

"Where are you?" The witch, still in cat form, called out. She didn't have that playful tone from before anymore. Now she sounded annoyed/sad. "Come out already! I'm bored..." She pouted.

"Oh no! Time's running out..." These words made Demo smile. Maybe he didn't have to reach the amulet. The witch sighed, and she turned back into her regular Human form. She sat herself on the couch and looked quite grumpy that she was gonna lose her newest friend.

"We're going to make it!" Tavish was happy, but then he stopped when the witch did something.

"Oh! There's my necklace!"

"Crap..." Demo shook and clung tightly as he heard her come closer. From his right, he could see her take the amulet. "Thank goodness she didn't see us..."

"Time to open these beautiful curtains!"

"Crap..." Everything began shaking as the witch folded the curtains around , and tiny Demokid was revealed to her. There was an awkward moment of silence as both parties stared at each other in disbelief. A grin slowly began forming on her face while Demo looked terrified. She wasn't a cat anymore, but he swore he heard purring sounds.

"Hi~"

" _BYE!"_ Eyelander unsheathed himself and stabbed himself into the curtains so that Demo's descent was slowed.

"Oh no! My curtains! Grrr, you little jerk!" Demokid's escape was stopped when a giant hand simply closed around him. "Oh well! Least I got my cutie back~" Our favorite bomb maniac tried to struggle but the witch had already stuck him in a place that made him blush severely.

"Hihi! I got my friend back~ I got my friend back~" The witch sang while Emo kept blushing.

 _"Ah! This is such bullshit..."_ Eyelander was pissed that they just lost, getting placed in the witch's boobs in shit. He did not want to spend another eternity with her, but he already knew that wasn't going to happen. Problem was he needed to remember how they got out of this mess.

"You know Eyelander, maybe this isn't so bad-" Eyelander smacked Demo with the flat of his blade.

" _Keep your hormones in check! Weren't you a man before? Now shut up, I'm trying to- OH! Boy! The amulet! Touch the amulet!"_ Demo looked up towards the happy witch's face, and saw she was now wearing the amulet. He remembered now!

"Lalala~ Hmm?" She felt something shaking and looked down. "Huh!? AHHHH!" The witch screamed when Demokid uppercut her. The boy jumped out and had punched her while he was growing back to normal size with Eyelander. Unsheathing Eyelander fully, he stood on top of her with the tip of the blade to her throat.

"Alright ya damn witch! We won! Now let us out or else!" Demokid demanded.

"How rude!" The witch pouted.

"Shut it!" He put the tip so that it was up against her neck. "Let us out of here, and you'll live."

"Hmmm..." She put a finer on her chin. "Nah!" A blast of energy threw Demo off of her and she began laughing evilly. "I still won our game so that means you're going to stay here forever!"

"How about no!" Kid Demo slashed at her but she simply floated back.

"Missed me!" She teased. Demo tried his hardest to land a hit on her but she was too damn fast. It annoyed him so much that she was still treating this like a game. He missed a cut and she tackled him out the window. She kissed him on the cheek mid flight as she dropped him to the ground.

"Argh! How are we supposed to beat her?" Demo rubbed his head. The witch was flying circles above them, giggling to herself. "Come down here and face us! We're not afraid of you!" Demo yelled defiantly.

"Not afraid of me?" She wondered. "You shouldn't be afraid at all, but now that you say that..." Giggling as she tapped the amulet, she grew huge.

Demo said nothing as she kneeled down to look at him.

"Still not afraid?" She teased, a finger tapping Demo's head. "Boop!" Then Demo ran inside her castle. "Oh? Hey, where are you going?" Her voice echoed as Demo crashed right through the front door.

"HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO WIN NOW!?" Demo shouted, peeking back at the giant witch.

"Hello!" She waved with a smile while Demo hid himself.

" _I don't know! Maybe there's something in the castle we can use!"_

...

The giant witch had been waiting for about twenty minutes now, and the Black Scottish kid hadn't come out of home yet. At first she thought he was just shy and probably needed sometime to calm down before playing with her, but then she was getting annoyed with how long it was taking.

"You'd better not be breaking my stuff!" She peered into her windows, not seeing anything as they were all closed. She considered turning herself back to normal, but then Demo came right out the front door with a bag full of stuff.

"There you are!" She looked absolutely happy he came out, but then she saw the bag. "Hey! You naughty boy! Are you stealing my stuff!?" She pointed a finger at him."Put it back or else!" Demo took something out of the bag and put it behind him, but he kept the rest of the stuff in the bag. He then flipped her off.

"Grrrr! I'll teach you! ZAP!" A blast of energy came out of her finger and it struck where Demo was. However, Demo wasn't there as he had blown himself up towards her face, landing on her nose. The first sticky jump!

"Wha!? Get off me!" She slapped her own face and Demo landed on her chest. The witch looked down with an annoyed look when she felt him land on her boobs, but then her eyes went wide when she saw he had Eyelander ready to shatter her amulet.

"NO! I GOT THAT FROM WIZARD CON!"

"TOO BAD!" Eyelander sruck against the red gem and it blew up into a blast of red energy. Demo was blown back but he landed safely on the ground, covering his one eye as smoke covered the area. "Did it work?"

The smoke cleared and the witch was revealed to have returned to her normal size. However, she was very much alive, and very much angry.

" _Sort of..."_ Eyelander muttered out. In a flash, she was already in front of them.

*POWER SLAP*

Demo skidded and tumbled across the ground as he just got the most powerful slap he's ever felt in his life. He quickly got up and defended himself with Eyelander. This fight was going to suck. And it did suck, but not as bad as he thought it was going to be. Using his newly created bombs from stuff in her castle, he set up all kinds of traps for her to fall in and even used his bombs offensively. One time, he performed a bomb jump that caught the witch off guard to the point where he was able to sock her in the face.

Ultimately, this witch was too damn powerful for kid Demo to face. The traps he set with his bombs were easily avoided when she caught on to what he was doing (though she did fall for a couple of them), that and she could fly. Also, Demo wasn't going to run out of bombs eventually.

"Gah! I hate magic!" Demo jeered when he was hit with a blast of magical energy. The witch was chanting out a spell for a big fireball, but she stopped when she saw Demo collapse onto one knee.

"Hmm? Are you done fighting?" Demo flicked her off. A frown formed on her face, but she was otherwise happy at how he gave up. "Hehe, looks like you're staying with me forever!" She clasped her hands together and thought of all the fun games she could play with him, totally unaware she fell for the final trap.

"FREEDOM!" Kid Demo screamed when he used his last bunch of bombs to make himself fly over to her at ludicrous speeds. He came in so fast, that the witch didn't know he came until her head was slashed off with Eyelander.

"YES! YES! WE DID IT MATE!" Demo hugged his sword happily as he watched the witch's headless body fall to the ground.

" _Haha! Yes we Tavish! We done it!"_ Eyelander was just as happy as he was.

Then, Demo remembered what happened next. It wasn't bad at all. All he had to do was find money! His parents would be pissed if their son came home without a single cent from what should've been an easy job. Thankfully, now that the witch was dead all he had to do was ransack the shit out of her home. If she let him, that is.

"Owie..." The witch rubbed her head. She looked around, and heard crashing noises come from inside her castle. "Thank goodness for that cat spell I got a thousand years ago! I think I have about 4 lives left." She purred as she headed to her castle to find Demo was tearing the place up for money.

" _OH SHIT!"_ Eyelander screamed when the witch entered.

"What the Hell!? I thought she was dead!" Demo screamed, holding Eyelander up. He thought they were really screwed now. Something totally unexpected happened next. The witch flew forward and hugged him. At first, Demo thought she was gonna crush him to death from how hard it was, but then she started talking.

"That was so much fun! :3"

" _The fuck?_ " Eyelander cursed, not expecting this at all.

"It has been so long since someone's killed me! I haven't had a fight like that in ages!" She began smothering Demo's face in boobies because anime corruption. "Tell you what, since you killed me I'm not gonna keep you here forever anymore as a reward. What do you say?"

" _FUCK YES."_ Eyelander answered for the both of them.

"Awesome! But you still have to clean my castle though if you want to get paid." She let go of Demo and gave him a broom. The castle was absolutely fucked since they began fighting and Demo started tearing the place up for money.

"Crap..."

So Demo spent the next few hours cleaning her place up. It wouldn't have been so bad had he not listened to fucking Eyelander and cleaned it up the first time. This time around, the mess was thrice as big and she actually hanged around him, going on and on about how much fun that fight was and how he was so brave for standing up to her. When he was done, he got his pay. Even better, the witch sweetened the deal and gave him A LOT of extra money for entertaining her.

"Bye! Please visit me sometime!" She waved happily as Demo went to his parent's waiting truck.

" _Yeah, fuck no!"_ Eyelander yelled back. Demo got into his parent's truck and he told them that they should get the fuck out of here before she changed her mind. As they were driving down the road, a bright light suddenly engulfed them.

* * *

 **Scout**

Several boys were hanging out together at a diner, laughing together as they sipped on their Coke A Cola.

"And so I says to Jeannie 'Boyfriend? Only boy who'd ever love you is a blind one!'" The oldest of the boys, the leader of the little gang, made his gang laugh. He then flicked out his pocket comb and started combing his greased hair. Damn greasers, start young they do.

Then, a baseball crashed through the diner window. It missed the boys but it got class into all their drinks. Looking out the window, they saw a bloody little runt standing outside with a baseball bat and another ball being tossed up and down in his hand.

"What are you looking at?" William called out at them with a grin.

"GET 'EM!" The little greasers rushed out of the diner and began chasing kid Scout. Scout only grinned and ran all the way to his neighborhood. His bullies were no where near as quick as him but they made it to the neighborhood anyway, tired as all Hell though.

"What're you running for? We just wanna talk!" One of the boys shouted where he was answered with a baseball to the face.

"My bat does the talkin' 'round here!" Scout yelled as he began fighting the boys.

His bullies had everything from switchblades to wooden planks as he fought them. Fortunately, he was right about his speed. He really was too fast for all of them, though he did not get away with a scratch. A bully with a switchblade gave him a glancing cut while he did get hit several more times. Still, he did not take enough damage to make him stop fighting.

The boys found he was no match at all for his speed even when they surrounded him. Then again, these were greasers, and what were greasers known for? Hair gel...

Some of them had the smart idea to use their precious hair gel to slip up Scout so he would fall to the ground, and it worked! Scout falling once was all they needed to proceed kicking his ass again.

"Butch!" The bullies stopped hitting him and all eyes went to the source of the voice. An older greaser in a white tank top, greased hair and everything. He was apparently the older brother of the lead bully and he had brought his own gang of greasers. "The Hell you doing down here?

"This runt here hurt us, Donny! We're just giving him a well deserved beating that's all!"

"Hurry it up! Ma wants me to bring you guys home..." The boys did so and Scout began wishing he didn't go through with this had he also not remembered what happens next. Out of nowhere, eight figures came and rushed all of Scout's bullies off of him.

His brothers were here.

"Hey, what the Hell!?" The brother of Scout's main bully yelled.

"No one beats our little runt 'cept us!" His oldest brother shouted. Long story short, Scout's brothers were in a gang consisting of themselves and a few of their close friends and cousins, and they happened to be rivals with the other greasers here.

GREASER GANG FIGHT!

It went into absolute chaos as Scout's brothers' gang began fighting their rival greaser gang. If you have watched the _Outsiders_ , the one movie full of greasers, and saw the fight scene in the rain, this was basically it except it was day time. People were hitting each other with planks, bats, pipes, sometimes even switchblades if they had them. The fight took a severe turn to the serious side when one of Scout's brothers stabbed a rival member with his switchblade.

The violence only escalated from there, but Scout did not run, no, he still wanted to show his bullies what for. Thanks to all the confusion and how scared they were from the sudden escalation of violence, they were easy pickings for William as he weaved in between the older greasers to reach them. Only one was giving him severe trouble, and that was Butch. The leader of the little greasers.

"Get off!" Scout struggled as the older boy sat on top of him, choking him out. He chased him down until they reached his own front yard, but then his hopes of knocking his teeth out were stopped when the bully faked him out and began kicking his ass.

"Imma kill you!" He yelled, but then he was knocked out when someone hit him from behind. Scout looked up, and saw a man raise a gun in the air.

*BANG*

Someone shot a gun up in the air and all eyes turned to see someone standing in Scout's front yard with a smoking revolver pointed at the sky.

"Playtime is over." He said in a French accent. "Leave. Before I'm forced to call the police..."

"Yeah?" One of the rival greasers challenged him. "We ain't afraid of jail you dope!"

"You misunderstand..." The man lowered his gun at them. "It's only to call in that several dead kids have been found on this street." Everyone backed up, including Scout's gang as they did not know who the man at their house was.

"Woah... okay fella. We're leaving, see?" The rival gang left, and so did Scout's brothers as they didn't want to get caught up when the police actually do come for a stabbing report.

"Oh my God..." Scout said in awe as he the man held a hand out for him. "Spy... is... is that you?"

"I don't know who you are talking about, but please, do take my hand." That's right. This was before he got the designation of 'Spy'.

"Uh... thanks." The man lifted him up to his feet and dusted some grass off his shoulder.

"Do not mention it." The man walked over to his sports car while Scout still didn't believe he's actually met Spy before his mercenary job. He drove away before Scout could ask him anything.

"Hey! Wait!" Scout's mother came running out of the home with nothing but a towel around her. "Damn it! Oh that French bastard! Driving around in his damn sports car! He's so... so... dreamy..." She went back inside the house.

Scout felt like throwing up. He didn't even notice a bright light take him up.

* * *

 **Pyro**

The battle for Pyroland was on. The cute and cuddly versus the grim and bloody.

Pyro was locked in a duel to the death with Evil Pyro. Both combatants separated themselves from the battling forces by standing in a ring of fire. This time around, Pyro was no damn bitch. Evil Pyro had a significantly harder time fighting Pyro as the power of love, magic, and friendship was fully within its heart.

It was a fight worthy of being sung in the bakeries of Pyroland for centuries to come.

The Lollichop went for Evil Pyro's head and ended up knocking a horn off. The Demon roared in pain and countered with a punch to the face. Pyro stumbled backwards and was sent flying in the air when the Demon uppercut him, waiting for him to fall back down so it can impale him with its claws. That did not happen as Pyro blew a rainbow ball down and blew the Demon up.

When the Demon recovered, it was met with a heart covered fist to the face. It roared, but then Pyro stuck its Lollichop in its mouth and proceeded to speed bunch him with fast bubble punches. The Demon kicked Pyro away and grabbed the Lollichop and struck Pyro with it. Pyro was knocked away and wuickly regained its footing only to get hit again with the Lollichop. Demon Pyro laughed as it was winning, but then it wasn't.

Pyro flipped over it and grabbed it by the tail and spun it and began slamming him back and forth on the ground. When the Demon let go of the Lollichop, Pyro grabbed it and smashed it into the Demon's head with enough force to break the unbreakable sugary construction of the weapon. The impact dazed Demon Pyro, and now Pyro had its chance. It hugged Demon Pyro in the hopes that the truth of love and happiness would flow into its evil heart.

"AUAUGHGHGH!" The Demon screamed in pain as it felt love enter its evil form. Then it knocked Pyro off of it and grew a pair of Devil wings.

"THAT'S IT! I LOST A HORN AND NOW THIS FIGHT IS BORDERLINE GAY!" It then flapped its wings. "PEACE!" It jumped up and flew away, but then Pyro jumped up and caught it by the legs.

"GET OFF!" Evil Pyro demanded as it took Pyro up into the skies.

He was devastated to see that some-fucking-how, the cute and cuddly forces of Pyroland were reclaiming their homes from his cool,edgy as fuck monsters. He called bullshit on how they were able to lose, but now he had to focus on getting out of here. Pyro climbed up despite getting repeatedly kicked in the face, and continued hugging Demon Pyro.

"AAUGGGGHFH!" The love flowing was too much, especially since anything in Pyro land that could fly also flew up to show him the love.

"THIS...IS... SO... GAY!" Demonic Pyro began fading away into bubbles and flower petals as it began getting absorbed into Good Pyro.

Pyro was now complete.

When Evil Pyro fully absorbed into Pyro, a white light suddenly took the whole land.

* * *

 **Heavy**

Heavy told his family to stay hidden. He will kill these men by himself. Mikhail had climbed up to a rooftop where one of the machine gunners were, moments before the execution began.

The last Commissar was giving out the order to begin the execution when a battle cry was suddenly heard nearby. Everyone looked up to see a Heavy tear a guard's limbs off before taking his machine gun and use it to fight the guards. The prisoners took this moment to continue their revolt since the guards were once again stunned and confused with the sudden attack.

Using the machine gun as if he were Rambo, Heavy cut dozens of exposed guards down while the rest were torn apart by the prisoners. The other guards manning the machine posts in cover were suppressed when Heavy turned his attention on them. They should have kept shooting as the prisoners flanked around their fields of fire and easily slaughtered the MG crews.

Now that the prisoners had full control of most of the heavy weapons, the surviving guards finally surrendered. The guards had intended on executing them all in one big group, but the prisoners had other plans. For their sins, the prisoners would torture the guards to death. Each guard was put through Hell on Earth as some of the most brutal and unthinkable ways to make a human being suffer were done to them. This was perfectly okay though. The guards didn't really count as Human beings anyway considering what they did for a living.

After the prisoners made sure the last guards were dead, they put the gulag to the torch. The prisoners cheered and sang Russian folk songs of victory as they watched the symbol of oppression go up in flame.

As for Heavy and his family, they got up and left. Some of the prisoners considered forming their own rebel group against the Communist Party, but Heavy knew such an idea was suicide at best. He took his family out into the cold Siberian tundra even if a blizzard was going. Russians maybe some of the most cold resistant people in the world, but it was becoming apparent that the harshness of the snowy wastes would send Heavy's family to a frozen grave.

They walked, and walked, until after two days, they came upon a village.

"Dzhugdzhur..." Heavy gasped. The village his family would in until he got to Mann Co.

Entering the village to the open arms of the people living here, Heavy found a white light cover him.

* * *

 **Sniper**

"Hey look! Ricky's back!" A boy shouted. Indeed. Sniper came walking out of the outback. "Hehe, let's get 'em-" A stone was landed right in this boy's face, much to the shock of the other kids.

"What's the matter? Don't you wanna fight?" Sniper taunted, slingshot ready.

"A slingshot? What are you, a cowa-" Another boy got a stone to the face.

The kids began jumping up and down in pain as they struggled to cover themselves from the hail of stones being shot from Sniper's slingshot. Needless to say, that last part was enough to get the other Australian boys to come and chase Sniper. Grinning, Sniper ran back into the outback. The Bush will keep him safe. He knew it better than these boys, and he'll use that to his advantage.

"Find anything?" A kid asked.

"Nah." Someone answered. That someone then got a hive of Australian Hornet Eagle Hawk Owl Snake Wasps launched at him. Only Australia would have such a ridiculous insect!

"AHHHHHHHH!" The kid screamed as he ran into the middle of the group of boys that went after Sniper.

"Stay still, mate! We'll, we'll punch them off a ya!" Silly boys. They punched the hive, and it blew for even more wasps to come out. The boys ran circles, trying to punch the wasps while screaming about how the venom felt like their flesh was melting. Even more pain was dealt onto them when rocks kept getting launched at them with perfect accuracy. The kids were already pissed about their current predicament so they were more than willing to run Sniper's ass down when they heard his cackling come from a patch of high grass.

"GOT YA!" The kids jumped into the grass and started wildly punching and kicking everywhere. Sniper took this chance to use a weapon he didn't get to use back when he was a kid.

"JARATE!" A bottle of green liquid was thrown up for all to see, and it was shattered by a rock. The piss covered everyone.

"I-is this?"

"YEP!" Kid Sniper laughed as he came running in with the little wooden club he brought with him. He had ran out of rocks at this point.

"A club? Mate, you covered us in pee and now you think a club's gonna save ya-" The boys laughed at the fact that he was going to use a mere club against Australians, but then stopped when they saw him knock one of them out in one hit. Sniper was smaller and nimbler than the muscle bound Australian boys so he dodged their hits with ease. Not like it mattered since he could knock them out in mostly one hit anyway.

One of them did manage to grab him, but that problem was easily solved when Sniper flipped himself over and landed on a colony of Australian Dragon Ants. Again, Australia. The most fuck dangerous place on Earth.

The boy screamed as the ants spit acid on him and Sniper crawled away. Grinning, Sniper stuck some fireworks he snatched from his shed into the ant colony. THEN ANTS EVERYWHERE!

The move was somewhat successful. Make no mistake, it did send ants on everyone, but it also got ants on Sniper. That wasn't much of a problem since Sniper ducked into a pond. However, so did the other boys.

...and they surrounded him.

Sniper was now getting the beating of a century from these angry Australian kids. The pond wasn't that deep, but it was like the only source of water for miles around. That's why this next combatant was fucking pissed when it found a bunch of kids fucking about his pond.

"Crikey! Look at the size of that 'roo!"

A huge musclebound kangaroo that was easily ten foot in height came out of the Bush and began beating everyone, Sniper included Rackaracka stlye. Australia to the max! You know how Australian kings are chosen if they can beat a certain kangaroo in a boxing match? You may have wondered 'Kangaroo? How does a Kangaroo stand up to guys like Saxton Hale?' That's because kangaroos are four times as powerful as we know them. As for the Australian King, the kangaroo he fights is like the Emperor of Kangaroos. That's one of the reasons why Saxton Hale isn't king of Australia.

Sniper managed to crawl away from the mass whooping of the century, but he felt he couldn't just leave the boys there. All he wanted to do was show him he can fight, just now how they fight, that's all. now those boys were possibly going to get killed by a minor kangaroo. Yes, I said minor kangaroo.

"Head's up!" Sniper's last bottle of Jarate smashed against the Kangaroo's head. The roo looked back in anger at the scrawny kid who did it.

"G'day!" Sniper waved at it, then he began picking up rocks to shoot at it. At first the kangaroo looked confused as to how this kid thought rocks would hurt it, and then it felt the effects of Jarate. Every stone landed like someone threw a car at it. The kangaroo had enough of this so it began hopping over to Sniper's position.

"Come get some, you mongrel!" Sniper had heart like a motherfucker now.

He dropped his slingshot and had his club out. It may have been twice his size, but that did not stop him from fighting it. Every hit from his club on its Jarate covered body hurt the Kangaroo so much that it went into a primal rage where it lashed out at anything around it. Eventually, it got to the point where it jumped straight up in the air to crush Kid Sniper with its powerful legs when it landed. JUST AS PLANNED!

The Kangaroo might as well have died when it landed balls first on Sniper's club.

"Hehe, wanker..." The club was held straight up as if Sniper was pointing a sword to the sky. The ten foot Kangaroo slid off and clutched its balls. Of course, it was nowhere near as easy as it happened the first time, but Sniper knew better now.

"Ricky, you just beat a kangaroo..." The severely beaten Australian boys dragged themselves over to Sniper who was performing a victory piss on the kangaroo's face. HUMILIATION. "Not even my dad can do that..."

"Yeah, guess I did." He zipped his pants and stomped on the creature's face. Then the kids picked him up and held him like he was a hero.

"Three cheers for Ricky!"

"Hip-hip, hurray!"

"Hip-hip, hurray!"

"Hip-hip..." Time seemed to slow as white light glowed above Sniper.

"What..." Sniper gasped before he was thrown into it.

"HURRAY!"

* * *

 **Medic**

Medic was currently running away from security personnel at the wedding. They weren't shooting at him since there were too many guests, but there was enough of them to seriously threaten his chance of escape. He was happy that he killed Scholz though. As long as he was dead, that's all that mattered. Though getting executed didn't sound too hot either, so he was running.

He saw his chance of escape come in the form of a catering truck here for the wedding.

"SORRY! I MUST BORROW THIS VEHICLE!" He threw the owner out and struggled to hotwire the vehicle. "Come on, come on..." A guard had caught up with him.

"Freeze!" A guard yelled with his gun pointed at him. "Put your hands-Gah!" Medic punched him, grabbed him by the tie, and slammed into the side of the van.

"Aha!" The engine roared to life, and Medic sped out of there. "Auf Wiedersehen!" Medic laughed happily as the guards started shooting at him. "Ooh! That was easier than I thought!" He then saw there was a flock of doves in the van with him. No doubt they were here for the wedding as well.

"Huh, I forgot this is how I got Archimedes..." The bird that would later be named Archimedes cooed in confusion. "Ugh, now I have to remember how I got out of here the first time..."

Medic's worries were put to rest when a white light engulfed the van.

* * *

 **Engineer**

"STOP!" Engie's mom cried. "PLEASE STOP!" Her son and husband were tearing each other part and wrecking their home.

Engie was at a disadvantage against his father since he was so much younger, and his dad did have robot legs. Still, Engie was determined to man the fuck up and show his father what for.

Randy kicked his son back with a mechanical leg but Dell had dodged it and gave his dad a good ole' Texan sock in the face.

"I'm gonna lay you out!"

Engie kept furiously attacking his father but his father was even more furious with his attacks. He tackled Engineer and powerbombed him through their dinner table then proceeded to wail on him with his fists. Engie struggled as his lights were getting dimmer with every punch, so he reached for shard of broken dinner plate and stabbed it into his father's side.

Randy screamed in pain and Dell uppercut him in the face. The Classic Engineer stumbled back into a wall and the bull skull that hanged above it fell on his head. He growled in anger and began using the set of horns to try and stab his son to death. He landed a horn in Engie's chest and he screamed. Randy took this chance to shove it deeper and force Engie to the ground.

"Still feel like being a man!?" He grabbed Dell's face and began slamming his face into the ground. "Huh!?" His father demanded.

"ANSWER ME! NOW! ARGH!" A chair was broken over his back. He looked back and saw it was Engie's mom who had done it. "BITCH! I KNOW YOU HAVE THE INTELLIGENCE!" He seemed to have completely forgotten about his son and pounced on his wife. If his beating earlier was harsh, then this one was savage. It seemed like he fully intended on murdering his wife for intelligence that didn't exist.

Dell fully intended on kicking his father's ass. The young Conagher got up and got his father in a stranglehold. Randy struggled to put his hands on his son but it was no use. After a while, randy's movements slowed down and Engie let him go as he thought he was unconscious. Then he wasn't. It was just a trick to get Dell to let go of him.

"Boy, don't you wish you were a girl right now? What luck being a man got you..." Randy whispered as he was now strangling his son to death. Engie felt life leave his body as he stared back into his father's eyes of hatred. Then he remembered how he got out of this mess. In the mess the fight caused, they knocked down his grandfather's Colt SAA, and said weapon was nearby.

Mustering his strength, Dell headbutted his father and kneed him before scrambling for the gun.

"HANDS UP!" He demanded of his father while he pointed the gun at him. His father was still filled with rage as he stood up. "Leave..."

"Leave? Boy, where the Hell do you expect me to go?"

"Anywhere but here..." Dell pulled the hammer down. "Now leave, and never come back here!"

"What are you sayin' son? THIS IS MY RANCH!" Dell flinched at the sudden yelling. "I OWN THIS PLACE! YOU CAN't JUST TELL ME TO LEAVE!" Then Engie shot his dad's right leg. The mechanical leg failed and Randy struggled to keep his balance.

"Better leave before I do something I don't wanna do..." His father gave him one last angry look, and left. Engie kept the gun trained on him the whole time as he watched the Classic Engineer get into his truck and leave the family forever.

"So long, pa..." He went to go comfort his crying mother. Then a white light took him.

* * *

 **Spy**

Spy was still lying in the streets of the dead. He really had nothing better to do here other than regret his life. Isn't that what people do when they go to Hell, or Purgatory or whatever else this place was? It wasn't certain if he was in either of those places, but he didn't care.

He was sort of reliving the worst night of his life. All because of Cinder...

" ** _Cinder..._** " The remembrance of that woman made his blood boil. Even if he couldn't come back to life, he swore he would slaughter the fuck out of her should he be given the chance.

Thankfully, a white light answered his call.

* * *

 **They're almost there...**

 **MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

 **EVEN LONGER THAN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER IN ONLY TWO DAYS.  
I LOVE YOU GUYS.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Mr. Green37: I know...**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: IMAGINATION IS BEST TO SMOKE.**

 **A fan: Um... how old are you? Cuz it raises serious worries if you don't use periods if you're an adult or teenager even.**

 **Guest: Fuck.**

 **Unzealots: We'll see what happens!**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: Okay, that's interesting to hear.**

 **MCZ: I JUST DO.**

 **buzzsaw935: 100% fucked.**

 **Guest from C. 31: Eh... close enough. SAXTON HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLEE**

 **TheExplodingApple: Yeah, it was actually fiercedeity that asked. I remember now. :P**

 **Awesome Arod: It's a pistol, but it has so much more force than any pistol that exists if it can knock a whole person dozens of feet away.**

 **Lord hellfire913: RAPE**

 **Ninjashot37: Well shit. Looks like there's nothing to be done with how I do it then. I wonder why you ask plan when I've said multiple times there is no plan. I make things up as I go because I can't spend time thinking about something otherwise I can never write due to constantly shifting ideas.**

 **An Peepul: Nope. :P**


	34. Mercs Back in Remnant

**Mann Co.**

 **"** Look! I think it's working!" Scout's mother shouted for everyone to see. After spending two days acquiring the stuff need for the revival ritual, they finally got somewhere.

Well something was indeed happening. The disorganized mess that was required for the ritual was emitting a bright white glow as eldritch symbols and glyphs circled around the area. A stark contrast to the usual eerie green that was normal for magic associated with Merasmus.

Sure enough, the ritual did good on what it was set out to be and nine forms phased into existence from the center of the glyph. When the glow on the figures faded away to reveal their true colors, the boys were back. At first everyone was absolutely ecstatic to see they were alive, then they fell to the ground and began writhing around in pain, screaming in agony as they did so.

"ARRRGGGGHHH! EVERYTHING HURTS!" Scout yelled as he failed around.

The mercs were flopping like fish and yelling their lungs out about how much being brought to life hurts. Guess even the good spells from Merasmus are pain inducing. It got to that point where Medic whipped out his Quick-Fix. Screaming mercenaries were soon replaced with sighing in relief mercenaries.

"Ahhh... zat is much better..." The German sighed. Now that the mercenaries weren't screaming, the families came in to greet them lovingly.

"Thank you doctor..." Spy shakily stood up and looked around.

"Annabelle?"

"Jacques..."

" Mon Dieu, NO - "

* SLAP *

* * *

 **An Hour Later**

After the family members of the mercenaries were done with hugging and kissing the newly revived boys, they got down to business and began explaining what happened. For the mercenaries, they talked about their final moments in Remnant and a little of their experience in the afterlife. For their families, they went on about how worried they were and how happy they were that the guys were alive again.

"That's unfortunate." Pauling said. "At least you guys are breathing again."

"Indeed..." Spy sighed, the family members still with their respective mercs.

It worried the families a bit as to how some of them were behaving. The boys looked like they wanted to kill someone, even more so than normal. It's one thing to die and respawn for a revenge kill, but it's a whole other deal when you're not likely to come back to show the bitch/bastard responsible what happens when you tickle a lion's balls. Why would you tickle a lion's balls? Exactly, why the fuck would you mess with the king of the jungle?

Scout looked like he wanted to throw up and he constantly eyed Spy as if he were afraid of him. Heavy looked thrice as determined fuck than his comrades to return to Remnant, and Spy was even more so. Soldier was uncharacteristically not acting crazy as he spent the whole time looking at a cavalry Saber that materialized with him somehow. Engineer was sort of doing the same with a Colt SAA, as well as the fact that his Gunslinger was fucked. The rest of the boys were behaving pretty normally, just a little more serious with the determination to get back in action.

And getting back in action did not look like it was going to be much of a problem. There was a new portal standing right fucking there. Courtesy of Australia. Now it was only a matter of rearming and preparation for the return.

"Must you leave so soon? Mama miss you..." Heavy's mother hugged her son.

"I am sorry mama, but Heavy has duty to destroy evil in other world. That and Heavy has friends who need us... and Soldier..." The Russian sighed as he looked over to Soldier.

It still bugged him that Soldier was in love with Zhanna, and it really got him when out of nowhere Soldier just declares he will marry Zhanna on the spot. Fucking nobody expected this especially since it came from Soldier, but it was a done deal since Soldier was apparently a priest and he performed his own marriage with his friends and their families as the guests. At least Zhanna seemed to be okay with it, but no one other than Heavy's family seemed to care much as they went to do other things.

"Zhanna, will you marry me?" Soldier asked with a ring hastily forged out of bullet casings to a surprised Zhanna.

"You want to marry Zhanna already? But we only knew each other for three months!"

"So... is that a yes? I'm hoping its a yes. It took a while to melt all these bullets to make this ring..." Soldier hoped. Then Zhanna kissed him.

"Zhanna say yes..." Then, Soldier began the wedding process. Obviously, despite the shock value his friends and their families didn't really care that much. Other than Heavy's family as he was marrying his sister here. The other boys did other stuffz. For Spy, he was getting shit talked by Annabelle.

"You slimy frog! Leaving me behind to raise all my boys alone like the rest of their no good fathers!" Scout's mom was yelling in poor Spy's face while Scout uncomfortably listened.

"Ugh, Annabelle, I told you I had to leave! The mafia would have connected you with me. They would have killed your whole family if I didn't leave when I did."

"Does it look like I give a damn about the mafia!? You still left me!"

"Ugh..." Spy still had to face Annabelle's screams while Scout felt nauseous.

"Spy's my dad..." Scout cradled himself now that he knew 100% the truth wasn't bullshit.

"Stop acting so surprised. I even told you myself." Spy said over his shoulder.

"Yeah listen to what your daddy says..." Scout nearly threw up when his mom called the Frenchman 'daddy'. "Speaking of the bastard..." Scout's mom moved to slap him again, but Spy caught her hand right before it reached her face.

"Wha-" Spy put a finger on her lips and hushed her.

"Shh... how could you be so angry at me now? If anything, you should be embracing me right now..." He got closer to her face, his Frenchness working his magic on the woman. "After all, you are mon petite chou-fleur..."

"Why, why you-hnng!" Scout's mom blushed, but then they started making out. Now, William Charl ed ton threw up. He crawled over to his eight brothers, not wanting to witness the most horrifying thing he's ever seen.

"Oh God... oh God..." Scout passed out in front of his brothers. That was a bad move. Even if he's freshly alive, his brothers can't help but drag him away to have some fun with him like they did back in their greaser days.

Sniper, Pyro, and Medic were packing stuff into the camper van and bread truck. Taking two vehicles this time so theg're not cramped into one. Packing the usual like health kits, ammo, food, hats, other stuff totally necessary for survival...

Demoman was talking to his mother when she asked about how exactly was this a job and how well was he getting paid for this. He replied by saying he's gonna be paid in something worth more than money. Engineer had gone to his workshop, no doubt to fashion himself a new robot hand.

Heavy's family was watching Soldier get married to his sister. Mrs. Cherinkov was shedding tears of joy of how her oldest girl was getting married while her other children were less than pleased.

"...and with uncle Sam as my witness, I happily declare that we are married! Comrade to Yank! Yank to Comrade!" Soldier finished, giving a thumbs up to an empty chair that h e claimed was his grandfather's spot.

"East meets West in holy matrimony, yes?" Zhanna got close to her husband.

"Indeed, my new Communist wife!" Then they also began making out. Awkwardly.

With the wedding done, the mercs can shift their full attention onto the task of getting ready for Remnant. Finding that the fully upgraded weapons had lost the perks with their deaths, the boys found the had nowhere near enough money to upgrade them again. Eventually, they realized that trashing some of the robots for their monetary fuel solved their problem a bit, but even then it wasn't much. So they did the next best thing.

Fully upgrading their personal stats. All of them were faster, can jump higher, were more resistant to all kinds of damage, and can even slowly self heal. Whatever money they had left went into their weapons. They figured more money would come soon as they didn't want to completely scrap the robots nor could they afford too. Pauling still needed them for Mann Co. business.

Now they were ready. All except Scout and Engie met up at the trucks which were waiting at the portal. They didn't have to wait long as the missing soon showed themselves. The Boston boys were dragging themselves over after giving each other a loving beating/brotherly bullying reminiscent of their younger days.

"Nice hustle, runt..." One of Scout's brothers slapped him on the back.

"Yeah, yeah, screw you guys..." Scout was already top with his self healing.

"Think you got some room in them trucks for us? Adventure in another world sure beats hanging around here." Jeremiah, the oldest Charleston, asked. "The Charleston gang can be real useful over there. You know, like back up."

"Thanks but no way. This is my fight, alright? Last thing I need is to worry about my eight dumb brothers running around a world of monsters and superpowers."

"Ahh... little Willy cares for us after all!" Jeremiah scruff led his bro's hair.

"Argh! Quit it" Scout struggled as his brother's jumped him again. Engie didn't come in until a little later. The one thing they noticed was that sparks constantly came from his workshop, and that his familiar glove was back on the hand that contained the Gunslinger. Meaning that there was definitely something there.

The mercs took their seats in the vehicles, waving their families goodbye. Spy, Scout, Engie, and Pyro were in the bread truck while the other five were in Sniper's camper van.

"You guys better not die again." Pauling warned. "I don't want to go through this long ritual sgain. Do you have any idea how hard it was to get all of these items?"

"Do not-" Scout interrupted Spy.

"Relax, Ms. Pauling! There's no way we're letting ourselves get killed again. Especially me! After all... dying's for chumps! Right fellas?"

"RIGHT!" The boys cheered, eager to get back to work. Soldier climbed on top of Sniper's van and stabbed an American flag through the roof.

"That's right boys! As my grandfather would say, only hippies and bad guys die! Men, I shouldn't have to tell you this but what we're doing today is God's work! God needs us to go back to Remnant and show the communists there what it means when Democracy comes knocking on their door!"

Soldier took hold of his saber, hand on the handle, another on the sheathe.

"When democracy knocks on your door, you do one of two things! One, you let it in and embrace the one and only truth! Or, you can chose the bard way and resist it..."

His hold on the sword tightened.

"And when you resist... THEN AMERICA WILL MAKE YOU THEIR BITCH!" Soldier screamed, unsheating the sword and waving around like a maniac while all present cheered at his speech.

"America will grab your terrorist, hippy, communist, or whatever the hell else you are by the throat and force democracy down your stupid un-American face! Oh, evil will regret the day, the goddamn second they decided to mess with freedom!" Standing straight at attention and facing the portal, he raised his sword and brought it down in front of him.

"ADVANCE!" The engines came to life as the vehicles slowly moved forward.

"We'll establish a base on the other side!" Spy shouted to the waving families. "You can come over when we deem it safe and secure!"

"Got it." Pauling thumbed up, closing the portal soon after they had disappeared in it. Spy ordered the portal be closed lest some crazy bullshit come out of it and this becomes a lot of fucking universes crossover.

"Oh, Misha is gone once more..." Heavy's mother sighed.

"So is maggot bear..." Zhanna sighed as the Cherinkov women comforted each other. The only thing they had hope for was that the portal would open up from the other side. Meaning wherever they were, it would be safe.

Scout and Demo's mothers left, content with the knowledge that their sons were safe. At least Demo's mom lived fairly close by, but Annabelle had to go all the way back to Boston. As for Scout's brothers, they stayed at Mann Co. They were eager to see if they can go and have their own adventure in Remnant if the portal opens up again.

"Something wrong, Willy's girlfriend?" One of Scout's many brothers asked when he saw Pauling was worried about something. She blushed at the mention of 'girlfriend', but she kept her worried look.

"I'm just worried about the wizard I stole that magic book from... what if he comes back?"

"Ah, so what if he does? You got us and these robots to keep ya safe. Especially me..."

Pauling gave him a straight face. Seems like Scout's brothers were little different from him. But seriously though, what is Merasmus up to?

* * *

 **New Mexico State Court**

"Merasmus the Wizard, the state of New Mexico finds you guilty of wasting the Thieves Commission's time with your worthless home. You must pay the legal fine or elose spend hard time. Cas dismissed." The judge slammed his gavel. Merasmus looked absolutely lost as the court session ended. He just lost a case against thieves... because they found nothing valuable to them in his castle of eldritch horror.

"WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE!?" Merasmus raged. "What kind of court condones robbery and thievery!? Why has this evenbeen taken to state court anyway!? Aren't we supposed to go through civil court or something first!? Can states even do this!?"

"Silence before the state puts you on trial for asking too many questions! Either you pay the fine or face a grand total of three weeks in state prison!"

"But Merasmus can't pay! I'm broke!"

"Prison it is! Guards! Take him away!"

"NOOOOOOO!" Merasmus screamed as the guards too him away.

* * *

 **The Void**

The one thing our gang forgot about void travel was that it was filled with screaming. Screaming from them that is. Screaming from the ludicrously fast speeds that void travel took them. Their first time here was nothing like this, but all that mattered now was that they were on their way, even if it fucking sucked. Seriosuly, the mates were crashing around the insides of the vehicles as if they were pebbles in an empty can of soda. The only ones ain't flopping around were those sitting in front with their seat belts in shit keeping them still. They were still screaming though.

That would be Snipper and Engie as the drivers. Spy, Heavy, and Soldier as passengers. Heavy and Soldier being in Snper's van of course.

"AHHH-HOW IS YOUR NEW HAND-AHHH!?" Spy asked Engie.

"AHHH-YOU'LL SEE-AHHHH!" Engie screamed with a smile.

Meanwhile, the men in Sniper's van were having a nice conversation of their own.

"AHHH-WHY'D YOU SUDDENLY MARRY HEAVY'S SISTER!?" Sniper asked Soldier.

"YES, HEAVY WOULD ALSO LIKE TO KNOW THIS!" Heavy screamed.

"AHAHA! SIMPLE! AS AN AMERICAN IT IS MY DUTY TO MAKE ALL WHO ACCEPT DEMOCRACY HAPPY! IN ZHANNA'S CASE, IF'S BECAUSE SHE ACCEPTED MY DEMOCRACY!" Soldier laughed. Sniper and Heavy instantly stopped screaming and turned their heads at him, wondering what exactly he was implying.

"Please explain to Heavy what you mean..." Soldier did not get the chance to answer Heavy as they group suddenly slowed down to a near stop. It was so sudden that everyone front and back slammed forward. For the ones in front, the airbags (or dashboard) is what their heads hit. For those in the back, the hard wall that separated the front from the back.

All the mercs in the bread van instantly dismounted and began throwing up while the ones in the camper van s tumbled out to do the same.

"My lord... what the hell?" Demo was the first to see what apparently slowed them down. It was a big ass PC that had the words 'STEAM SALE' painted on the must have had a gravity field or some sci-fi bullshit like that since they weren't floating. Guess that explains why the vehicles suddenly slowed down.

Then, Gaben.

"Hi, I'm Gabe... wait a second, aren't you guys supposed to be dead?" Gabe wondered. Monty Oum was somewhere out back, working on something awesome that only his talented mind can do.

"Uh, you see-" Medic tried to explain but Gabe waved him away.

"Ah, who cares? As long as you're here to buy something then I'm good." Gabe shrugged.

"Well... we're not here to buy anything, sir." Demo said.

"Mphm hmp. Phmhmp mehmp." Pyro added. Gabe had a straight face. Lord Gabe is not pleased by this development. Saying nothing, Gabe materialized a spinning wheel. The options were left blank.

"Knowing you guys, you're probably trying to get back to Remnant..." Now options appeared. The options were: trip delayed, all your money are belong to Gabe, death, Remnant, hats, and... cheeki breeki? Okay then... whatever. Those were the options.

"As Lord of Everything, I will grant some leniency on your new lives and give you a choice! Spin the wheel and your fate will be decided!"

"You're not actually giving us a choice..." Sniper said. Then Gaben got all up in his shit.

"DID I OF FUCKING STUTTER!?" Gaben yelled in poor English.

"Okay fine! We'll do it!" Scout went up to the wheel to spin it, and found he was too weak to make it budge. His friends and Gabe laughed at him.

"Hehe, let Heavy show tiny man how giant does it!" With one hand, Heavy spun the wheel at near the speed of sound.

The resulting shockwave knocked every down, except Gabe. His majesty was too glorious to roll on the floor with the peasants. Nails were chewed and bodies shook in anticipation of what the needle will land on. Unfortunately, they all got severe cases of anxiety as it seemed to go on spinning for a while.

"I suggest you wait in your trucks." Gabe said.

* * *

Ten anxious minutes later, the wheel was finally slowing down.

"Look! Tiny wheel is finally slowing down!" Heavy shouted. Sure enough, more anxiety and tension was created when the needle slowly passed by the options. Only bright side was that a couple of the options were good. The rest were less desireable.

"Oh for Christ sake, end it already!" Demo tried to manually halt it, but then Gabe sited him with lightning. "Ow..."

"NO INTERFERING WITH THE HOLY WHEEL OF FATE!" Gabe declared. "ANYONE ELSE?" He screamed at the afraid mercenaries.

"No, no I'm good!"

"I'll pass on this one, mate."

"Pass."

"Mphmm."

Now, the wheel stopped... on trip delayed. The mercenaries weren't actually sure if that was a good or bad thing. It sure sounded bad that it was dekayed, but for how long? They were still in their vehicles when Gabe ushered out a command.

"The wheel has spoken! You have been delayed for... five months!"

"WHAT!?" All the boys SCREAMED. They would've protested had Gabe not rushed them into the portal to Remnant.

"BYE, PLEASURE DOING BUSINESS WITH YOU!" Gabe screamed after them with a wave. Welp, back to eternal screaming...

* * *

 **A Minute Later**

...maybe not? That wasn't long at all. Sure, to the boys it felt like forever with the nonstop screaming, but to us it was just a minute. Unless you're a reader, then you just glossed over the above in a couple of seconds.

A bright red glow enveloped the two trucks upon reaching a familiar portal, and they dropped into a forested area. First off, the boys dismounted and threw up once more. Screaming at high speeds was not pleasant at all.

"Ugh... didn't that fatso say our trip was supposed to be delayed?" Sniper said whilst crawling.

"Mphm. Mohm Phm hmph..." Pyro said, looking around at the forest around it.

"Hey... Pyro's right." Engie scanned the area. "It was Autumn when we were last here. If only a month past, then it should be snowing now..." He's right. The climate they were in was warm. Maybe Summer warm. And, the trucks were conveniently on a dirt road.

"Okay... so how do we know that we're on Remnant?" Scout wondered. "For all we know, this place could be any damn forest back in Earth, or even some other world entirely. You know, other than Remnant." Then, some kids came walking down the road. They must've gone fishing or something considering they had like fishing rods and nets.

"Let us see. Excuse me, tiny children?" Heavy went to them. The Russian smiled as right away, he saw one of them had subtle antlers. A Faunus.

"Y-yes?" They were afraid of his levels of Russian. He was huge compared to them.

"Heavy wants to know, is this world Remnant?" The kids just gave him a dumb look.

"Uh...unless you live under a rock or something, yeah." The kid who said that flinched when he thought Heavy was going to smack the fuck out of him for being smart. Turns out the Russian only raised his hand to whistle over to Pyro.

"Pyro! Come give kids candy!"

"Hmphm!" Pyro happily ran over to give these children some well deserved joy in the form of candy. Why? Because everyone knows candy is merely happiness in a solid state of matter. :)

"Thanks, strangers!" The kids waved as they continued down the road, enjoying their solid happiness.

"That answers that question." Demo said with a brand new bottle of his clan's whiskey in hand. So much thanks to his mother for giving him this as a welcome back gift. Good thing about Degroot booze is that it takes a _long_ time to run out for some reason. Not like that's a bad thing...

With the knowledge that they were back in Remnant in mind, the men mounted up in their vehicles and traveled down the road. Normally, they would've placed sentries on top of the trucks as defense against hostiles, but the fact the kids walked around with no fear of Grimm told them this area was relatively safe. Besides, it would've spooked the locals if several armed men in weaponized trucks were in the vicinity. So they traveled around for a bit and they came across a little house made of logs. There was also a patch of Sunflowers next to it.

"Stop here, Dell." Spy ordered. The vehicles halted as spy just realized they still had no idea _where_ they were in Remnant.

"Something the matter?" Engie asked, before realizing the obvious. "We're lost, ain't we?"

"Oui."

"Goddamnit Jacques, you yellow belly son of a bitch." Engie said in a joking manner. "Should've asked them kids for directions when we had the chance."

"Yes well that time has passed and now I am going to go to that house over there..." He thumbed towards the pleasant little house. "For directions."

"Hehe, alrighty then. Should we pull up?"

"Yes please." So the trucks drove closer to the house, a little past the mailbox as they didn't want to come off as rude trespassers in vehicles. Dismount. Walk to the door. Knock. Wait.

...

"Come on I do not have all day." Spy face palmed. He was going to give the order to mount up and leave, but then a feminine voice called out. A young one.

"Be there in a minute!" What struck the mercs about the voice was that it sounded so familiar. Then it was a familiar someone when the owner of the voice opened the door.

"Oh dust..." Yang dropped the bag of chips she was one handing.

"Yang..." The mercs gasped, totally surprised at who they just came across.

* * *

 **THEY'RE BACK.**

 **I'm not sure if Scout's brothers will come into this fully. There is so many of them. Anyway, the boys have returned to Remnant to perform a righteous ass kicking unto the bad guys who wish or have wished to fuck with them and their friends. Speaking of friends, they just met an old one.**

 **Sorry this didn't come out sooner. My computer was having technical trouble and I wasn't able to work on anything. So I was given a suggestion to not stop write by one of you, and I came to the conclusion that I'll start a second entry just for other stuff except for Mercs in Remnant lore. Intermissions and Specials will be done on this other thing. Meaning I will move the intermissions I currently have out, but not the lore.**

 **Remember to post a name for reviews or I will reply with a simple "fuck" no matter who you are or what the review says. If you post another review saying who you are, then I will answer. Please say whatever you liked or felt about the chapter or story as they come along. it's so nice to hear your guy's thoughts.**

 **Revi** **ew** **Responses:**

 **Mr. Green37: Edgy. Angsty. Such edge.**

 **loganwayman: YEAH BOY**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: Fuck Yeah.**

 **Guest: Fuck**

 **MCZ: Trying is often best.**

 **Meem: Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem!**

 **buzzsaw935: Cinder isn't getting out of bed because her bed will soon be a coffin.**

 **MrtheratedG: Um, no? They could, but RED is like their established color. Remember both teams wore RED during the Robot wars, and it just kinda stayed that way. Maybe they could.**

 **Ninjashot37: Thought of something. Now it's time for you to decide if you hate it or not. I won't never stop writing. Wishes come true.**

 **Goldenspartan86: I'll get to a Warhammer story soon.**

 **M1903A4: Yes indeed Sniper rifle... Yes indeed. Only problem now is that there are multiple foes now.**

 **Rick: Hype train has no breaks!**

 **A fan: Sure.**


	35. Angry Men

**Taiyang's House**

A short period of awkwardness is what followed the opening of the door. Yang staring down the mercs, while the mercs stared her down.

...

...

"Bonjour." Spy finally broke the silence. Yang said nothing, eyes wide and mouth agape at who she was looking at. How could you blame her? Last anyone on Remnant saw of them, they went missing at Beacon and presumed dead.

"Um... may we come inside?" Yang still said nothing, believing she must have lost her mind and was now dreaming this up.

"Miss Xiao Long? Yang? Yang!?" Spy shook her furiously. "Snap out of it! You're beginning to drool a bit!"

"Y-you guys aren't real..." Yang fainted, unbelieving that a dead man just touched her.

"Piss." Sniper cursed, poking Yang's face. "She's out like a mug."

"Ugh... well, no point on leaving her on the floor. Come! Let's move inside." Spy ordered. Then the boys began moving in, getting used to what was apparently Yang's house.

"Hmm, this place ain't half bad." Scout whistled as he and Demo moved Yang upstairs and into what they guessed was her room.

"Wonder if they've got any drinks." Demo chuckled.

Back downstairs, the other mercs were waiting for her to wake up. Until that time, they spent it watching TV and gathering information about has much Remnant has changed since they were last here. That and Yang was missing an arm. None of the mercs except Medic knew she even lost an arm.

"Odd... why is Yang home alone?" Spy wondered, walking around the house. There was clear evidence that more people lived here. People and Zwei, who was currently playing with Pyro. As far as Spy could tell, at least two other people lived here. Two girls, being Yang and Ruby, and a single male judging by the lack of female items in the master bedroom.

"It's called 'responsibility' crouton." Scout had grabbed Yang's dropped back of chips and was now eating it on the couch. "Parents let their kids do it when they're old enough."

"Like myself?" Spy smiled, aware that he just triggered Scout. At the reminder that Spy was his father, Scout spit the chips out onto the floor.

"Haha! Now clean it up, you fool!" Spy laughed as he kept pacing.

"Jacques?" Medic called from upstairs.

"Yes, Friedrich?"

"I see no sign of Ruby anywhere. She must be out somewhere with the man who we can only assume is their father." Medic then held up a candy bar. "I also found zis in zer room! Hehe, what deliciousness..."

"Hmm..." Spy wondered, then he looked outside to see Soldier had started digging trenches and defenses. "Soldier stop fortifying this position!"

"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! WE NEED TO BE ABSOLUTELY PREPARED IN CASE OF-"

"If you stop right now, I'll let you stick a flag on top of their house."

...

"DEAL!" Soldier went to the bread truck to receive a flag from his flag rations. Spy and Medic watched their American friend do said task from the front door.

"... vant to prank ze girl ven she wakes up?"

* * *

 **A Couple of Hours Later**

Yang came to a while later, woken up with a jolt. Looking around, she saw she was in her and Ruby's room. It hurt her a bit to see her missing sister's stuff, but she sighed out a breath of relief at seeing what happened was just a dream. Still, she didn't remember falling asleep in her room.

*CRASH*

"Dammit!" A muffled voice came from below. It was not her father's.

Yang heard some noises downstairs. Someone was in the house with her. She was scared. Yang wasn't the brave lioness we once knew her as she was afraid of everything now. The sound of the crashing immediately gave her a flash of Adam Taurus.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Yang couldn't help but scream at the horrifying thought, but then she quickly covered her mouth when all noises stopped.

They knew she was here. The White Fang were here to finish her off. Tears welling in her eyes, the only thing Yang could think of doing was to hide in her closet. Sweating furiously, she cringed at every footstep she heard come up the stairs. Tense moments passed, and then she heard the door open. She closed her eyes, not wanting to even peek out at who was in the room with her. Eventually, she heard the footsteps that were walking around her room stop by the closet. Yang held her breath lest whoever was on the other side heard her.

It was agonizing. The wait for whoever was in front of the closet to end her life. Yang had a realization that maybe whoever was on the other side was readying a gun or something to spray her down through the closet. Thinking impulsively, the huntress did the only thing her subconscious knew how to do in a situation like this. She broke out the closet door and punched whoever was on the other side with her one arm, then sat on them to prevent them from getting any...

Then she was tackled and restrained by several men who instantly came in through every opening for some reason. Like a tactical takedown from Rainbow Six but more hilarious. It also had Zwei as part of it. She probably shoudn't have left the windows open.

"Argh! Vat vas zat for!? Have you not ze manners to not slap your teacher?" Medic demanded with a smile and a black eye as he was the closest to her. Doing what mercs do, he slapped her for her action in an act of friendship that only mercs know. Then he slapped her again when she looked dead from shock.

"Um.. Yang? Do not worry, it vas just a prank!" Medic saw Yang's eyes dart around at all nine of their faces, still not believing it. "Vat? Too soon?"

"Okay, I think she's dying now. Time to get off her 'fore she's crushed." Sniper said. The mercs then got off of her with Heavy helping her up to her feet.

"Wha-wha-wha..." Yang stuttered, still unbelieving that what she was seeing was real. The mercs lined up as a team in her room, though it was a little awkward since the room wasn't quite big enough for them to line up properly. "Y-You died. A-all of you..."

"Yes, we are aware of this." Heavy said.

"Yeah, but screw you for remindin' us though!" Scout said. The mercs began murmuring agreements about their mostly unpleasant afterlives. Yang looked like she was going to faint again, but Medic already got her back. The DeutschMann rushed her and stuck her with an adrenaline needle.

"Ha! Zat should solve ze chronic fainting you seem to be prone to these days!" Medic said with a smile. Well then, Yang was incapable of fainting now, but that didn't change how shocked she was that they were here.

"Well, I know you must be mighty surprised about all of this, so what say we go down and talk this out?" Engie asked warmly with that sweet Texan accent.

"Y-yeah, I think that sounds good..."

* * *

 **Another Hour Later**

Taiyang Xiao Long whistled as he walked down the dirt path that led to his home. He actually enjoyed these walks from the Port of Patch to his house. The scenery was quite pleasant, and today he was coming home with some fresh groceries. Still, the pleasantness of these walks were sometimes overshadowed with his worries for his missing daughter, Ruby.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when he saw two vehicles parked on his lawn. One was a camper van, while the other was labeled as a bread truck. What an odd combination of vehicles. The only thing that gave him any indication that the vehicles weren't of hostile owners was the lack of signs of violence at his house. Maybe Yang's friends? That girl hasn't seen any of her old friends in months though...

*knocking*

"Hey, Yang? Who's-" Taiyang stopped his mouth when he looked across his pile of groceries to see a person wearing a gas mask open the door.

"Mphmm." The person greeted. Peaking over a little more, Taiyang saw his daughter hanging out with eight other men who were definitely way older than her in the living room.

"Hey dad." Yang said before waving her one arm over the mercenaries. "Guys, say hi to my dad."

"Hello Yang and Ruby's father." The mercs said in unison.

"...hi." Taiyang said after a while. Taking a long look at each of these men before facing his daughter, Taiyang spoke again. "You a... you're going to explain why these grown men are in our house, right?"

"Simple, mister. We're her professors." Engie relaxed on his Rancho Relax with a drink while Taiyang blinked at him.

"Wait, you mean from Beacon? As in those professors who put their students in more life threatening situations than usual?"

"I wouldn't call it life threatening all the time, but that's us alright."

"Right... Yang?" Taiyang called for his daughter who looked over at him. "A word please. Outside." Taiyang and his daughter went out, leaving the mercs to their own devices. Whatever that means. After making absolutely sure the mercs couldn't hear them, even going all the way out to their mailbox, they started talking.

"Okay, who are those guys?" Taiyang demanded, hands on his hips.

"They're my professors. Like they told you."

"Yang... you and I both know that they're dead-"

"But they're not! These men are here right now!" Yang defended them.

"Come on! Are you even hearing yourself right now? People can't come back to life..." He looked a little hurt at his own statement, but otherwise kept a stern face.

"But dad! These guys can do amazing things! They can do stuff that most people in Remnant can only dream of! Even come back to life!"

"Oh right, I forgot you said they were aliens or something from 'Earth' or some other stupid made up place like that..." Taiyang joked, but his daughter punched his arm.

"It's not made up! I've been there!"

"Sure you have..." Taiyang smirked. Both of their attentions were then turned on Heavy as the Russian approached them.

"Please excuse Heavy, but I must apologize for destroying window..." They looked towards the direction of Heavy's hand as he showed them the damage in question. A window in the kitchen had been smashed with Scout right through it.

"There was spider, but it is gone now... Heavy swears this is truth." That's what you get for making fun of Heavy. Yang face palmed while Taiyang gave this man a look that wasn't sure if he should be mad or forgiving to him for telling him straight up.

"Just watch... Heavy?" Yang asked of him.

"Da, Yellow Dragon?"

"Mind showing my dad here a little demonstration of a... you know." Yang pointed a finger gun at her head and made a pew noise. Heavy understood right away.

"Please follow Heavy."

The Russian and Yang started walking, leaving Taiyang confused as to what Yang meant with a *pew* to the head. Following them, Taiyang waited by his daughter as they watched the man who identifies as the "Medic" get out a rectangular device and the unconscious Scout held up by Heavy. They were all outside. Wouldn't want to get the inside of the house messy...

"Woah, what are you doing!?" Taiyang screamed at the sight of a gun being raised to Scout's head.

"Ah! What the Hell guys!?" Scout screamed. "I didn't volun-"

*BANG*

One dead Scout! Yang still cringed at the sight of death, even getting a little PTSD attack from hearing a gunshot again, but she was way more satisfied with the horrified look on her father's face. As usual, the mercs were not fazed by this event.

"W-what the Hell!? How could you just do that!?" Taiyang was going to jump the mercs for their actions, but his daughter got in the way. "What- get out of the way!"

"Just watch..." Yang looked back with a grin as Medic deployed a regular reanimator and used his Medigun on it. To Taiyang's shock, much to his daughter and the mercs' amusements, Scout was alive again.

"Oh dust... t-they really can-" Taiyang stuttered before Scout suddenly jumped on Spy who was the one who shot him.

"YOU FRENCH BASTARD! HOW COULD YOU KILL YER OWN SON LIKE THAT!?" Scout was wrestling with Spy on the ground.

"Haha! Just a little demonstration!" Spy fought back while everyone watched. Yang was giving a cheeky look to her father while Taiyang still looked like he lost his balls. The other mercs had gone off into the house or to the vans to keep moving stuff in.

"See?" Yang cheeked, her father giving her a frown in return.

"What I just saw was not okay at all!" he chastised her. "Ozpin let these guys be professors!? What was he thinking!? What kind of sane person would do this!? I think that skinny one even said it was his father, _HIS FATHER,_ that shot him!" Taiyang's father mode was turned on.

"But dad!" Yang tried to defend them.

"But nothing! These guys are dangerous, and-" He looked up and saw they were packing stuff into his place. "-and _you_ just let them move in like it's their own place!?"

"Uh... yes?" She couldn't deny that.

"Oh for the love of, STOP!" Taiyang shouted, hands clapping for the mercs to see. "Look guys, I'm sure you're nice people based on what my daughters say, but you got to leave." Spy had finished giving Scout an ass whooping and stood up while the others stopped what they were doing.

"Besides, we don't have enough room for you all."

"That's fine." Spy said, making Taiyang grin with hope that they'll leave. "We'll camp outside then." Frowny face on dragon dad. :(

"Um, no! That sounds like a terrible idea!" Taiyang staunchly defended his stance on no mercs allowed. Even if they were his daughter's professors, he did not want to risk maniacs perfectly fine with killing each other to be around Yang. "Look guys, I'm sure you can find an inn or something down at Patch harbor. Maybe even set up camp, I don't know, somewhere else? You know, not on private property?"

"But we like yer home, sir." Demo held up a bottle of booze he found hidden in the cabinets of the kitchen. "You have wonderful taste in drink too."

"What the- UGH!" Taiyang was getting angry. "If you don't leave now, I'll force you out!" He cracked his knuckles, and the mercs only looked at each other.

"Uh, dad..." Yang tugged with her one arm. "You don't want to do that..."

"Why wouldn't I, Yang!? This is basically a home invasion! Now step back, I'll take-" Spy grabbed him by the face and began waving a watch in front of him. Heavy and Soldier held his struggles back as he stared at the waving watch.

"Guys! What are you doing to my dad!?" Yang considered jumping on them too had Pyro not held her back.

"Shhh!" Spy held a finger at his lips towards her before focusing on her dad. " _You are getting very sleepy... very sleepy..."_

"What the Hell are you doing?" Taiyang sturggled. Then, the hypnosis began working.

" _You are getting very sleepy..."_ Spy repeated.

" _I-I'm..._ NO! I'm, not- _sleepy... I'm sleepy.."_ Dragon dad passed out on the spot. Spy confidently put the watch away with a grin on his face.

"Sweet dreams, take him away!" Scout and Sniper dragged him away to his room and Yang was let go, confused at how they knocked her dad out cold with just a watch and some words.

"Hypnosis." Spy explained. "Hope your father is fine with us moving in." He began walking over to the trucks, Yang following.

"Excuse me, but you never asked if _I_ was okay with you guys moving into my own house!" Yang said after him.

"Are you okay with it?" Spy said with a charm to his voice.

"Uh... maybe? I don't know... This is all so sudden." Yang said truthfully. Well yeah. Nine guys you thought were dead forever just suddenly returned. It was shocking, but she admittedly felt good that she didn't lose even more people she cared about at Beacon.

"Well you'd have to accept it then. We're here to stay. Until we build our fortress that is..."

"Fortress?"

"Oui. You'll see soon enough."

* * *

 **Vale, Later**

After moving their stuff in Yang's House and injecting Taiyang with some tranqs because they weren't quite ready to face him yet, they all took a ship to Vale. Yang stayed behind, not really wanting to go see Vale again. The mercs were back in the city because judging from the news and what Yang told them, Beacon was fucked and the kingdoms are at a state of unrest as a result. It was time to see how fucked the situation was...

"Well that place is fucked." Scout whistled.

Even from the port he could see the Grimm dragon on top of Beacon Tower. It was true that the people were uneasy. The populace seemed more gloomy and uncertain than when the mercs were last here. Probably because Beacon had fallen and there was now a large concentration of Grimm constantly growing bigger in the school.

"Sure seems like it..." Engie said, solemn looks on all of their faces. That dragon on top of the tower was the ultimate symbol of their failure. A symbol that pissed them the fuck off.

"Ha! Those creatures think they can occupy allied territory? Not when America's on the job!" Soldier pulled out an American flag and held it like a banner boy. "COME ON MEN! CHARGE!"

"He expects us to charge all the way up to the school?" Demo straight faced. They were still at the goddamn harbor on the exact opposite end of the city.

"Ugh... I'll get the van..." Sniper went to get his van from the ferry while the other seven waited.

"So... I just realized something." Medic said.

"What is it doctor?" His best friend, Heavy, said.

"Now that we're here... what exactly are we going to do now?" The realization that they still didn't know what the Hell they were going to do came to them. Okay, they were revived, check. They made it to Remnant, check. They found at least someone they knew, check. As for how they were going to get Cinder... fuck.

"Um... yeah... we didn't really think this through." Scout admitted for the team.

"Mphm." Pyro agreed.

"We'll think of something. We have to. There is still evil to destroy..." Heavy said. _That_ is the one thing they can agree upon. There was a bitch out there that needs to get fucked with a tank or else the mercs will lose their minds.

Sniper came up in his camper van and picked them all up. They would have brought the Bread Truck, but the ferry could've only fit one more vehicle so they left the truck at Patch harbor. Driving up the streets of Vale, they quickly caught up with Soldier. The patriot was still running and was heaving like a bastard with all the running he did. He sprinted **10** miles without stopping, but that could've been aided with how his movement speed was faster now.

"Soldier! Get in ze van!" Medic had poked his head out from the side window as the van pulled up near Soldier.

"Get in here, Yankee!" Engie called. "You're causing a scene!"

"NEVER! AMERICA STOPS FOR NO ONE!" The van was much faster than him, but it sill slowed down traffic as they matched his speed, people angrily honking their horns at the van moving slower than the speed limit.

"Oh for the love of- Sniper! Just run the fool over!" Engie ordered. Sniper chuckled and turned the steeing wheel so that the van collided with Soldier, knocking him to the ground. Scout and Heavy jumped out to drag him in so that they won't have to slow traffic down anymore.

I forgot to mention this, but the Van was really crowded with the nine of them. Sniper, Spy, Engie sat in front. Heavy, Soldier, and Medic were in the back. Demo,, Pyro, and Scout sat on top, not wanting to get cramped in the back with the three men already there. Yes, a lot of heads were turned with the sight of men riding on top of a van, but the mercs didn't care much so long as the police didn't get involved. They usually have negative experiences with the authorities.

Speaking of authorities, it seemed like Vale's police and military are more present in the streets. There was no sign of Atlas Soldiers, only the men of the VDF and the VPD. Obviously, they were here to keep the populace in check since the Fall of Beacon on order of the kingdom's council. Wouldn't want their fears and emotions lead to riots or other crime. Maybe even Grimm attack...

"This place sure is different since we were last here... losin' that school really messed this place up." Scout said, eyeing some cops looking at the men on top of a moving vehicle.

"Well when there's a large concentration of Grimm just over in the abandoned academy, that sort of thing is to be expected, lad." Demo sipped some more of his drink. He gave a slight belch afterwords.

"Yeah... hey Spy?" Scout called for his father.

"Oui?" The Frenchman stuck his head from the passenger seat.

"The Hell are we going anyway?"

"The news said that the huntsmen are trying to retake the school." Spy sat back down. "It's as good a place to start as any..."

* * *

 **Frontline of Beacon**

A lot of huntsmen were here. Simply said, a lot of them. Never was there such a concentration of huntsmen in one area, even since the day of their founding eighty years ago. It's just necessary to have so many when an academy for training huntsmen fall, also since it was so close to a heavily populated area. Even when Mountain Glenn fell, there weren't as many huntsmen there since the situation was quickly resolved with the sealing of the ruins from the rest of Vale. Elements of the VDF were here as support for the huntsmen.

"Stop." A VDF soldier ordered as the van neared the perimeter. "No civilians allowed. Please turn back the direction you came."

"No need to worry, mate. We are hunts-" Sniper was interrupted when Soldier jumped out the back and tackled the VDF infantryman to give him an ass kicking.

"I'M NOT A CIVILIAN!" Soldier screamed, his friends immediately dismounting to kick his ass so he wouldn't kick the VDF guy's ass. Then all action stopped when the VDF and huntsmen leveled their weapons at them.

"STOP!" A huntsman with a laser halberd ordered.

"Stop fighting, or else..." A huntress with what looked like a revolving axe said. The mercs didn't give a flying fuck. They got Soldier off the poor man and started beating him silly as the poor VDF man crawled to safety. Gangbanging Soldier was pretty much the only way to get him out of these moods.

"Seriously, cut it out!" Another huntress called. She was a rabbit Fanus, and she appeared to be a little squeamish, cringing at every *CRACK* noise that happened when the mercs intentionally broke their comrade's bones. Once they were sure Soldier had calmed down, they left him for his new automatic healing to do its magic on him. Well actually, they loaded him into the van and got back inside.

"Out of the way!" Sniper honked his horn. "You wankers!" The huntsman and soldiers were confused. These men gave no shits that they were surrounded and could possibly face death right now.

"No! You're not getting in. Now tell us who you are and what business you have here." The huntsman with the halberd called.

"Unless you want Heavy to break foot up in your ass, then move out of way." Normally, the mercs would act as civil as they can, but they didn't appreciate guns in their face. Damn authorities, see what I'm talking about?

"Heads up, Goodwitch's coming!" Someone in the back called.

The opposing force immediately stood aside as Goodwitch was leading the effort to take Beacon back. She looked stressed and furious that some men had apparently caused a disturbance. Last thing she needed was to worry about some idiots... and her fears were made true. There were idiots here, but the only problem was that they were supposed to be dead.

"What..." Goodwitch gasped. "How-"

"Please, it is a very long story and we'd rather tell you some other time." Spy said. "Um... should we park outside of the perimeter or what?"

* * *

After telling Goodwitch what became of them at Beacon in a long story short moment and getting over her initial shock, Glynda took the mercs over to the very edge of the safe zone just beyond the combat zone.

"So you did die defending Beacon like the students said you did..." Glynda sighed. The ten of them were observing Grimm infesting the school while huntsmen were organizing parties to go and attack.

"That's right..." Spy said very seriously. Looking over to the men, Glynda saw that they were pissed about something as they looked at the Grimm.

"Hehe, funny, initially I was under the impression that you ran since you were mercenaries, but..." She thought about what it must have felt for them to die and be brought back to life. "... now that I know what really happened, I imagine it must be... frustrating... to suffer such a fate."

"You haven't the slightest clue..." For once, Glynda was worried about them. She didn't care much for them since they were more of a nuisance as professors, but their genuine vibes of anger sort of scared her. The tales evacuated students told of them fighting tooth and nail against the Grimm also made her respect them.

"Yes... well let me be the first to say that I appreciate what you did for Beacon. All of Remnant does." The mercs said nothing, still eyeing the Godless assholes over at Beacon. "You did all you can, even dying for the sake of the school. Even if you failed, I want you to know that I know longer think you're all incompetent, reckless, fools now. For what it's worth."

She expected the mercs to say something, but the men ran back to the truck, leaving Spy with Goodwitch.

"Where are they going?" She asked, not entirely sure what was happening. "Are you listening to me?" Spy still said nothing, keeping his silence while still angrily staring the Grimm down. The camper van suddenly pulled up with all mercs on board, sentry guns on the sides and top.

"We were never morons to begin with..." Spy said as he mounted up.

"We are men, and we will always be men. We're men who just need to let some... steam off every now and then." He gave a slight grin at her.

"W-what..." She realized what they intended to do. "You can't be serious. You'll get yourselves killed again!"

"We're men, goddamnit! American men!" Soldier had climbed up to the top of the driver's compartment with his saber out.

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!"

"WAIT!" It was too late. The camper van sped forward at MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, wrangled sentry guns blasting rockets and bullets ahead while the insane occupants in the can did the same. Glynda was at a loss for words. These men just rushed into an area full of thousands of Grimm just to satisfy their RAGE. After all, that's how real men solve their problems. By killing one out of several factors that pissed them the Hell off. This'll calm the boys down for a while.

"Should we help them?" The rabbit huntress from earlier asked Goodwitch. The huntsmen and VDF had gathered by her. The camper van plowed right through a large group of Beowolves and Creeps and the mercs jumping out the vehicle to unleash goddam cargo containers full of kickass on these sorry shit eating, ass licking, dick munching, failed abortion, retarded, verbally and physically abused, motherfucking Godless, sons of bitches! SUCH RAGE.

Might as well now that they got some back up.

* * *

 **YAY! EXTREME VIOLENCE!** **SUCH IS THE WAY OF THE MAN!**

 **Volume 4 up in this bitch now, bois. The return of the men is going to cause severe butthurt to their enemies! So much so that we may have to apply ointment on their rears.**

 **Remember to put a name for yourself when you put a review or else I will respond with a "FUCK" no matter what the review says. If said person makes another review with a name then I'll respond to the old one. I like to hear what you guys think about the chapters as they come along.**

 **Also, Christmas special is coming soon in the extras. Maybe tomorrow or today.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Mr. Green37: I knooooooooooooooooooow, the men are back.**

 **A fan: I do any class and the loadout changes depending on situation.**

 **CapitalClassShip: Uh... maybe?**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: FUCK YEAH. Seriously need to change your name sometime.**

 **Lord hellfire913: YES. BUT NOW THEY'RE OTHER ENEMIES TO FACE SOON. FUCK, BUT MORE VIOLENCE.**

 **Awesome Arod: I'll find something next chapter.**

 **buzzsaw935: After the awful realizations of what made them men in their souls, such as that manliness will return to Remnant.**

 **Battle9921: Ayyyyyyyyy.**

 **TheLAGGER V.2: Her reaction is pretty positive.** **( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Yep.**

 **brother of kane: LOL Soldier as a Pope will be some shit to see.**

 **delta4phoenix: Ayyyyyyyyy thanks! By the way, since you're from Germany, are you Deutsch or living in an American base there?**

 **Niemand: I forgot all about you, but no thank you. Languages other than English aren't spoken much so it wouldn't be that necessary for someone to help me with German.**

 **Guest: FUCK.**

 **deloreansareawesome69: I know you were the guest, but the rule still applies. Chapter 37 is still there, but it's now called something else because I removed the intermission chapters and placed them in the extras.**

 **Michamya: *cries* such well said... though the COD story wasn't all one continuous thing. I guess I'll write more when this story ends or maybe even during. An Overwatch crossover is something I would do, but I need to know more about Overwatch first. As for the fucktastic multiunivere crossover, fuck my life on that cuz that will kille me with the mindhurt. I actually implied something like that last chapter where Spy closes the portal so nothing comes over. And yes, game nights have not stopped, it's just things have been busy for me. Thank you for such words of encouragement, and by the way what is the $40 book series you got?**

 **Breakmyback: I'll see to it!**

 **An Peepul: FUCK YEAH.**


	36. Stress Relief

**Rapeyard (Otherwise known as Beacon Ruins)**

It was violent. It was brutal. It was bloody. It was horrifyihg. It was fucking manly.

The Teufort Nine vs. The Creatures of Grimm. Nine vs thousands. A perfectly fair fight considering the mercs had an advantage against the Grimm. They had a vengeful rage opposed to the mindless primal rage that filled the black hearts of every Grimm in existence. There butts were not ready for this battle. So much si that if they lived to see the next day, ointment would need to be applied unto thy ass for the whooping that has been done onto it.

The nanosecond the camper van's wheels stopped turning from all the Grimm goop lubricating the wheels, all nine of the boys hopped out and said FUCK YOU in physical for to all Grimm close by in melee combat. Even good old Engineer joined in on the action, furiously ripping Grimm flesh to pieces with the Southern Hospitality and even cracking skulls with the weapons every man is born with. His two hands. When it was clear enough, he tended to his sentry guns as usual, though he was far more aggressive than he ever was.

Spy did not have any of his swords as Nora broke them, but he did not give a Goliath's ass about that fuck shit and used his wide assortment of knives and close quarters combat expertise on them. He didn't care if some of the creature's backs for not available for stabbing at the moment, he wanted the Creatures to be as stiff as French dirt. He jammed his blades into their stupid red eyes and their unarmed throats, and sometimes when they got too close he would STRANGLE them to death. Only when an ass hole was far away enough did he bother to use his gun, or if he felt like putting holes in them up close.

Pyro was riding a burning Major Ursa with a Fire Axe stuck in its head, making the beast destroy large numbers of fellow Grimm while it's insane Pyromaniac of a rider doused Grimm with fire from on top. A Beowolf jumped up with the intention of _trying_ to kill Pyro, but you know Pyro wasn't in the mood for this silliness. A shotgun shoved down its throat certainly solved that Beowolf's problems. It then lit the headless Grimm on fire and filled it with the incendiary grenades on its straps, then it the it far for a huge fiery explosion to wipe out a few dozen monsters.

Scout, like the rest of the team, was extremely aggressive. With his improved stats, he took way more ballsier approaches to fighting the Grimm than he normally would. He would happily take hits just to score extra damage while still light on his feet.

"COME GET SOME!"

The bruiser from Boston had a crazed look on his face as one handed his Scatter gun against some Beowolves while shoving his fist down a Boarbatusk's throat to choke it to death. An Ursa had enough of this little shit so it picked up a Beowolf and threw it at him before rushing in. Scout dodged the flying creature, but he was not able to dodge the Ursa which had gotten a good slash across his chest. Thanks to damage resistance and self healing, Scout survived with a rage. That Ursa regretted it's decision when a baseball was hit into its balls and a Cleaver thrown at its neck.

Much rocket jumping was had as every jump blew a Grimm as there were that many here. Instead of switching out for another rocket launcher, John Doe decided to use the weapon his grandfather gave him. An American steel 1860 Cavalry Saber. Such were the combined levels of democracy contained in man and saber, that Grimm were slaughtered to pieces. A King Taijitsu reared a head at Soldier and swallowed him whole. Shit.

Nah, it was all good. Soldier pulled off a Howard Doe and crawled straight through to the other head of the snake, destroying its insides with his saber and shovels. He cackled maniacally once he emerged out of the painfully dead giant snake's other head.

"JUST LIKE GRANDPA SHOWED ME! HAHAHA!" The veteran then shoved his foot up a Beowolf's ass because FUCK the Grimm.

Demoman was very melee heavy, not using any bombs after he shot all his grenades and dynamite. This was due to his rage and how happy Eyelander was to be able to kill shit again. He even randomly reached into his endless pockets for another melee weapon, and I t happened to be Nessie's Nine Iron. The Scottish maniac spread death where ever the steel of his weapons struck. Goddamit, Eyelander was so angry that he began wielding HIMSELF.

" _DEUS VULT, MOTHERFUCKERS!"_ Yeah, Eyelander was a Crusader in life.

It seemed like the anger of dying (as a ghost sword. wut) and facing that cursed witch again caused his trapped soul to manifest itself as you can see the glowing, ghostly for of a knight faintly appear to be wielding him. Fucking awesome. When Eyelander started magically using himself, Demo used his trusty unbreakable bottle of DeGroot Clan rum. He can have a drink _and_ kill fools at the same time!

Sniper was unusually aggressive like the others. Instead of a traditional at range approach, raging Sniper went full point blank noscopes and Jarate+Bushwacka, and SMG. The .308 rounds of his Sniper absolutely pierced Grimm flesh and armor up close while the hollow point 9mm of his SMGs fucked the unarmored parts of a Grimm's body. Out of all the mercenaries, he took the most damage from how ill-suited he still was for close combat. He even suffered a few life threatening injuries that required Medic to heal quickly enough to save his life.

Said DeutchMann was using the Kritzkrieg on Heavy, and be also was extremely aggressive The duo doing that aggressive Uber push that they are known for. Heavy spent the first half of the fight tearing Grimm to pieces with his bare hands and Minigun, until the Grimm were starting to waver and retreat further into the ruined academy. When the Grimm began running with the sudden rush of the combined VDF and huntsmen attack, that is they came in after the mercs began their brutal massacre, the nine pushed forward from behind Medic's shield while still blasting all sorts of ranked attacks at them.

That was until Goodwitch pulled them back with her wand, letting the huntsmen and heavy units of the VDF take the front.

"I think you've done enough..." Glynda was still shocked with the savagery of the mercenaries. A savagery that matched the Grimm. Seemed like the negative emotions had an opposite effect on the Grimm as they ran instead of got stronger. Maybe they did get stronger, but their instincts simply told them to run with all these advancing Humans.

"Come gentlemen. I don't care how angry you are, I do not want you to die again." She had a valid point.

The boys were so focused on killing shit that they took severe damage, but it was only their anger that kept them from noticing. That and the slow self healing as well as damage resistance kept them in for that much longer. However, it was only a matter of time before the elder and more dangerous forms of Grimm deeper in the school faced them, so maybe it was a good idea to pull them out and let the huntsmen try and secure all the ground they gained.

They mounted up in the camper van now that the huntsmen were keeping the area secure, and drove out to to the safe zone. The VNN sent veteran reporter Cyril Ian over as soon as they heard an effort to recapture Beacon lead to some success.

"This is Cyril Ian reporting live from the battleground of Beacon Academy." People watching at home can see troops from the VDF as well as some huntsmen make their way to the front while a banged up camper van slowly drove by. "After months of unsuccessful action against the Grimm here at Beacon, the huntsmen have finally made some substantial gains."

The camera panned just to the side to show fighting between the huntsmen and the Grimm. "What you're seeing-" Suddenly, Ian was totally unaware that a man had popped out the back of the camper van and rushed over to the news crew, pushing Ian out of the way and taking hold of the camera. Viewers were shocked to see the camera show a helmeted man screaming at them.

"LISTEN UP, GOOD DEMOCRACY LOVING CITIZENS! MY NAME IS JOHN DOE AND I AM THE HARBINGER OF DOOM FOR ALL EVIL WHO DARES TO EVEN CONSIDER DESTROYING FREEDOM! I SWEAR ON MY NEW LIFE THAT ME AND MY FELLOW SOLDIERS OF JUSTICE WILL HUNT OUT EVERY SINGLE CRAP EATING MAGGOT WHO HATES FREEDOM! DO YOU KNOW WHO HATES FREEDOM!?" Soldier let a pause.

"U-um... terrorists?" The cameraman, who was pinned to the ground, answered nervously.

"NO-well... yes. BUT I'M TALKING ABOUT SOMEONE IN PARTICULAR!" He smiled.

"Am I right, Cinder Fall?"

Soldier would have screamed more had the other eight hadn't come out to restrain him and beat him again.

"So sorry for our friend. He is very stupid!" Heavy apologized to the cameraman while people across Vale were shocked by the sight of him breaking Soldier's arms. Soldier gave no shits.

"HAHAHA! YOU BETTER FEAR ME! YOU BETTER FEAR THE MIGHT OF THE UNITED STATES! FOR FREEDOM NEVER DIES! COME FELLOW SOLDIERS OF FREEDOM, SING WITH ME!"

 _"MARCH ALONG, SING OUR SONG,_

 _WITH THE ARMY OF THE FREE,_

 _COUNT THE TRUE, COUNT THE BRAVE_

 _WHO HAVE FOUGHT FOR VICTORY"_

Soldier was still singing as they were dragging him away and beating him. The cameraman had gotten up and was filming them taking Soldier to the van while Cyril Ian was dusting himself off.

"THIS IS THE SONG OF THE ARMY OF FREEDOM, YOU EVIL SONS OF BITCHES!" He kept singing.

 _"WE'RE THE ARMY AND WE'RE PROUD OF OUR NAME,_

 _WE'RE THE ARMY AND WE PROUDLY PROCLAIM,_

 _FIRST TO FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT,_

 _AND TO BUILD THE NATION'S MIGHT,_

 _WE'RE THE ARMY AND WE'RE ROLLING ALONG..."_

They got Soldier into the van and sped off, leaving all of Remnant shocked at what just happened.

"Why do I always get the crazies..." Ian mumbled. "Come on Jerry, let's finish this and get out of here."

* * *

 **City of Vale**

Glynda told them to leave, but not without giving them thanks. They had indeed done a good job as the huntsmen now reclaimed the area between the air docks and the fountain monument. Now it was only a matter of fortifying it from the Grimm that constantly came into the school if they had any hope of keeping their gains.

The guys were a little salty that they couldn't keep up the slaughter even if it meant their lives. Then again, dying so soon after coming back to life sounded embarassing, and they had a dragon girl and dragon father to get back to. As they were driving back to the docks in Snipper Snipes severely banged up camper van (from crashing into a horde of Grimm and not giving a fuck), they took the streets instead of the highway as some accident backed up traffic there. Travelling along the streets, they remembered there was one more face they needed to see.

"Go on ahead, Sniper." Spy, Medic, and Engie got out of the van as they reached a hospital in Vale. "Leave the bread van for us." Sniper threw them the keys for the bread truck so they could take it back to Yang's place when they returned to Patch. As for what they were doing at a hospital? Nothing much. just seeing a dear old student of there's.

"Excuse me mein freund, but is zer a Pyyrha Nikos here?" Medic asked the reception lady.

The woman nodded and had someone show them the way to the ICU where Pyyrha is. She did question who these beat up men were, but they assured her that they were the teen girl's friends. That was good enough for her so she let them in. Inside was Pyyrha on life support, and her mother. Aleka Nikos was asleep by her daughter's side. Pyyrha's father was actually one of the huntsmen trying to retake Beacon so he was over with Goodwitch at the moment.

With a stir and then a surprised look, the red headed woman opened her eyes.

"Afternoon." Engie smiled. She eyed the three mercenaries suspiciously. Their clothes were torn up and tattered from the battle earlier, though their skin is fine.

"Hello. Who are you and why are you here?" Apparently, she didn't hear about their exploits back when they were here nor when they were made huntsmen.

"We're your daughter's professors, ma'am. Just dropping by to see her." Engie answered. Aleka tensed up a bit when they got closer to her injured daughter, especially when Medic got a little too close.

"Sir!" She yelled when Medic nearly put his medically trained hands on her daughter. "What are you doing?" She demanded.

"Have no worries, Ms. Nikos. For you see, I am a doctor!" Medic proudly declared. He did look the part, it was just that Aleka only knew them for a couple of minutes.

"My apologies, doctor. Still, I don't know if there's anything you can do that the doctors here haven't tried already." She sadly looked at her poor daughter. Pyyrha's been unconscious since Beacon. Medic gave Spy and Engie cheeky looks.

"Hehe... you see, I am not a normal doctor. FOR I HAVE ZIS!" He pulled out a Medigun, scaring Aleka into thinking it was some kind of weapon. Aleka did not have her weapon with her, but that didn't stop her from trying to throttle these men for threatening her daughter.

"Shhhhhhh..." She was suddenly and quickly restrained when Spy got her in a lock. "Please, I know you barely know us, but we would very much like to help your daughter... do you understand?" Aleka nodded, not able to say anything since Spy had her in that tight of a hold. "I will let you go now. Promise you won't attack us and we'll help your daughter..." She did, and she anxiously watched as Medic used the strange device on her daughter.

Medic pulled off the bandages covering up the hole where the landed arrow narrowly missed her heart and set the Medigun to maximum. Strangely, the hole disappeared but Pyyrha was still not waking up.

"Hmm... very curious..." Aleka cringed when Medic poked her daughter's chest as if it wasn't a big deal. "She ought to be awake by now..."

"Um... sir? Can you please stop-"

"No, don't worry! This should be working..." Aleka had enough when the German began gently shaking Pyyrha like a ragdoll. "Ms. Nikos? Wake up! Pyyrha? WAKE UP, DAMN YOU!"

"That's enough!" Aleka screamed furiously.

"Indeed it is." Medic agreed, getting off of Pyyrha. "She should have been awake by now. Do you mind if we take her-"

"Take my daughter!? I'm sorry gentlemen, but I cannot allow that."

"Ma'am, trust us when we say we can help your daughter. Only if you trust us..."

"That maybe so, but I don't trust you. I'm sorry, but I feel much safer with my daughter in the hands of trained medical professionals..."

"I am a professional!" Medic whined. "I just don't have a medical license!" Yeah, that didn't help their case at all. Safe to say, Aleka told them to leave or hospital security will get them. Grumbling, the mercs left.

* * *

 **Patch, Yang's House**

When the three returned to Yang's place, they found that the other six were currently dealing with Yang's dad who woke up around the time Spy and his companions rejoined with the others.

"You mean to tell me you psychopaths just came back from killing a bunch of Grimm? What, is that like a holiday that maniacs celebrate?"

"Not really, but let me tell ya buddy, it was a real walk in the park." Scout smiled. The torn up state of the mercs' clothes said otherwise. Taiyang gave his daughter an angry look for being friends with crazies.

"Least they did something good..." Yang smiled nervously.

"Ugh... look guys, I'm sure you're nice people, but I can't risk you guys wrecking my home since, you know, you're all a bunch of maniacs! No offense. "

"None taken. We get that a lot." Sniper admitted.

"But we already moved our stuff into yer home." Demo held up another bottle of the same drink he raided from Taiyang's personal stash. "And these drinks are really something else!" He got the bottle snatched from his hands.

"Give me that!" He snapped the bottle out of Demo's hands. "If you can move your stuff in, then you can sure as Hell move it out!" Taiyang demanded furiously. Wouldn't you be mad if nine guys you barely know hung out with your daughter and damage your home? Dragon dad was.

"Fine. We will." Spy said.

"That's righ-"

"Tomorrow. It's getting late." Yep. The moon was high in the sky. It's fractured side facing away from the planet so that it looked like a regular full moon back on Earth. Taiyang was going to object, but Yang had put her one hand on his shoulder and shook her head.

"Just let them stay." Yang begged. "It's only for a night."

"Fine. You guys can sleep in the living room." Taiyang stomped off to his room upstairs. "There better not be anything broken when I wake up in the morning!" He yelled from upstairs. Yang got the men blankets and pillows for their night here. Against her father's wishes, she slept on the couch in the living room with them since they didn't mind sleeping on the floor. Yang told her father she'll keep an eye on them. She slept long before any of them did.

Later that night, poor Yang was having a nightmare. A nightmare about Adam taking her arm again. Eh, she was pretty used to it by now. These dreams happen so often since that day that she no longer wakes up screaming, only in a cold sweat. It still scared her though. She looked around the dark living room and saw the guys were missing, except for Pyro who was playing cards with Zwei.

"Pyro?" She whispered. "Where is everybody?"

"Mphhm!" Pyro pointed outside and Zwei barked in agreement. Yang shook her head because it was impossible to understand Pyro, but at least it bothered to point some direction.

"Uh... okay. What are they doing?" Pyro started mphming out responses while acting out what the others were apparently doing. All Yang got was that they were building something.

"...okay. Are they going to be back soon?" Pyro and Zwei looked at each other, then Pyro gave a thumbs up.

"Mphm hmm!" Pyro nodded. Sighing, Yang laid back on the couch. She didn't really feel like going out and looking for them after that nightmare she had. Whatever they were doing, she hoped they wouldn't cause any trouble.

Meanwhile, the distant noises of light construction can be heard.

* * *

 **Somewhere on the Western Dragon Continent**

Salem's council. An organization under the command of the mother of all Grimm with only one purpose. To destroy the order and peace of the huntsman academies and kingdoms. Destroying all that Ozpin had set out to achieve.

The council had just concluded their meeting concerning the White Fang and the search for the Spring Maiden. Tyrian and Hazel already left while Watts sat at the meeting table a little longer, looking through stuff on his scroll. As for Cinder and Salem, Cinder was sitting next to the Grimm mother while Emerald and Mercury watched the healing process. From an observer's standpoint, it was uncertain if any healing was being done at all on Cinder. All that seemed to be happening was Salem telling Cinder to concentrate while having a hand on Cinder's while the new Fall Maiden looked to be in pain.

After a few minutes, Salem suddenly stood up and said she had some business to attend to, leaving out the large doors in that floaty manner in which she walks. Cinder needed a moment to rest after the treatment, Emerald and mercury coming by her side to aid with anything.

"Hmm... how curious..." Watts said to himself as someone from his scroll was screaming something. He kept a rather uninterested look as he watched a news broadcast from the VNN. He had connections that kept a constant relay of information to him even with the CCT in Vale being down. His uninterested look changed with a single raising of the brow when he reached a certain point of the broadcast.

"Oh Dear... another slip up on your part, Cinder."

"What are you talking about now, old man?" Mercury groaned. He really did not like the snobby gentleman that was Watts.

"It would seem as though people know who our dear Cinder is. Failed to take care of those who oppose as well as being defeated by a mere girl..." He grinned, then he looked at Emerald and waved her over with a finger. "Come and show your beloved Cinder this. Take care not to break it, or else you'll regret it..."

Emerald's response was just a growl. She didn't like him either. Snatching the scroll out of his hands rudely, she went over to Cinder who was still pained from the treatment. Cinder's one eye struggled to follow what was happening on the scroll, barely staying open from how much pain she was in. All three of their attentions were immediately caught when a familiar bunch of psychos rolled by, and then Soldier tackled the camera.

"Holy shit..." Mercury gasped with a look of fear.

"N-no... you killed them!" Emerald gasped, nearly tripping as she actually jumped back from Soldier's face suddenly taking the camera screen. Cinder's eye went wide. She killed them. They were supposed to be dead. This wasn't possible...

A mixed look of anger and shock was on her face as the maniac known as the Soldier began ranting and singing about freedom, but her jaw dropped when a familiar masked man came along with the other mercenaries to take him. That being the Spy. While Spy said nothing to the camera, he did give a death stare at the camera. No doubt meant for her. The look of those eyes scared her. Memories of him almost defeating her forced her hands to cover the healed wounds from her battle with him.

This man... this man wanted nothing more than to kill her. He and his companions at that. Not only did she have a young silver-eyed girl to worry about, now she had to worry about nine maniacs who will stop at nothing to kill her.

Things just got far more complicated than it should be.

* * *

 **Patch**

Somewhere near Yang's place but far enough as that they can be barely heard, the mercenaries were in the process of building their base. Engie hadn't any of that special dust that apparently made the teleporter capable of interdimensional travel yet so they were just focusing on setting up the basic needs of a fortress. Cuz Team **Fortress**.

It was midnight as the full moon shined brightly in the night sky. Turned out Patch wasn't completely free of Grimm as every now and then Beowolves would pop up. Beowolves that would be brutally dealt with in melee as they didn't want to alert anyone that they were here. Logs had been cut down for use in building and a central structure had already been built. Trenches were dug and some logs were made into makeshift battlements.

"Whooie... can't wait until this place is up and running." Engie marveled at the progress they were making.

"Indeed. All we need is another trip to the city tomorrow and we'll our portal will be fully operational." Spy patted Engie's back. The mercs were done building tonight and were going back to Yang's place to sleep it out. Tomorrow they'll move out of Yang's house and put all the stuff here in their base.

Upon return to the house, they found Yang still fast asleep and Pyro was sleeping on Zwei's doggy bed while the pooch was cuddling up to it.

"Sweet dreams, mates..." Demo placed a blanket over them.

The boys got settled in and rested for the night, all except Spy, Engie, Medic, and Sniper who were gathered at the dinner table with a map of Remnant. They were planning their next move. However, they also realized they had no information at all on Cinder's whereabouts as no one's seen her since Beacon.

There was also the matter of what to do with their scattered students. As far as they knew, the vast majority of the kids they made friends with at Beacon are alive and currently with their families, though it did worry them that Ruby, Blake, and Team JNPR had disappeared. The fight against Cinder was there's, but it still was disheartening that some of the kids they trusted were gone. Especially Ruby and Team JNPR since Yang believes they're going after Cinder.

That's a big no no. They will 100% die against Cinder's power.

"Piss." Sniper cursed at their current predicament. "Only thing we've got is the White Fang."

"Ja, but they haven't been in ze area since ze Fall of Beacon, und... hehe... the disappearance of zer leader." Medic giggled, remembering Adam taurus.

"They're the only lead we have though." Spy said. He wasn't smoking as he didn't want to stink up Yang's place and be rude.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Engie asked. "Travel by the Faunus districts when we go out for supplies tomorrow?" He joked.

"I don't see why not." Spy calmly answered.

* * *

 **Currently, we are playing a game of ESCALATION.**

 **I want to thank al who came for game night yesterday, but I'm still disheartened by how many missed out. It might be a matter of time zones, but I feel it's also because of bad communication. When we do these things, contact me (Steam Name: Sorun_c) so I know to invite you to the server.**

 **I hope you all have a Happy New Years Eve! Right now as I type this out, gunfire is lighting the night as Americans happily shoot their guns in the sky in celebration!**

 **Anyways, it was a lot of fun. In the future I will figure out how to make a Garry's Mod server where we will do fucked up shit we will definitely regret. LOL**

 **Other anyways, feel free to PM me or review on whatever you like. Tis always a pleasure to read yon thoughts.**

 **Christmas special delayed. Remember it will be posted in the extras.**

 **Put a name if guest reviewer or else every review no matter how long or thoughtful will be responded with a FUCK until that person posts another one revealing who it was, then I'll answer.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Battle9921: YOU DON'T KNOW THAT. And lol that Gun Gaym was fun.**

 **deloreansareawesome: It's a separate crossover entry with nothing in it but intermissions at the moment.**

 **loganwayman: FASTEN THEM SEATBELTS BOY! THERE ARE NO BREAKS.**

 **BLUScout859: Ahhhhhh...**

 **Michamya: What country do you live? Maybe we can work something out. And I need to check out who urnotjustin is later.**

 **A fan: 11. That's how much rape there'll be. Especially in the future.**

 **buzzsaw935: RAGE**

 **TheLAGGER V.9: Um, maybe?**

 **Time: YEP... what's Turbo?**

 **Jack905: Wow, you're new. Caught up real quick though!**


	37. Searching

**Patch**

Yang woke up to the sounds of someone playing the guitar. Looking around, she saw the guys were gone and had moved all o f there stuff out. It was nine in the morning. Sleepily rubbing her eyes while yawning, she got up to get herself ready for the day. All the while she was doing her morning routine, the soothing music of someone playing a guitar kept her company. Least she knows they were still here. Her dad can't play a guitar nowhere as good as whoever was playing.

Things certainly were different now that the mercenaries were back. She still couldn't believe their return, but now that she was in contact with people she can trust, maybe she can change things. Maybe she can bring her sister back, and possibly Team RWBY if they really wanted too. That and at least she wasn't bored around the house anymore, but then again they were supposed to leave today. It worried her mind about where exactly will they go.

After taking a quick shower and getting dressed, she went down to see what's up. She noticed her father wasn't home, probably out on some errand. When she actually got outside, the boys were already in the van's and were ready to leave. Engineer is revealed to be the one playing the guitar.

"You gonna leave without saying goodbye?" Yang grinned, her one arm on her hip.

"Sorry. Didn't want to wake your beauty sleep." Engie stopped playing and tipped his construction hat at her.

"Yes. That and your father told us we'd better be gone before he left for town." Sniper said.

"Okay..." Yang said in understanding. "Did he say why he left?" They shook their heads 'no'. The guys noticed she looked a bit hurt that they were leaving.

"You guys are going to stick around this time, right?" After Team RWBY's divide, especially Blake... Yang didn't want to see anyone else leaving her. "You know... like not die again?"

"Of course we will take care this time. You have my promise." Heavy nodded, making Yang smile.

"That's right, girlie. We ain't gonna die again. Not till we deal with some jackasses first." Scout smirked.

"Guess zis is goodbye for now, Yang." Medic held his right hand out for Yang to shake. Yang gave him a straight face, and moved the stump where her right arm was as if to give it to him to shake.

"Oh yes... I forgot about zat..." Medic laughed nervously. "Oh wait! Speaking of arms, I still have-" Pyro gave a Mphm of an alarm and all heads turned to see Taiyang coming back down the dirt road with boxes of stuff.

"Hey! What did I say!? " Dragon dad picked up the pace to a near run in order to scare off the mercenaries.

"I will tell you later!" Medic yelled as the vehicles sped down the opposite direction from her father. Yang coughed and closed her eyes as the cloud of dust from the speeding vehicles covered her and her father.

"*coughing* Good riddance!" Taiyang shook his fist at the speeding men before turning his attention on Yang. "Morning, you slept in."

"Yeah, I know."

"Course you do. Now let's get inside. I got a gift straight from Atlas!" Yang had a questioning look on her face. Atlas? Why would Atlas give her anything?

* * *

 **Schnee Manor**

Weiss Schnee had spent the whole time between returning to Atlas to now being cooped up in her mansion. Her big, empty, lonely, family mansion. She didn't like it here. Her family rarely interacted as...we... a family. Her mother was a drunk that kept to herself while her father and brother cared little for her, and she knew it. Winter was always away on military duty.

The Schnee was walking to her room with a lot to think about. That being she had to practice for a concert her father was hosting for charity. He didn't exactly force her to sing, but he might as well have with his ways. Jacques Schnee is not a pleasant man if you weren't someone he can use to further his standing, and even then he wasn't that great to those close to him. Only keeping up a 'nice guy' act to make the SDC look good.

Weiss didn't like Jacques for he was a scoundrel who married into the family.

Jacques...

Do not be mistaken, Weiss didn't like her father, Jacques. Though she did like the mercenary Jacques. Mercenaries, she used to not like them, but her opinion of them changed completely when their last battle was at Beacon. They died defending their students, that is something no one can deny.

Team RWBY divided and the Fall of Beacon still got to Weiss' heart every now and then. She was no feel, she knew there was nothing she could do about it here in Atlas. The only thing she felt hope of doing was to save her grandfather's company, but she was still unsure of it all. The loneliness she felt here didn't help the situation at all.

Klein was really the only person here that helped with that problem. He was like a kind uncle or maybe even the nice father Weiss wished she had. Just today he told her of some rumors that progress has been made at recapturing Beacon. Weiss dismissed them as what they were, rumors. Large scale communications between kingdoms were down, but still...

...It was a comforting thought.

Well, she should get to practicing her singing now.

* * *

 **Vale**

Demoman, Scout, Soldier, and Engineer stayed behind at Patch to further develop their fortress. The rest had gone to Vale for stuff they needed. Stuff being information and dust. Why did they bring five out of the nine? Security reasons. You know, just in case someone like the authorities or some bad guys wanted to fuck with them.

First order of business for the men in Sniper's camper van was to pick up some white dust. Fortunate that dust comes in simple flavors, and even more fortunate was that their was a dust shop called "From Dust Till Dawn" open. Owner was a nice old bloke, but the problem was that because of embargoes on dust trade, white dust was scarce. Seems like the stuff was all out in Vale according to the owner.

Shit.

"Scheisse... where are we going to get ze things Dell needs?" Medic asked Spy and Sniper while they were still at the counter. The five men were still in the dust shop. Pyro had set a couple of stuff on fire, them being forced to pay for it of course. Heavy was waiting outside, watching the van.

"Ugh... don't have a clue mate." Sniper rubbed his temples.

"Monsieur, are you absolutely sure there is none left?" Spy asked the owner, who shook his head no. "Ugh... thank you anyway. Come, gentlemen. Let's move." They began exiting the store with Pyro happily holding the burning magazines with it. Upon exiting and meeting with Heavy, they found him talking with someone very familiar.

"Hi, professors!" Velvet the bunny wabbit greeted her old teachers with a happy smile with her little sister on her shoulders, playing with her rabbit ears. "Ow! Rouge, stop it!"

"Velvet!" The mercs were happy to see another one of their students was alive and well. "How've you been?" Spy gladly shook her hand.

"I've been good, thanks for asking." She smiled. "I was taking my sister out to get some candy when I found Professor Heavy-"

"Please, we're not professors anymore."

"Oh... okay. I found Mr. Heavy here at our favorite candy stop."

"Unicorn!" Rui was wearing the unicorn hat Heavy gave her. Little holes were cut to fit her bunny ears.

"Da, bunny is unicorn..." The Russian patted the little bunny's head.

"Ahh..." Velvet cooed at how adorable her sister was. Then she had a thought. "I didn't know you guys were still around after Beacon. No one saw you after and we just thought you were out doing huntsmen stuff. Some people even had the crazy thought that you guys died!" Velvet giggled, not noticing the mercs were not laughing with her until she was done. The serious looks on their faces told her something was wrong.

"Um... is something wrong?" She asked slowly, afraid she offended them.

"Afraid it's a long story, dear frau..." Medic said.

"Yeah, now if you don't mind, we got some masked bastards to find." Sniper said as he got into his van, the others following suit.

"Masked b words?" Velvet didn't curse. "The White Fang?"

"That's the one." Spy closed the passenger door. "It was nice seeing you again, but this is goodbye for now, Velvet."

"Oh.. okay then. Come on Rui. It's a long walk home..."

"Wait!" Heavy called for Sniper to stop before he even began moving the vehicle. "How far away is home?"

"Huh? Oh, it's only a few miles walking distance from here."

"A few miles?" Heavy gave her a straight face. "Can you not go to candy store closer to home?"

"Rui wanted to walk around the city..." Said bunny was still playing with the big bunny's ears.

"Hmm... friends, can we give this girl ride home?" Sure. She was a student and a friend of there's after all.

* * *

 **Western Dragon Continent, Salem's Lair**

"You killed these men?" Salem questioned Cinder, not looking away from the Grimmscape that surrounded her palace. Cinder, not being able to speak, whispered into Emerald's ear so she could give Salem an answer.

"She says yes." Emerald said, giving a nod to Cinder. Salem turned her head to get a look at Cinder. She could tell that the Fall Maiden was afraid of these men for some reason. Even the Grimm felt it as some Nevermores were circling the place.

"I fail to see why you fear them. From what you've told me they are not of this world, and they do not have auras." Salem waited for Emerald to get finished with Cinder.

"She says it's not that she's afraid, it's more because they shouldn't be alive right now." The obvious look of fear in her eyes said otherwise.

"I admit that it's strange for them to be alive after you personally dealt with them, but I see no threat in them. They seem to be a simple group of mere thugs. Nothing we can't handle." Salem fully turned her body towards Cinder and Emerald. Cinder looked towards the ground, ashamed to look at her master. "After all, how could they possibly reach you here? We have more important things to focus on than a few mercenaries..." Salem said, thinking about the missions of her other subordinates.

"Go and rest now. Girl, take Cinder to her quarters."

"Yes ma'am." Emerald bowed a bit and then helped Cinder move out.

* * *

 **Vale**

"Here! This is our house!" Rui bounced up and down between her sister and Sniper.

"Hehe... I bet it is..." Sniper chuckled.

She was too cute. Velvet was quiet. The men told her what really happened and she can't help but feel sorry for their sacrifice at Beacon. They told her in such a way that Rouge wouldn't catch on to what they actually meant. Sniper pulled into the driveway of the Scarlatina's home where Velvet and Rouge got out and Heavy and Spy took their places.

"Thank you for the ride."

"Is no problem at all." Heavy nodded with a smile.

"Oui, now goodbye Velvet." Spy had a cigarette waiting to be smoked. He didn't want to smoke around the bunny child.

"Do you have any place to stay?" Velvet asked, telling Rui to go inside the house.  
"You bet we do." Sniper started the car up, and with waves and words of goodbye, they left.

"Alright then, with that out of the way I think it is time to look for the White Fang." The men drove off to the poor Faunus districts. Areas where Faunus are known to be in poor shape are more likely to produce the members of the White Fang angry at mankind.

Sadly, these days seem more harder on the Faunus than when the mercs were last here. They heard Faunus relations have decreased but yesterday they saw little evidence of any strife happening in the streets, yet today they see an anti-Faunus demonstration in progress. The VPD and VDF were the only things stopping the maniacs from attacking the Faunus citizens of the city.

"Huh... zis is bad." Medic commented after seeing the very angry nature of the mob. They were chanting what were obviously anti-Faunus phrases but it was impossible to understand what they were saying with the noise.

"Let's hope it does not get worse..." Heavy said, eyeing the bastards with the intent to fuck them up should they try something.

"Indeed." Spy said for the same reasons.

Soon, they reached the poor Faunus district. The place they first appeared in Remnant at. Fond memories were had when the gents saw the place they fucked up the first time they met Roman and Neo. Roman and Neo, huh. They sort of missed them. It was real pleasant trapping Roman in the basement and choking the fuck out of Neo. You know what, maybe the guys should try and find them. A street gentleman such as Roman is bound to have connections and contacts everywhere. But for now, they're going to try out the far less unlikely way first because they're already here.

"Okay gentleman, spread out and ask who you can." Spy ordered. "And be wary, I don't wish to sound like one of those racists, but keep in mind that some of these people may really be part of the White Fang..." They nodded and went to perform their tasks, except for Pyro. Pyro was told to stay and watch the camper van, much to its boredom.

As for the rest, it went just about as good as wrapping your dick in toilet paper as armor and putting it in a pencil sharpener and hoped for the best. (Not good. Disappointing.) Do not be mistaken, the people were nice enough, even if some were a little shifty, but no one knew a thing about the White Fang. At least they claimed not to, but they couldn't exactly kidnap someone as the VPD and VDF were more present here than in the reset of the city. Obviously afraid of a potential Faunus uprising if the White Fang really were still in Vale.

"Merde..." Spy cursed. He and the other three met up so they could walk to the camper van together.

"Oh come on- Pyro, what the fuck?" He cursed with a gasp upon seeing Pyro had taped a sign saying "FREE CANDY" on the camper van. Little Faunus children were swarming the giggling Pyromaniac as it tossed an infinite amount of candy everywhere. Also, in a horribly unsafe manner for children to be around, Pyro had set some crates on fire and was dancing on it.

"OH dear..." Medic covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing, and failed horribly.

"Hohoho, that slaps me on the knee!" Heavy laughed with Medic dying on the floor.

"Now that's something real wonky, there." Sniper chuckled. Spy glared at his immature companions, but eventually he gave in and laughed too. The children were still cheering their hero when the mercs shooed them away.

"Out of here, you buggers!" Sniper chuckled as he used his hat to chase the still laughing children away. Children, such innocence.

"Alright, where to now?" Sniper asked the Frenchman as they mounted back up.

"Now, we must go to... um..." Shit. There was nowhere they knew Roman could possibly be at. Great, no dust, no White Fang, no Roman. Yep, fantastic knowing this was a waste of time and they were shit out of luck. The salt that had been released on the Grimm yesterday was beginning to pile up again and the boys decided to go somewhere to wash it away with some drinks.

"Not knowing where to go next, bloody baguette wanking, bogan..." Sniper muttered as they entered a night club. Closest place they could find that probably served some drinks.

"Jar-peeing, bush kiwi..." Spy insulted back.

"Verdammt, messer liebend, sohn eines schweinhund..." (Damn, knife loving, son of a pigdog (pretty much what it means when translated directly from German to English)).

"Deine Mutter geht in der Stadt huren." (Your mother goes whoring in the city.) Spy replied.

"Baby." Heavy gave him a light punch to the shoulder and Spy said nothing back.

"Mphm." Pyro added to the insults.

They entered the nightclub and found it was strangely empty with only these guys in matching black clothes with red glasses and ties being in it. Then it became apparent it wasn't even open.

"Hey fellas..." A large man from the bar called. "Place is closed!"

"Ugh... okay, but can you still serve us some drinks?" None of the mercs looked happy at their predicament. The salt was probably building up and they might need to go on another killing spree at Beacon.

"Sorry, pal. Come again tonight and I'll..." Junior stopped talking when he saw Spy had pulled a fat stack of lien. "Come here and I'll serve you up some drinks. Place isn't ready yet so you'd better leave when you're done."

"No problem, mate." Sniper sighed as the five men took seats at the bar.

"What'll you be having?" Junior asked.

"Anything strong, please..."

Junior saw the mood they were in and understood right away. These men were depressed fucks in need of some drinks or else someone's gonna end up with a black eye or worse. So Hei Xiong served them up real nice with some hard stuff he kept separate from the "high class" drinks that people here usually ordered. They didn't seem to be the type to care about that anyway.

"Cheers." The five sluggishly tapped their glasses together and drank up, except for Pyro. The drink was splashed all over its mask.

Taking another look at these guys, Junior realize that these were the nine guys who attacked that one White Fang base six months ago. He heard they became huntsmen and even professors at Beacon with a dangerous reputation to them. Junior glanced over at the Malachite twins and gave a little wink, doing the same to his henchmen in case things went south real bad. What's strange is that he also heard rumors that they disappeared, even killed at the Fall of Beacon by some sources.

"So you're those guys from Beacon?"

The boys didn't say anything back, but they did nod. "Hmm... guess you just spent the whole time since the attack on the school trying to take it back, right?" This time, they didn't do anything in response.

These guys were pretty mysterious from Junior's heard, or rather from little he's heard of them. The only hard facts people on Remnant know about them is that they have no aura, are extremely violent, and can pull weapons from out of nowhere. He also knew there was nine of them, but there were only four of them here. Guess it couldn't hurt to get some info out of them. Could be worth something.

"What's on your mind, fellas?"

"Nothing that concerns you..." Spy answered. Junior had a thought. If these guys were huntsmen, then they might be on some mission. A mission he can make money off of by telling them some important information.

"You sure there's nothing I can do to help? I got a lot of connections around here."

"Heh, unless you can tell us where a bowler hat wearing, orange haired bloke is, then you best stay quiet, mate..." Sniper answered this time.

"Bowler hat? Orange hair? Ah, I see. You're looking for Roman Torchwick, hmm?" Bingo. He knew they were doing something important. Probably looking for him because of what happened at Beacon.

"Ja, do you know anything about him?" Medic looked excited. Excited that this wasn't a big waste of time.

"Tell Heavy and his comrades where Orange hair is." Heavy and the others stood up with Medic, giving Junior excited looks.

"Sure I'll tell you. As long as you have-" Several stacks of lien were dropped on the counter right away. "-well okay. That was fast." Junior had a smile creeping on his face at all the money in front of him. "Alright, truth be told, I saw Roman a week ago..." Junior's smile dropped when he saw the men's faces turn sour. "... _but,_ he likes to come here every Friday night for my, hehe, exquisite parties."

"... he comes here?" Spy said, somehow surprised but also unsurprised as to how a guy like Roman will still hang in an area where people are bound to be looking for his ass just for some partying.

"Yeah. And guess what today is?"

"Mphmday..." Pyro mphmed with a sound of awe.

"Whatever he said." Junior snapped a finger at the Pyro. With a handshake of thanks, the boys got right out of there and promised to come back tonight. Before leaving, they made Junior promise to not tell Roman who was waiting for him with the totally unnecessary but also very generous promise of even more lien. Just money the boys didn't really need.

* * *

 **Somewhere on Anima**

Team RNJR had been on their quest for Haven Academy for the last five months. It did not take them long to reach Anima itself, it was just a matter of trekking all across the continent to get to the Kingdom of Mistral. They survived by doing good things for villages and towns they met along the way, mostly getting rid of Grimm troubling the area. The money or food they receive went a long way in helping their ongoing adventure.

Four teenage huntsmen out on an adventure bigger than the lives they knew only because they wish to set things right. They were going to reach Mistral, and this point in their trip made that goal far less unlikely. Mistral, therefore Haven Academy, would only be another week or so from now if they kept their current pace without any obstacles.

This adventure has made them grow a lot as people. Where before they were really children enjoying the innocent happy times in school, now they were full on adventurers looking to fix their world and get a happy ending.

Well, they're still children. Much still needs to be learned if they are to become huntsmen.

Just today they defeated a Geist, a ghostly form of Grimm that can possess stuff, and were now resting out in the forest as night dawns. Tomorrow definitely has more walking in store for them. All of RNJR was asleep except for Ruby and Jaune. Ruby caught Jaune practicing his swordsmanship near their campsite, with a recording of Pyyrha telling him what to do. A recording she made for him just for training...

Ruby didn't want to bother him. She understood Pyyrha's condition had a severe impact on Jaune. It did to everyone. She was still alive, but the question is, will she wake up? If she stays in a coma forever, then sad to say but she might as well be dead. Sad thoughts, harsh realities. Trapped in a coma and never able to see the real world again.

After leaving Jaune to finish his training session, Ruby went to lay on her sleeping bag.

"Hmm..." She sighed. The young huntress thought back to why they were out on this journey to begin with. Pyyrha, Beacon, Penny, her team, the mercenaries, Vale, all of these things crossed her mind. It wouldn't be that much longer until they reached Haven. For now, she let herself fall to dreams.

Another day of travelling is waiting tomorrow.

* * *

 **Patch**

While they waited for the time to go back to Vale, the five returned to their fortress in progress. No worries, they told the others what's up. For now, they were doing nothing. There wasn't a lot more they can build with just the nine of them. They had to wait for support from Earth to finish this place.

"So..." Scout tapped his fingers. "We're going to a club?"

"Ja."

"Which means we get to see girls, right? As in girls we can actually date?"

"Yes."

"WHOOOOO! YES!" Scout started dancing. Someone's gonna get laid tonight.

"Ack... I don't care about that so long as the drink's are good." Demo said, still holding onto that eternal bottle of DeGroot Clan rum.

"Okay, so who's gonna stay here and guard our little fort here?" Engie asked. Spy gave him a smile.

"You know gentlemen, after doing nothing but fighting since our death, I think it's time we enjoyed ourselves."

"Jacques... are... are you saying..." Sniper stuttered.

"YEP!"

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Time to rekt the town, lads.

"Yeah that's nice, but who's gonna watch our place?"

... Later that night...

*knocking*

"Guys? What are you doing back so soon?" Yang wondered as she saw Medic, Soldier, Engineer, Pyro and Sniper at the front door. The others were waiting in the vehicles which were parked on the road. "No wait, wait, wait, let me guess... couldn't find a place, right?" Medic was going to talk to her, but then Soldier butted in.

"No!" Soldier shouted. "We call on you to do your duty to democracy and defend our fort!"

"Uh... fort? What fort?" Yang questioned.

"SISTER!" Soldier grabbed her. "WE DIED FOR YOUR SINS!" Soldier then turned his head towards his comrades. "Right gents!?"

"Uh... not really..."

"Sort of."

"I guess?"

"Mphmm.

Mixed responses from his coworkers is what Soldier got, but to his American ears, they were all sounds of approval and 21 gun salutes.

"RIGHT! Now we need you to do us a favor and do your part for our cause?"

"Well, yeah, but guys. My dad is-"

"Do not worry about your father." Yang jumped back when she heard the Spy right behind her. "He's fast asleep." The Frenchman held up a trang needle with a grin on his face. Yang could not believe theses guys. She knew they were crazy, but knocking her father out again like it was a normal thing was a little too far. "So are you going to-"

"No! I'm sorry guys, but what the heck is wrong with you!?" Yang yelled. "You can't just do that to my dad!"

"Ah, but we did! Now will you do it for us?" Medic begged with his own attempt at puppy eyes, which was creepy as hell. Yang then righteously unleashed several devastating, multiple, simultaneous offensive slaps to their faces.

"Whew! Haha, haven't been slapped like zat in a while!" Medic laughed. Great, these men took pain like a joke too. Yang clinched her teeth when her effort at making them learn their lesson failed, and tried to slap them again. This time, Spy caught her hand before it hit anyone.

"Let go-"

"Yang. Please." Spy said with utmost serious, a sudden shift in tone. Yang still looked mad at him, but her look dropped when she saw the others also took a serious look on their faces. "Listen, we only need you to do it for one night."

"Why? Can't you have sentries or something watching your place?"

"We would but that'll attract too much attention." Engie said. "Trust me, I'm an Engineer." Texan smile.

" _As if building a fort didn't attract a lot of attention already..._ " Yang muttered.

"Nah, don't worry. No one saw a thing." Sniper assured her. "There's nobody around here except you who knows about it."

"Unless you say no of course!" Medic smiled with a needle.

Clearly a needle meant for knocking her out where they'll erase her memory or something. Yang still can't believe these guys. Nice men, but still very crazy. It was creepy how willing they were to knock one of their only friends here out. Spy saw the undecided look on her face, and decided he might as well say what they intend to do on Remnant. Why not? Yang's someone they can trust.

"Yang. Listen to me when I say we will bring Ruby back." Yang looked up at him right away. Attention gained. "It may sound far fetched, but as you can imagine, we're a little pissed about being killed." The others nodded. "We swore by our souls that before we die again, we will see Cinder Fall burn in hellfire, courtesy of Pyro here..."

"Hmmphm!" Pyro thumbed up.

"Since you think Ruby and the rest of JNPR is on their way to Cinder, then we might as well bring some of our other friends home." He gave her a warm smile.

"A-and, Blake? And Weiss?" Yang said with some hope. Maybe things can be fixed.

"Yes... though that's going to take some work, we'll do that too."

* * *

 **There we go. Got some action rolling around soon.**

 **Will Respond to Reviews next time because I answered everything already.**


	38. Party Crashing

**Patch, Mercs' Fort**

Most of the guys were behaving like giddy children as they were getting ready to party it up at Junior's nightclub. Yang was kinda suspicious with how they were behaving, but she was also trying to wrap her mind around how they basically built this place in a couple nights and it _still_ wasn't finished.

"For a bunch of psychos, you guys work pretty fast..." She whistled, then she frowned at how they were behaving. For guys on a serious mission, they sure aren't treating this as if it was. Well, previous experience with them has told Yang that's just how they are. She remembered a while back when they were teachers, she asked Heavy why they act how they are.

"Is only serious if you make it serious." Heavy simply explained in an off-screen moment. "That and you will not like us when we are serious." Yang sighed after that memory.

She sure missed those days. Days when people didn't die (and stay dead). Simple days where everyone believed that there was much fun and homework to be had at Beacon, only for tragedy to strike at the joyous Vytal Festival Tournament. Safe to say, everyone missed those days.

Except for those who ended those days...

Soon, the guys were ready to go. Packing into both vehicles they owned, they waved Yang goodbye.

"Just don't touch nothing, alright?" Engie warned her.

"Sure."

"None of that darn partyin' teens do."

"Yeah..."

"No lookin' through the locked rooms."

"Okay..." Yang sighed. "Geez, you're sounding like my dad..."

Well that statement made like half the mercs cringe while it made the other half laugh softly. Some of them wanted nothing to do with kids of their own while the ones who laughed did so because in a way, they were her fathers. They were the fathers of all their students in a mentor kind of a way, the way a teacher develops such a bond with their student that they trust each other with everything. It's like that one time in Kindergarten or first grade where you accidentally call your teacher 'mommy'. I know I did, but don't judge me!

"Yeah well, just make sure your daddies don't have to whoop ya when we come back." Engie joked, this time making everybody cringe. "Uh... let's go!"

"Bye guys!" Yang waved after them as the vans drove down the road.

She watched them until they were out of sight before going into their fort. This place was strangely homey for a fortress of maximum defence and security. There was a living room, kitchen, and other things that you would normally find in a regular house. The guys slept in a barracks with bunk beds which also had the armory right next to it.

She wasn't sure why exactly there was an armory when they could literally carry every single weapon they own everywhere they go, but she ended up sitting in the living room and watching TV. It was a Remnant TV that they more than likely stole from someone.

Somehow...

Yang had already realized they basically asked her to house-sit for them as they went out to have fun already, but she was still glad they were gonna be close by to her. her only worries was about her dad waking up and freaking out and... and how exactly was she going to help them out on their ultimate quest of fixing everything. She raised the stump of her right arm and sighed.

The decision of putting that robot arm from Atlas on was still a hard one to make.

* * *

 **Junior's Nightclub**

It was the easiest thing in the world for crime duo Roman Torchwick and Neo to sneak around these streets of Vale. Didn't matter if the VDF and police had an increased presence on the streets, Neo and Roman still ran as free as the wind. Since the Fall of Beacon, he's been quietly building himself up with his ways, managing to find Neo and himself a place in one of the cities further south on the Vale coast.

He came up to Vale proper every now and then since Hei Xiong was a pretty important contact of his. That and he liked to enjoy himself every now and then. Seemed like people simply forgot about him after the Battle Beacon. A gentleman thief quickly became old news when the most prestigious academy for training huntsmen has fallen. Also, nobody actually thought he was part of Beacon's fall. It was assumed by the authorities that he was still imprisoned on Ironwood's airship when it crashed, ending his life.

Obviously, that's not what happened at all. Roman Torchwick's candle was still as bright as ever and now he was here in Vale. This guy's candle is gonna stay lit for some time.

Well he wasn't here to stay tonight. Actually, he planned on skipping this Friday because he had some things to tend to, but a message from Junior implied he had something big to share with Roman. Must have been something real special as Junior doesn't actually contact Roman for anything. They were associates, not friends.

"Junior." Roman tipped his hat to the nightclub owner as he came in through the back with his little ice cream girl. Junior's henchmen were about the place, keeping watch for anyone snooping around. It's true that no one expects Roman Torchwick to still be around, but you never know if there's that one person who recognizes him and snitches, therefore fucking him and Junior up should he be caught here.

"Torchwick." Junior shook his hand.

"So what exactly is oh so important as for me to hold off on a dust transaction? People pay a lot for dust these days with this embargo and all..."

"Heh, well just follow me and I'll show you." Junior began walking to one of his backrooms expecting Roman to follow.

"Show me?" Roman muttered to Neo as the two looked at each other.

He wondered what Junior could possibly have that was important enough to call him over. As Roman wondered, he failed to notice Neo stopping in her tracks and walked on without her. Roman did not stop until he was right next to a familiar mercenary. The poor Malachite girls were cringing so hard at Scout's awful pick up lines and attempts to woo them.

"Humph!" The twins scoffed when they had enough of him and walked off.

"Hey, ladies! Where you going? You sure you wanna miss out on all of this!?" The twins looked back and saw Scout was flexing his muscles. His weak, pathetic, tiny, muscles. He still had a confident grin on his face as they started giggling at how pathetic he was while continuing to walk off. "Hey! You guys saw that!? I think that means they like me!" Scout jumped up with a fist pump in the air, and then he saw Roman.

"Oh what's up?" Scout said as if it was no big deal that he was seeing Roman again for the first time in nearly half a year.

Roman and Neo had the same open mouth expressions of shock. The two of them weren't there to see it, but they were pretty sure these guys were killed at Beacon after they left them. The gentleman thief looked to the corners of his eyes and saw Junior and his henchman quietly left them alone, and Spy and Pyro revealed themselves. scout left.

"Jacques..." Roman's hand clenched his cane, and Neo tensed up for a fight too.

"Please, calm yourselves." Spy waved his hand to a table. "Please, sit. There's no need for any violence. After all, we owe you for your help at Beacon." The smile on Spy's face disarmed Roman. He gestured for Neo to calm herself and took a seat with Spy. Neo stood nearby.

"Suppose you're going to tell me why you want to see me?"

"Oui."

"...and how you guys survived? You guys disappeared after beacon."

"Yes... I am very aware of that."

* * *

Elsewhere in the nightclub... let's just say the boys aren't causing nearly as much of a mess as you think they would've.

Scout was being the usual ladies' man he was, or rather trying to be. All his attempts to get a girl kept falling flat on his face. Also, it was awkward since Scout did not know when to stop with his pickup lines and flexing.

"Hey ladies, wanna play house? I'll be the door and I'll slam ya..." That dirty joke from Mafia 2 got him a drink splashed on his face and all of the girl's friends he did that line on to jump him. "Ow! Ah! Quit it!" Demoman was at the bar with Junior and some henchmen, laughing as he watched Scout's beating by women.

"Haha! The lad's got's some work to do, eh?" He nudged Junior from across the counter and got some henchmen to chuckle with him.

"Yeah, sure. Are you going to leave soon?" Junior was annoyed with how many drinks Demoman was taking. The Scottish bloke has taken like a million shots and shows no sign of getting drunk.

"Leave? Mate, I'll leave when these weak drinks of yours make me feel somethin'! Right Eyelander?"

" _Yeahhgh... Deus Vult... for King and Country..."_ The ghost sword was very drunk. " _Hey gurll..._ There was a single young woman at the counter sitting next to Demoman.

"Um... is this sword talking?" The ditzy blonde girl asked Demo.

"Yep." Junior was rubbing his temples and his eyes were closed. Even though Demo was paying for everything, he was scaring a lot of the patrons away with his insane alcohol intake and strange talking sword. "Want a drink or not?"

" _I'll pay for the lady here!"_ Eyelander drunkenly slurred. " _Tavish have you any money on ya?"_ Demo nodded and placed a lien on top of Eyelander. By fucking magic, Eyelander pointed himself towards Junior as if to give him money like a real person. Junior sighed and took the money and served up a drink to the woman.

"Oh! Thanks! You know, I never dated a sword before..." She gently ran circles across the hilt of Eyelander while the ghost sword cooed with delight. Demo, Junior, and some of the henchmen were just looking at this girl as if she was crazy... maybe just stupid.

Strange enough that a haunted sword could talk and apparently 'drink', but it was even stranger that someone's stupid enough to actually date one.

By some stroke of luck, Medic actually met some medical students who wanted to spend a night out and was now having a very friendly discussion with them on his own advancements in the field of medicine. It was nice to meet some people who won't feel like throwing up right away As for Engineer and Sniper, these two had nowhere near the alcohol tolerance levels as Demoman did and were now swinging on ropes Engie lassoed across the place.

"YEE-HAW!" Engie cheered as he and Sniper seriously risked dying again already with their stupid drunken antics. Some of the party goers were also in such a stupid state and were also swinging and cheering with them. Junior's henchmen were helpless to stop them. It was one of those moments where you say "fuck it" when the situation is out of your hands.

"Damn it..." Junior growled as he covered his face with his hands. "These guys are going to tear my place apart! Can't you guys..." He stopped and covered his ears as DJ D3adb3ar suddenly turned the music up way louder. Looking up, he saw that Sniper had accidentally knocked him out when he crashed into the DJ's spot with a failed rope swing, now he was in control of the music.

"Hahaha! Let's do this you wankers!" Sniper shouted as he pressed every single thing that was glowing near him, making all sorts of things happen in the club. Things like rave lights being activated, fog machines, explosion effects reserved for events, and even this confetti stuff that was also reserved for special events.

Junior suddenly regretted allowing these guys to stay here. Medic had also devolved to the crazy antics of his fellow comrades and now a lot of women were chasing Scout to beat his offensive ass when word spread of his opinions on women. Demoman was still drinking Junior's establishment dry and that ditzy blonde was now making out with Eyelander. He didn't even what to imagine what some of the others were doing. Junior would've ordered his henchmen to throw these guys out already, but he was pretty sure that was going to end in the total annihilation of his nightclub. That is if the party didn't destroy it first.

* * *

Roman was quiet after listening to what Spy had to say. The two gentlemen were staring across at each other while Pyro was so happy to be with his buddy again, trying to convince her to draw with it. It's quite unbelievable to hear nine dead men get resurrected and were now walking amongst the living again. Especially these crazy fucks. Not only that, but these guys were asking for a favor now.

"That's tragic and all, but I already helped you guys out. We owe each other nothing now, but thanks for freeing me by the way. Really appreciate it." Roman was smoking the last Cuban cigar Spy had. Spy let him have it with the hope that his hospitality will help encourage Roman to help them out.

"You offered me a partnership if we helped you out. I think it's time I redeemed that offer."

"Yeah, but times have changed, bud!" Roman took the cigar from his lips. "I can't exactly have the nine of you crazies following me around. I'm still not sure if Cinder's looking for me or not..."

"She's probably not, but we are mercenaries after all."

"Okay, so? You expect me to hire you guys? Sorry, but I run things quietly and smoothly. Neo and myself is all we need to stay safe with how we run things." Roman said confidently. "That and I'm not exactly willing to get caught up with some big scheme again like last time... You know how that turned out for you guys."

"Yes, I remember." Spy sighed. "Well we don't need you to stay with us anyway. All we need is a single shipment of white dust. And it better actually be in there." Spy warned.

"My good man! Are you implying that I cheat out my customers? No, no, only the finest and honest service from Roman Torchwick." He bowed a little and tipped his hat. "I'll be more than happy to supply you with what you need, it's just that it's gonna cost-" Large stacks of lien were immediately thrown directly at Roman, making the gentleman recoil back from how much was thrown at him.

"There." Spy simply said.

"Geez, how much money do you guys have!?" Roman had a smile creeping on his face.

"More than we need... Now are you going to give us what we need or what?" Roman took a moment to enjoy the sight of all this money before looking back up at Spy.

"Sure. Just gotta get some things arranged and there'll be a little wait-"

"We can't wait." Spy interrupted him. "There are people who need us now as well as people we want dead. I hope you understand our urgency..." It sounded like Spy meant to threaten Roman, and Roman understood right away.

"Sure. Getting killed got you guys pretty angry, right?"

"You haven't the slightest idea." Spy legitimately growled, and Roman could see the hate in his eyes. Yep, he really wanted to fuck Cinder with a axe or something painful like that. Roman fixed himself up and held his hand out for Spy to shake as both men stood up.

"We have a deal. Just got to take ya to one of my stashes and we're all set."

"Deal." Spy shook his hand firmly and gave him a smile that only comrades give each other, or mad men happy that the chances of slaughtering those they hate are getting ever closer.

* * *

Outside of the nightclub, Soldier and Heavy were keeping watch on the vans. Partying wasn't exactly the two of them did.

"Oh-hoho! I can't tell you how excited I am to have a baby with your sister, Mikhail!" Soldier punched Heavy's shoulder while the Russian was very fucking unamused.

"Da..." Heavy said in an annoyed manner.

"I'm gonna name him John Jr.! No! Better yet, Sam! As in Uncle Sam! Or, or..." Soldier's face dropped the smile for a moment before slowly reappearing, but this time as a porud smile. "Howard. That's what Imma name my boy."

"You do not even know if it will be boy or girl." Heavy said while Soldier waved him away.

"Ah, who cares? While I do prefer a boy, I'm perfectly fine with a girl! I'll just call her Jane! Like how I used to call myself till I found out my real name!"

"I would prefer if you talk this with Zhanna." Heavy got close to Soldier in a threatening way. "If Heavy has nephew, Heavy wants him to have Russian name."

"Russian? You mean Communist? Comrade, I have-" Soldier suddenly stopped talking.

His maggot sense were tingling. Heavy noticed and began looking around with Soldier, scanning the streets for any threats. It was late at night and the only people around were people leaving or entering the club. Then they got the shock of their lives when Spy and Roman popped up behind them. Scaring them so badly as to actually try and jump them, but Spy quickly close combatted the shit out of them before they could lay a finger on them.

"It's us you idiots!" Spy chastised them.

"I see you find orange baby." Heavy said, eyeing Roman.

"Big guy." Roman tipped his hat. "Psycho..." He took a step back from Soldier. Very unpleasant memories were had with this man.

"Roman and I are going to get what Engineer needs." All heads turned back to the club when hollering was heard. Apparently, a minor drunken fight had been started and Medic was now surfing a hapless big bastard out of the club.

"And try not to get into too much trouble..." Spy shook his head, and then Roman led him over to wherever his nearest cache was, avoiding the authorities as they went. Especially since the rowdiness of what's happening was attracting a lot of attention like police on standby in case something really bad happens.

* * *

A little while later, Spy and Roman were not back yet. The state of the club had only gotten worse and even Junior felt like calling the police in to get things straight and proper.

Scout was now hanging out by Neo and Pyro, dusting himself off after the beating by the angry mob of women. His self healing taking care of his wounds.

"Stupid girls, they wouldn't know a true hunk if it him 'em with a homerun! Right Pyro?"

"Mphm!" Pyro thumbed up, sitting next to Neo who finally decided to sit down with it. She really liked how friendly Pyro was.

"Yeah! That's right! Why I-"

"Excuse me?" A rather hot neko chick interrupted Scout. She was wearing some rather *ahem* _generous_ clothes that Scout could not stop from staring.

"U-uh... yeah?" Scout tried to look tough.

"Sorry, but I saw you getting chased earlier and I can't help but think that you're pretty cute." Scout blushed so hard. The only woman who's ever called him cute was his mom, and that was when he was little.

"U-uh t-thanks..." Then she violently grabbed him by the collar and licked the tip of his nose, purring.

"Want to have some fun?~"

"F-fun? Oh yeah! Yes, I'm good at having fun!" Scout said, catching on to what she meant. The catgirl then whisked him away to one of the backrooms. Seemed like the drunken state of the others meant they failed to see what was happening with some of the newer arrivals to the party.

The only one who thought anything was suspicious was Demoman since he wasn't that drunk, still sitting at the bar with a Junior who wished he was dead and that girl still making out with Eyelander. Sensing something was wrong, Demo tightly grabbed a bottle of his scrumpy as he got sick of the drinks here, careful not to let the suspicious people aware that he was on to them. Worst part about all this? They were all Faunus.

"Hey buddy..." A man said, sticking something hard against Demo's back. A gun. Demo did not give a flying fuck with how much swag this guy thought he had for thinking he can do this to him, and smashed the scrumpy across his head. The partygoers didn't notice the incident, but the newcomers did.

"SNIPER!" Demo yelled. Sniper was getting ready to pee in a corner when he heard Demo's cry. He saw Demo gesturing for him to shoot up into the air. Not knowing exactly why, he did it anyway, scaring away the people in the club as Junior's henchmen and the White Fang members got into a stand off with all of their weapons drawn.

"The Hell's the meaning of all this!?" Junior was extra furious now, even bringing out his rocket launcher bat and calling up the Malachites. The mercs in the club and Neo formed up behind him. The Faunus assailants said nothing as they held their weapons at the Humans. "Let me guess, White Fang?" They still said nothing, but Junior was certain they were here for the mercenaries.

"Hey fellas! What's going on!?" Scout shouted, dragging a catgirl that handcuffed gerself to him. She was unconscious since Scout slammed her head in the wall when she tried to claw his throat out with him being cuffed to her. Then he saw the standoff.

"Oh." He quickly joined up with them.

"Leave." Junior ordered. "There's police all over the place and we got you outnumbered." The Faunus did seem to twitch at the statement.

"Yeah, that's right, schweinhunds!" Medic insulted them.

"You guys too!" Junior shouted. "You guys already broke like almost everything I got here!"

"But we'll pay-"

"I DON'T CARE! OUT! NOW!" The White Fang undercover members had already begun leaving, aiming to get out of there before the police swarm the place. The mercenaries also left, finding that Soldier and Heavy also encountered some of them. The ones they encountered were currently laid out on the ground, knocked more unconscious than a slab of stone.

Scout got his pistol out and shot off the handcuff that kept him attached to the hot catgirl. Being the cheeky bastard he is, he left a well drawn picture of a buff Scout on her forehead. Something to remember him by. The men and Neo got into the vans and drove off. Heavy and Soldier were the only ones who could drive and were not drunk. The others were in the back with their weapons ready for a fight in case the Fang tried something. Obviously, these guys were not in uniform as to avoid the attention of the authorities.

Surprisingly, the police let the acts of violence slide. Proabably thinking it's just young people having fun.

Looks like they were going to try something too. Neo pointed out that they were being tailed. Heavy had more than enough sense than to not let these guys follow them back to their unfinished fort, and decided to drive out of the city. Neither side wanted to start violence just yet as the city was still active with police and military.

"You ready for this, sister?" Soldier nudged Neo who was sitting next to him. This man still scared her, but at least he was on her side now. The mute nodded. "Ha! Remember that ass kicking I gave you the first time? Well now it's time to show you how real men fight!"

"Don't suppose you can teleport entire vans, can ya?" Engie asked drunkenly. She shook her head no.

Well then, looks like violence is the only option. They were now at the very outskirts of the city and authority overwatch was becoming lesser and lesser the further they got from the city. That's fine. They were ready and willing to kill some terrorists.

Question: How will their drunkeness affect combat?

I don't fucking know yet. You know how I write, but Imma say right now that they smuggled a lot of alcohol out from Junior's club before they left. Alcohol they were still drinking.

* * *

 **Southern Sea of Mistral**

It was a hard day for Blake. She found out earlier that Sun was on this ship the entire time and only now did he reveal himself. That and they ended up fighting the biggest Grimm they've ever seen. A big ass water based dragon Grimm. They defeated it, but not without the help of the crew on board the ship with their heavy weaponry.

It wouldn't be long now until she reached Mistral and meet her parents again for the first time in nearly two years. Now it's just how's she supposed to deal with Sun. The poor catgirl is very afraid that more people she loved will get hurt because of her. It may be true that it wasn't her fault, but she didn't feel that way. Biggest examples of proof to her bad luck was how Yang lost an arm and how a lot of people she knew at Beacon were hurt and even killed.

Sun was a friend, but she didn't trust herself with telling what she really feels about all of this to him, nor did she have the strength to.

* * *

 **OH SHIT! DRUNK FIGHT INCOMING!**

 **I would have had them fight in the nightclub, but that would have quickly ended with the authorities taking everyone in.**

 **CHRISTMAS SPECIAL IS COMING IN THE EXTRAS SOON. FOR REAL THIS TIME.**

 **Okay, so I want to ask you guys something and I expect heartfelt answers.**

 **What makes this story so good?**

 **Majority of you guys put in casual comments like "this is awesome" instead of telling me stuff like what you liked in the story. I want to know why you guys like this. I got over long ago about my fears of writing and I'm grateful you guys support me, but I think it's time you guys told me why you like it so much.**

 **Heart to heart. Author to reader.**

 **Please share. It helps.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **the khajiit Ra'koor: Crazy is what I be. Have you seen the extras?**

 **Battle9921: Isn't it though? It's like watching a big dog play with a kitten.**

 **Lord hellfire913: Oh fuck yeah. Gurren Lagaan is manlier than a lot of other shows I know.**

 **buzzsaw935: She'll be pissed when she sees how much of a threat they really are.**

 **Jack905: Oh fuck yeah. We'll see it sometime.**

 **TheExpL0DiNgaPplE: Well then, we'll see next time. And yes, i go through the hard ass effort of spelling your name correctly.**

 **Questioneer: You know, I'm gonna adapt this into the third smexual.**

 **A fan: Well fuck, you want him dead real good.**

 **Mr. Green37: Love and fear!**

 **Michamya: I might actually do that then, but then you would have to tell me what time that would be in America to Europe.**

 **An Peepul: H0i.**

 **buzzsaw935: Mad men are best men.**

 **Frank: We'll hit that pebble when we get there.**

 **MCZ: Did they enjoy enough?**

 **jhztab: Thanks mang.**


	39. Good Developments

**Mountain Glenn**

The mercenaries had driven all the way out into Mountain Glenn. The authorities watching the outskirts of Vale assumed that they were simply travelling down north to another city, but in reality the mercs actually drove back around towards Mountain Glenn. Reason's because the White Fang had seemingly broken off when they neared the outskirts, but they quickly returned. This time, the Fang were not following them in cars, but in the trees they could see operatives snaking around, keeping up with the guys with their powers. Must be serious since they didn't seem like the regular variety of Fang.

The actual fight didn't begin until they went down into Mountain Glenn, where an ambush was waiting for them. Currently, the guys were driving through the ruined streets of the failed extension to Vale as Fang operatives were in hot pursuit in their own vehicles.

The gents were returning fire as best they could from their vehicles, but eventually they decided to stop and show these bastards what for. At least this time they got some humanoid enemies to fuck. But yet we have to consider that about half of them are drunken out of their minds. For the drunken ones, being Sniper, Engie, and Medic, they stayed inside the Bread Van and were told to stay put. Of course, they wouldn't listen and they're also out and about.

"C-come on doc..." Sniper drunked as he raised his Sniper Rifle up shakily to fire at some enemies. "Put it right in my arm..." Medic was struggling to raise the needle to the correct area to undrunk Sniper because he can fucking do that. German science, go figure. However, since Sniper was a drunk bastard at the moment, he raised his fucking gun right in front of his face and pulled the trigger so that the recoil knocked him the fuck out. Least he actually hit somebody.

While the three drunk boyz were trying to undrunk themselves, the others were fighting furiously against these unexpectedly skilled enemies. You know how they have regular Fang foot soldiers with no special powers to them and how they have elite members like the Lieutenant and Adam? These guys were somewhere in the middle of that level of skill, and they were legitimately giving the gents a rather difficult time in this fight. Even if there wasn't a swarm of them, they were skilled enough to keep this fight against them.

"Engineer, get sentry up now!" Heavy yelled for the drunken Texan as he suppressed a group of Fang gunmen with his minigun.

"Sure thang, pardneer..." Engie slurred as he wobbled around, unsteady on his feet while trying to lay a sentry down. The toolbox opened up and a Level 1 Sentry popped into gun form and started dropping .50s at a steady rate of fire on the enemies. Problem though. Engie set it up away from everyone so he risked getting surrounded. The Sentry can only drop so many guys before they close in. Then the stupid began.

"Engineer!?" Demo cried after unloading all his grenades on some guys hiding behind a wall. Engineer was now riding his sentry as if it was a bucking bull. Especially since the sentry was surrounded, it was shooting in every direction while its creator rode on top of it, hollering like he was having the time of his life.

"YEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWW!" The cowboy hollered as he was swinging his Jag and shooting his new Peacemaker randomly, somehow hitting a few guys.

"Ach, bloody Hell!" Demo cursed before taking a slash across his back from a pig Faunus with a sword. The Faunus thought he was the shit for getting a hit on one of them and confidently brushed aside a swing from Demoman to send a slash across his chest. Luckily, Eyelander decided to be a total bro and unsheathed himself at the right time to save his best friend. The ghost sword unsheathed himself and blocked the blade right before it got to Demo.

Seeing his chance, Demoman took Eyelander and bashed the guard against the throat of his attacker. The man stumbled back and covered his throat in pain while wildly swinging his sword at Demoman in an attempt to get him away. Didn't work at all when Demoman stabbed Eyelander straight into his mouth and out the back of his head. After sliding the man off of his sword, Demo surveyed the area, switching out for his Loose Cannon. Soldier was doing his typical routine of absolutely wrecking non-American scum with his Rocket Launchers, but this time he was using his new saber more which he dubbed "The Eagle's Talon."

While Soldier was giving out free democracy, Pyro was having trouble with a group of Fang who were either clad in fire suits or were resistant to fire on account of their semblances. Since fire wasn't an option at fighting these guys, Pyro resorted to its Shotgun and various axes/blunt objects to fight them. Heavy had used most of his ammo for his Minigun when he was shooting at the enemy during the car chase here, so he was also using his Shotguns and melee to deal with these enemies. Seemed liked the Fang wised up and were using their own heavy fighters to fight Heavy as he was now in grinding combat with them. Heavy was facing big dudes armed with big weapons like him.

Thankfully, Medic had woken up Sniper and the still drunken duo came to his aid. Seems like Medic completely forgot to undrunk them after waking Sniper up. How much help exactly were two drunk dudes? Well Medic had a little more control of himself because of the fuck awesome German holiday of Oktoberfest so he just kept Heavy fighting like he normally does, just a little less stable. Sniper was in no condition to be shooting accurately, so why shoot accurately when you can cover your enemies in piss and chop 'em with a machete or shoot 'em up with an SMG.

Okay, what did I mean with Medic being a little less stable? Well normally he would stick to just healing Heavy or anyone else, but realistically 'little' was an understatement. Medic only healed anyone when they seemed real close to death with his Crusader Crossbow. The madman was having too much fun punching Fang in the face, slashing throats out with his Ubersaw, and sticking giant needles in their faces with his Crossbow.

"Can't hold their drinks worth a damn..." Demo sighed at his friends.

Scout was nowhere to be seen, but knowing him he was probably nearby trying to flank around them. Wait, nevermind. Scout's revealed to actually being chased by some quick Fang as well as taking fire from some guys on top of one of the ruined buildings. Demo did Scout a favor and got the perfect angle for a Canonball to hit the guys on top of the building, causing that portion of the building to collapse down on some others inside.

"I need some help!" Soldier yelled.

Demo looked over and saw Soldier was pinned down behind a large slab of rubble as the enemies brought their vehicles up. The vehicles had turrets on them and they were keeping Soldier from being able to shoot back. But then they also started shooting at Demo, pinning both down. Quickly thinking up of an idea, Soldier looked over at Demo and pointed downwards, moving his rocket launcher down as well. understanding right away, Demo placed some stickies and got ready for some shock and awe. In perfect synchronization, the two of them launched themselves into the air with their explosives. The Fang knew better down and moved their guns up to shoot at them, but then bullets suddenly tore into the vehicles and everyone around them. Not giving whoever was still alive down there a chance to keep shooting up at them, Demo and Soldier rained their bombs down on the area, completely destroying this group.

Soldier landed on a barely living guy, stabbing his sabre into them when he landed, and Demo just landed normally. The slow self-healing will deal with their damage.

"What just happened?" Demo asked as he looked at the dead.

"Yeah, who stole my kills!?" Soldier yelled.

The two noticed loud gunfire was still coming from two technicals nearby, and that was their answer. Looking over to the technicals, they saw Spy and Neo had backstabbed the turret operators and were now using the turrets against the Fang. Terror and confusion soon spread through the Fang as they just got flanked in an area that was supposed to be secure. Soon a lot of them were cut down and they ended up retreating with their tails between their legs, some of them for real.

"Nice work." Spy patted little Neo's head for a job well done. The mute didn't appreciate Spy babying her like this and had a grumpy look on her face when he did it, but she otherwise delighted in what they just did. There was a small group that still aimed to fight, but they were quickly dispatched when explosive flares were shot over at them.

"I think that's the last of them." Roman Torchwick stepped out from behind some rubble, some beaten Fang behind him. "Looks like you owe me again, Jacques."

"That I do." Spy said as he and Neo met up with the bunch.

"Ah, I was wonderin' where you went." Demo said to Neo, who just gave a grin in response.

"That's right my cyclopian friend, Neo here went out of her way to actually bring me back here to save you." He couldn't deny that. Maybe they would have made it without Spy, it just would've taken much longer.

"Don't forget me, pal." Roman tipped his hat at the Frenchman. "Geez, you guys know how to make a mess." The gentleman thief whistled as he surveyed the dead around them. "Well then, gentlemen, it's been nice seeing you again but Neo and I have places to be. Let's go Neo." The ice cream girl waved them goodbye before disappearing with Roman in a flash of sparks.

"Where you been, French boy?" Engie asked, still feeling quite fucked.

"Getting what _we_ need." The Frenchman held out a case full of white dust.

"Gentlemen, mission accompli- wait! Hold on..." All eyes were on Spy as he casually walked over to a dying Fang member. She was a lizard of some sort. "Bonsoir, mon cher. I would like to know why you attacked us?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She coughed. "You killed hundreds of us, and you're still alive after Beacon!"

"Huh, well I suppose it was that obvious then."

"Filthy Human! The White Fang will-" Spy shut her up by placing a cigar in her mouth and lighting it up. The woman had no control over her body due to the damage she had taken in their failed attempt to fight the mercenaries.

"Listen..." Spy stopped for a bit when some howling was heard. "It would seem as if our fighting has attracted some Grimm on their way to Beacon. Some must have broken course and are now coming here when they sensed all this chaos. I would love to let you die by their fangs as it is only fitting considering the name of your organization, but since I'm a gentleman I will have mercy on you..." Then, he got up and walked to another wounded Fang. The guys were loading back up in their vehicles, which were totally fucked but somehow still driveable. Engineer's got some work to do when they get back.

"I'm not telling you anything!" The wounded bravely proclaimed to Spy.

"Are you sure? I can grant you some mercy and spare you from the Grimm. I assure you, it's a different kind of mercy from your friend over there." Spy pointed a thumb back at the woman without looking, and shortly after, the cigar he put in her mouth blew her face up when it revealed itself to be an explosive cigar. The Fang cringed in disgust and fear when he saw what happened to her, and it seemed like his determination was breaking already. The fact that the howls were coming ever closer made it worse.

"W-what do you want to know?" He shakily asked, hoping to get out of here alive.

"Where is your main base of operations?" Spy held out a map of Vale. With no hesitation at all, the Fang pointed at a spot on the map. Smiling, Spy circled it with a pen.

"Thank you." He said as he put the map away.

"O-okay, now get me-" Spy then shot him in the head.

"Mercy granted." A mercy killing. "Okay, now... Mission accomplished!" He shouted for his friends to hear.

"YAY!"

Finally! They were getting somewhere. A step closer to finding the bastards who conducted the fuckery of killing them. They got into their vehicles and left, cheering back at the scene of the fight as the Grimm had just arrived and were now ripping the still living Fang apart. Earlier, the sounds of battle filled the night in this desolate city. Now they were filled with roars and death screams.

* * *

 **Later, Mercs' Fortress**

Yang was looking through the mercenaries place with great curiosity. No wonder why they needed someone to watch this place. There was no security measures to speak of. Then again, she wasn't exactly sure how she was supposed to keep this place safe and secure in the state that she's in, missing an arm and shit. Anyways, she was looking through the mercs place. Didn't Engie say for her to not look through the locked rooms? There's the thing, none of the rooms were locked, so our little Goldilocks was now looking through the home of the nine bears.

She found sandviches filled a lot of the space in the kitchen. She found that Medic actually was as creepy as she heard when she found that his room down in the medical bay was full of body parts and medical stuff that scared her. She found a room full of teleporters that went to various other parts of the fort. None of them were activated. Overall, a lot of the rooms here weren't finished or were empty. Obviously, the gents were waiting on getting their portal up to finish this place.

Then, she heard car engines roll up outside and she went out to see if the mercs returned. Sure enough, they were back. First thing she noticed was that their vans were absolutely fucked, and so were they for that matter. Only one who wasns't covered in copious amounts of blood was that Spy while the rest were in a battered state similar to when they came back from slaughtering the Grimm the other day.

"Woah... uh, party hard?" She took a guess as to why they were in such an excited state. They didn't answer as they seemed to excited about something. The guys gathered around Engineer who just threw down a toolbox with a teleporter now unfolding itself. Also, Medic got themselves undrunk on the way over here.

"Come on, fellas!" Engie passed the rest of his Wrenches to his gang where they then began to saveagely beat the device.

"Guys! What are you doing!?" Yang yelled, not understanding that hitting Engineer's devices with a Wrench fixes it. "I thought you were trying to go..." She stopped when they ceased the beating of the device and the teleporter was revealed to be perfectly fine and ready to be activated. "...home."

Scout got out a white crystal and stepped up to the teleporter.

"So we just drop it on like this?" He asked.

"Yep. That's what I remember at least." Engie said. Shrugging, Scout dropped the crystal on it and a bright light immediately emitted from the teleporter as it spun rapidly. Now the guys were cheering harder at this success.

"You guys actually did it!?" Yang was just as excited as they were. "How'd you find the dust you needed so quickly!?"

"Hehe... turns out that Torchwick is far more cooperative than we thought him to be." Spy said nonchalantly, forgetting that Yang doesn't know that they have connections with one of the formerly most wanted criminals in Vale.

"Haha-wait, what?" She went when she realized what he just said. "You guys know-"

" _Shhhhhhh_! Just be happy that we got what we needed." Spy demanded of her. She was very unsure of what he just said, but he was right about the situation.

* * *

Not long after, robots were coming across from Earth to finish construction of the fort as well as defend it. the mercs went back to Earth to check up on their relations back there, completely forgetting that Gabe trolled them by delaying them for five months even though it felt like a few minutes. Ironically, the people they knew back at Mann Co. were holding a memorial service for them again like the first time they disappeared. This time, they thought they were dead for real this time as instead of one month passing like before, it has been five months.

Scout's family hadn't reached Mann Co. yet so they don't know that he's alive. Demo went to see his mother where she immediately beat the fuck out of him despite her old age for disappearing for even longer this time. Heavy's family was simply overjoyed to see that their only man was alive and well. Zhanna was especially happy about her husband being alive.

"So you spent five months building this fort?" Ms. Pauling was not impressed with the relatively small fortress they built. "This is pretty pathetic for that much time..."

"It ain't our fault, that fat bastard made sure we were gone for that long." Scout told her. "I tried to fight him, but I got distracted with fighting a big dumb dragon while the others were crying 'save us Scout!' That's when the coward got us." Scout claimed to make himself look tough.

"Other than that rubbish he just said, that fat bloke did keep us that long." Sniper added, jabbing an elbow in Scout for being a egotistical fuck.

"Either way, it's so good to see you guys are alive." Pauling smiled. "Whatever you have to do in this other world, I hope you get it done."

"We will, Ms. Pauling. You can count on that." The mercenaries gave her looks of determination that made her smile.

"Of course you will." She stepped up to the portal. "You guys are the best..." Then, she disappeared.

Later on, the mercs were getting settled in for the night. Engineer was busy getting the robots and the building materials they're going to use ready for tomorrow. Spy went up to the unfinished command and intel room to get his map down. Sniper, Demoman, and Scout went to Earth where they were getting stuff they needed back at Mann Co.

"This new world is not that much different from Earth." Zhanna went. She came over with Soldier and saw that the trees and the stars weren't that much different from Earth, just the moon that was way different.

"Sister, this world is nothing like God's green Earth!" Soldier claimed. "This world is filled with terrorists, bad guys, hippies, evil monsters, and people who hate freedom!" Soldier yelled. "Earth still has bad guys for America to crush, but this world is filled with them! And as a guardian of the freedom that America embodies, I WILL DESTROY THEM!" Suddenly, Zhanna pulled Soldier in. _Real Close._

"We will destroy evil together, yes?" Zhanna cooed.

"Yes we will!" They then began to make out furiously, and passionately. Such was the cringe generated by their awkward make out that Yang, Heavy, Pyro, and Medic immediately left them so they can do what they pleased. Some of the robots nearby immediately destroyed themselves from how much cringe they felt.

As for the former blonde brawler, she just had a big smile on her face as she watched the robots come in. Now, she was certain that they were going to get Ruby back. Just as soon as this place gets finished that is.

"We will get your sister soon." Heavy assured her, giving her a nice pat on the back. Surprisingly, Yang pulled the three mercenaries in for a big, one-armed hug.

" _Thank you..._ " They heard Yang say with hints of tears detectable.

"Ooooh! Yang's more friendly this time around, isn't she mein freunde?" Medic chuckled, just surprised that Yang would actually hug these known maniacs.

"Hmpm." Pyro didn't really mind. It loved hugs.

"Yes. I am happy too, Yang. But you know that we still need to find your sister, yes?" Heavy said.

"Yeah..." Yang smiled, breaking away from them and wiping her eyes. "I know..." She nodded. Heavy felt good to see that Yang cheered up. She appeared awfully glum and unhappy these days compared to the bright and carefree girl he knew back at Beacon. The Russian then got out a Sandvich and got ready to eat it. Medic was talking to Pyro about how much fun it was to finally get back to killing humanoid enemies. Then Yang got a question in her mind.

"Hey, why do you like these sandwiches so much anyway?" Heavy gave her a look that made her feel like she just told him to go fuck himself in some language. He actually stopped midbite, his teeth almost touching the bread when she asked that question.

"This." The Russian pointed at his meal. "Is the most delicious thing mankind has ever make. It is most delicious thing in history of world." He then took a deep breath.

"It is made of lettuce, Swiss cheese, tomatoes, bread, ham and bologna, all held together by one olive with toothpick stab through it all. It has such taste as to make you stronger, faster, smarter, and more able to destroy enemies. These Sandviches save Heavy's life." He then took a bite. "Also this is first food Heavy ate in America. This is not common thing in Russia."

"...okay." Yang nodded in understanding, but not completely understanding at all.

It's one of those moments where you're talking to someone and you don't get what they're saying but you nod and say "yeah" anyway because you don't want to make it sound like you weren't listening, or maybe you really aren't listening. In Yang's case, she was just confused about why it took so long to explain why he liked Sandviches.

"Heavy! Spy's calling us!" Medic called over as he and Pyro were walking away to meet with said Frenchman.

"You should go now. Is getting really late, and I am afraid your father will wake up."

"Oh... okay. I guess I should." Yang started on her way, but then Heavy stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Do you wish to fight Heavy sometime? Just like old times, yeah?"

"Definitely." Yang fist bumped the Russian as the two fighters respectfully smiled at each other.

* * *

 **Yang's House**

Yang went home with no trouble at all. No encounters with any unscrupulous figures or Grimm. Patch was always safe like that, except for that one time when she found that Grimm filled barn with Ruby. After getting inside her home, she checked on her father and found that he was still fast asleep. She wasn't sure if the drugs wore out and he was just sleeping normally, or if the drugs were still working and are still keeping her father in dreamland.

Well, she left her father to sleep and went up to her and Ruby's room. This was the first time she spent a night up here since Beacon. Settling into her old bed, she looked across the room to see the side that belonged to Ruby. Carefully looking at her sister's belongings, she turned the lamp off with a smile.

"We'll find you soon, sis."

* * *

 **Western Dragon Continent**

Cinder couldn't rest. She was laying down on her bed in her personal quarters at Salem's palace. It didn't matter how much her lady assured her of what little threat the return of the mercenaries posed, she was fearful. She shouldn't be fearful as she was vastly more powerful than the nine of them combined, and the sheer unlikelihood that they will find her.

It just struck her that badly that they were back from the dead. It was as if fate itself brought them back for the sole purpose of getting back at her. Maybe even destiny based on what a red haired girl she dealt with back at Beacon would say.

No, that wasn't true. Cinder didn't believe in destiny. If it was the mercenaries destiny to destroy her, then it would've happened at Beacon, right? They did very nearly accomplish it, even if it was just Spy being the only one alive in her duel with him on top of Beacon. It was just luck then that they got as close as they did to killing her. There's no such thing as destiny to Cinder Fall.

Still... they were back, and that meant this was another chance for them to try their luck on her again. Maybe it was destiny that brought them back.

* * *

 **Okay, so...**

 **Looks like we're getting real good here. So much thanks yo all of you who actually posted your thoughts, they were all really nice to see and it fills me with hope and faith in this story.**

 **Game Day was pretty fun, still not a lot people really came even with the timezone issue mostly resolved.**

 **So when I asked you guys to give me your thoughts on the comic, I forgot to say mine. I only listed facts that I remember from it. I'm still not sure how much about the comics will change in my story. A lot of the information presented are simple, easy fixes that I can easily go back and edit if I feel like it. Problem though, not a lot people realize this but every TF2 comic that comes out reveals some names of the mercenaries, even if is one of the Classic mercs. I'm afraid of the final comic because there is a really high chance that they are going to reveal everyone's names in that one, but we'll just have to wait and see.**

 **Anyway, here are my thoughts.**

 **When Classic Heavy was dying, he mentioned three other mercenary teams. Team Vangaurd, Team Citadel, Team Echelon. This means that the Administrator has way more than just the TF2 team. It seems like these other professional mercenary teams are tasked with doing her will as in getting Australium and whatever else she wills, meaning that our TF2 team was really just there to keep the Mann Brothers and then Gray Mann's robots occupied while the Administrator works on getting Australium behinf the scenes.**

 **She only called them back to service because there was no other team left after Team CLASSIC defeated them. Well, guess it makes sense.**

 **When the Administrator used up the last of the Australium to make herself younger, I yelled out "WHAT THE FUCK IS CINDER FALL DOING IN TEAM FORTRESS 2!?" For real though, I had to take another look to make sure it wasn't her because it caught me off guard that badly.**

 **I'm not sure if God was just acting real friendly to Scout because that's what he does when he meets people coming to Heaven or if that's just Scout's death hallucination. I feel like it really was just a hallucination since Scout did wake up after "dying."**

 **Spy showing care for Scout did not feel out of character for me at all. There were moments in past comics where he did show care for Scout. How he told Scout that he was his father was cowardly, but you cannot deny that he felt real sincere about telling Scout the semi-truth. I was okay that Scout's name was Jeremy and he was 27 years old. He was born in the 1950s and 27 does fall in that age range.**

 **Medic is fucking awesome. Making deals with the Devil and continuing to live life because FUCK death. The entire thing was all around awesome sauce and it was really fun to read it.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Jack905: Yes it was.**

 **MrtheratedG: Thanks, I guess...**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: Well fuck me. I got to correct that, and I will be your friend too, mang. I don't think it's gonna alter much in mine though.**

 **The Frankcisco: Well shit, thanks mang! Doesn't matter if you are a fellow writer, I'm real good with you saying what you said. It's so nice for you to say why this story is good to you and I hope you do well with your Godzilla crossover. I like Godzilla. :)**

 **A fan: I don't think they do. And I think I saw that video already.**

 **Awesome Arod: It's written in the style of a 1d4chan page. It's real good to read what you said, but it's perfectly fine for you to continue writing out your thoughts. I would love to see them. And yes, I'm a person.**

 **Questioneer: Yippie kie yay kie yo!**

 **Michamya: Holy fuck, what a long post! This, this shit here is what I want to see. Good things and thoughts of yours as well as some complaints you have. I know a lot of these problems already, but I think I got it down next chapter. Thank you my Scandinavian friend!**

 **Kzisyah: Your English is okay, I at least understood what you were trying to say and thank you, man. Greetings from America to Turkey.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: Huh, wondered where you were...**

 **Lord hellfire913: YEP. I actually edited up to chapter three already, I think. More edits will be added over time.**

 **SilentAngel33: Answered in a PM. Get yer fockqin mic working so we can talk in game, m8.**

 **the Khajiit Ra'Koor: Yer welcome. I really liked it too!**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.**

 **Time: I KNOW XD**

 **SlurpthisStuff: Baboon baby indeed.**

 **The Niemand: All you have to do is type up "TF2 Comics" And you should find the official site containing all the TF2 comics.**

 **An Peepul: No, no. The Classic Demoman's Greg and the Classic Scout is also Greg. That guy with Classic Scout was the Classic Soldier and his name was Ross.**

 **Battle9921: Fuq.**

 **GrayDad: I don't know. We still have one more comic left, so we'll see what happens.**

 **Lord Demolitions: Fuck yeah.**


	40. Such Stealth

**Vale, The Next Day**

"Remind me why we're trying our luck with Pyyrha again?" Engie asked as he drove the Bread Van through Vale with Spy, Medic, and Heavy. The other mercs were back in Patch, getting settled in now that they could bring stuff from Earth into their fort. For Spy and the three with him, they set out this noon to try their luck on Pyyrha again, as Engineer just said earlier.

"We're already aiming to save our students abroad, might as well save the ones close to home." Spy said. "Ms. Nikos deserves it after trying to stop Cinder by herself. It was an act worthy of high honors for her bravery."

"Agreed. I just can't wait to see ze stupid look on her mother's face when she sees zat I truly am a medical professional!" Medic proclaimed.

"Yeah, a professional that goes around sticking random organs in people. If that's your definition of 'professional' of course." Engie chuckled.

Soon, they reached the hospital where Pyyrha was being treated at. Going through the same process as before, same receptionist taking them in and stuff, they found that Pyyrha's mother wasn't with her daughter at the moment. She was probably away doing something that revolved around her daily life. At first, they were glad to see that Aleka Nikos wasn't present as they didn't want to hear her objections to taking her daughter, but then they realized they couldn't take Pyyrha out of there without permission from her family anyway.

Also...

Trying to sneak her out didn't work that well. As you are about to see here.

"Uh, excuse me?" A doctor asked when he saw a nurse, a doctor, and two men who he assumed were huntsmen move an ICU patient through the halls. "Where are you taking her, doctor...?"

"Uh... oh! I am Dr. Sauer! At your service!" Medic lied. "I am only transferring ze patient to a... a..."

"A new hospital!" The nurse finished for him.

"...Yes! A new hospital with equipment better suited for zis dear patient's particular predicament here..." Medic rubbed Pyyrha's head and gave a big smile with hopes of convincing the doctor he was talking to.

"Uh-huh... who are these two?" The doctor asked about Heavy and Engie.

"They are the girl's uncles." The nurse answered. "Here to safely see she gets to where she is likely to find the best care."

"Best care?"

"Yep." The nurse nodded her head.

"Hmm, okay then. Then tell me where else in Vale can you get better treatment than here? The finest hospital in all of the Kingdom of Vale?"

"..." Fuck.

"...that's right. Now get out of here you jokers before I have security throw you out." The doctor felt like he was the shit since he just exposed them. He got them so hard, that the nurse disappeared in a sudden puff of smoke and was replaced with Spy. The doctor and the staff watching the scene were surprised to say the least at the nurse suddenly transforming into a man.

"Very well." The Frenchman said. The four of them turned as if to leave, but then they psyched everyone out and grabbed Pyyrha in an attempt to run off with her.

"SECURITY!" The doctor yelled.

Several guards then rolled in and tazed the fuck out of all of them. Such was the voltage they felt that they actually dropped Pyyrha back down and struggled with all of their might to get out of this murderous amount of tazer shock. They're not going to kill these guys for this, but they still decked and socked anyone who got in the way of the nearest window. It didn't matter if Pyyrha was on the third floor of the hospital, they still threw themselves out because the tazers hurt that badly even with their damage resistance on.

Anyone outside the hospital were shocked to see four dudes jump out and land with sickening crunches. Being at a hospital and crap, medical personnel rushed to help them but they were waved away by the men who were somehow walking despite having every single bone in their body broken by the fall. Well, not really, but you get what I mean. The next three hours were spent awkwardly huddled together in an alleyway with Spy straining the power of his Cloak and Dagger to keep them all invisible while authorities looked for them.

"That went terribly." Spy nonchalantly said as the four of them had gathered up by a Cafe and ordered some coffee.

"Now we will never save Pyyrha because someone did not want to wait like I say we should." Heavy and Spy traded glare's with each other.

"He's got a point there. When her madre finds out what happened, she's gonna be on our hides faster than a snake jumping a hare." Engie whistled. "I tell ya, that's not a pleasant experience."

"A lot of out experiences aren't very pleasant..." Spy said.

"Ugh! I only need a couple hours alone with Ms. Nikos, and boom! She's walking again!" Medic complained. "Zese people don't know vat zey are missing out on..."

"We'll have to worry about Pyyrha later..." Spy said as he checked his watch. "We should get back to the others. I have a distinct feeling that something will be distracting us-"

"Professors!?" Coco Adel dropped her coffee after seeing four of the nine missing professors return. The fashionista was on the far side of the cafe.

"-goddammit..." Spy got up, and his friends did the same. " _Keep walking, keep walking, maybe she'll think we're someone else..."_

"Hey! Where are you going?" Coco ran up to them in no time and turned them around. Sure enough, the fashionista ran into the same professors who used to beat the shit out of their students back at Beacon.

"... Hello Ms. Adel." Spy greeted awkwardly.

"Guten Nachmittag, Coco." Medic greeted.

"Zdrastsvuyte." Heavy greeted.

"Howdy." Engie went.

"You guys really are back! Velvet said you were back, but everyone thought she was crazy! Where have you guys been!?"

Oh shit, this is going to take some offscreen explanation...

* * *

"So you guys-"

"YES!" Engie interrupted Coco. "Sorry for that outburst, but we already explained it to several people already, and it's gettin' awfully tedious to say the same thing over and over again."

"Agreed." The other three agreed.

"Now, pardon me but we got places to be right about now."

"You're going already? But we have to tell everyone about this! Everyone's going to be so glad to see you guys are still alive!"

"Yes, we know. It is very obvious thing." Heavy told her.

"Right, vich is exactly why _you_ should go and tell them." Medic put both hands on her arms and turned her around. "Now go off and do that while we do huntsmen things."

"But everyone has to see you-" Spy hushed her and snatched her scroll out from her pocket. In a matter of a few seconds, the four got a group picture with Coco awkwardly huddled in the center.

"There. Share that with your friends and issue solved." Spy said as he passed her scroll back. "I apologize but we really are in a rush. Maybe we will have a group meet up or something like that so we catch up."

"Ja, ve truly are in a rush indeed! The White Fang isn't going to-" Medic got bitch slapped by Engineer for nearly exposing their plan. uhh... I mean, we have huntsmen things to attend to!"

With that, they left for real this time, leaving Coco behind. They noticed that they got real suspicious looks from the authorities in the streets while they drove back to port with their Bread Van. Obviously, word has spread of what they did at the hospital, but none of them seemed to be actively trying to make an attempt to arrest them. The gents can only guess it was Goodwitch that was calling them off from arresting them since she's the only one they can think of who would hear of this and has enough influence to keep them safe.

Then, two detectives rolled up in a squad car when the van was stopped at a traffic light.

"Hey Heyman, check it out." Detective Burns nudged his partner.

"Ahhhh, it's them huntsmen from earlier! You know, the one who did that totally not illegal kidnapping attempt of a girl in a hospital." The detectives were on the left-hand side of the mercs, and Detective Heyman was comically leaning out his seat close to the mercs' vehicle so they could hear him. They were very annoyed with this.

"Yeah, yeah, it's totally not like they have to follow the law or anything! No, that's crazy talk! That and they got that blonde huntress looking out for them like she was their fairy godmother or something. Crazy, right?" Detective Burns said.

"That's right, CRAZY TALK! AM I RIGHT!?" Detective Heyman was leaning so far out of his seat that he was like only a foor away from a very annoyed Spy.

*closer lean*

"AM I-" Spy socked him in the face and the detective fell out of his car.

Detective Burns saw what happened and made an effort to pull his gun out, but Spy had already thrown a fucking brick that was used to keep the Van from sliding when parked in case it's brakes were out at him. He was also knocked out. With that, the mercs immediately gave any other authorities in the area dirty looks, looks that said 'do not fuck with us.' Didn't matter how much they disliked this particular group of huntsmen, the authorities let it slide, grudgingly.

"Ugh... I swear, no matter where I am I always manage to find morons..." Spy complained to himself.

"Huh, we've been out for far longer than I thought..." Medic mused when he saw the sun was nearing sunset. It wasn't sunset yet, it was just almost sunset. "Ve better get going before any other distractions keep us from dealing with the White-" Medic stopped short as Engie raised his hand to smack him, almost saying what they were going to do out loud and shit...

* * *

 **Nightfall**

So it just donned on the Spy that it probably wasn't ideal to infiltrate the final White Fang base in Vale at night since Faunus had excellent nightvision, but he felt he was going to be fine because he was going to be disguised for most of it. Since he was the stealthiest of the bunch for obvious reasons, he was going in alone- actually, Sniper was going with him too. He needs a damn ride after all. The two rode over to Patch harbor with no problem at all. Only thing noteworthy of their travel was that they saw Professors Oobleck and Port were talking with Taiyang when they drove past yang's house.

They totally would have loved to explain what happened to them AGAIN, but they had more important things to do. The surprised looks on their faces to see the two of them still alive and driving around in Sniper's van was not enough cause for them to stop and chat. Yang or someone would probably tell them what's up.

So the trip across Vale after taking a ferry to the city of Vale was also uneventful. Grimm were not common in the surrounding landscape as much as they used to since they were all closing in on Beacon Academy. This was fucking perfect. It meant Sniper could just park on somewhere far enough from the Fang Base where their approach would not be detected.

"You ready for this mate?" Sniper said as they dismounted. He had his Hitman's Heatmaker out for stealth reasons.

"Ready and willing." Spy answered in a gruff male's voice when he disguised himself as a White Fang member with antlers.

Plan was simple. Sniper was going to provide overwatch as in keeping an eye out for Spy, not the fucking video game, while Spy snooped around to see what he could get. The choice to plant explosives was completely optional, but it was far more risky since he didn't have any of the cloaked ones he used before. The master of disguise used his Invis Watches to sneak himself in without suspicion while Sniper climbed up a tree and kept himself hidden by building a blind. A blind is basically a Sniper's nest.

"Are you set up?" Spy whispered into his earpiece.

"Yeah." The Australian's voice came from across the radio. He was looking down the scope of the Heatmaker and was examining any and all potential threats/things of interest for Spy to be aware of.

As for Spy, he had uncloaked himself from inside an empty tent. This Fang base was shameful compared to previous ones. After the Battle of Beacon, the Vale Fang was broken and was now trying to rebuild itself. Seemed like six whole months after the battle was not enough time for them to return to full strength. The motley collection of a few dozen tents and small fleet of Bullheads, ground based vehicles, and some still operating android units was all that was left of this sect.

Feeling safe that Sniper got his back in case someone tried to get to him, Spy walked through the White Fang camp. The fighters of the Fang were going through hard times indeed. Seemed like supplies were scarce, yet these fighters still had steadfast determination in their cause. Even if it was a lost one.

There wasn't really documents that Spy could find other than diaries or engagement records. Nothing written that had mention of where Cinder could possibly be. Well, maybe the leadership or even their scrolls had word.

"Hey Jacques..." Sniper's voice came in as he watched Spy go inside the largest tent. "You know I can't cover you through there..."

"Oui. I'm aware." Spy replied, silencing himself lest anyone notice.

"What are you doing here?" A sentry in the command tent demanded.

"I am here for a field report." Spy claimed. "From a patrol by the river."

"Huh, what are you, new here?" The sentry said with a grin. "Reports go to the sergeants."

"Oh... sorry. I joined like a week ago."

"Yeah, well you better get that report in to your sergeant now."

Well then, Spy simply went to a place where no one will see him turn invisible, and then simply snuck past the guards like it was the easiest thing in the world. Probably what he should've done in the first place. This command tent didn't have a lot of commanders in it. There appeared to be only four lieutenants who ran the larger sect under orders from the top leader, whoever that maybe at the moment. They were discussing something about the mercenaries sudden reappearance and how their attack yesterday night failed.

Spy stayed and listened for a good 30 minutes straight like an invisble fly on the wall. Nothing of interest to him popped up. That was until the lieutenants got into a discussion onto who will represent the Fang in Adam's state.

 _Adam?_ Spy thought to himself.

He remembered Medic saying that he left him to burn when Beacon's cafeteria went down. They said Adam's current 'state.' Implying he was alive. He stayed and listened for a few more minutes when it became apparent that the lieutenants couldn't decide on a temporary leader. Since this was the command tent, Adam's bound to be in here somewhere, probably on life support.

"Sniper." Spy whispered. "There's a high chance that hostilities will erupt..." The Australian didn't respond, but Spy was sure he was still listening.

Didn't take long at all for Spy to find Adam. The bull of the Fang truly was in a sad and sorry state. His right hand was missing and much of his body had been severely burned. The leader of the Fang was alive, but he was clearly in no shape to lead whatsoever. Adam was wrapped in bandages that covered his whole body. Spy wasn't sure if he was even conscious as it seemed like he might be in a coma like Pyyrha was in. He hoped to God not, because if there's anyone who probably knows where Cinder is, it's this burned steak right here.

See what I did there? Steak like, bull? Because steak comes from cows... ah shit. Let's keep going.

"B-blake..." Adam gasped while asleep. Welp, that got a sigh of relief from Spy. The boy was conscious. Flicking out his invisible Butterfly Knife, Spy gently pressed it against the bull's throat.

"W-what..." He weakly croaked.

"Hello." An unseen but very close voice greeted Adam. "Do not scream. I will not hurt you." Well, Adam probably couldn't scream on account of how fucked he was.

"W-who's there?" The bull demanded weakly. Deciding to utterly fuck with him, Spy turned himself into Blake but he was still invisible.

"Someone you know..." The unseen voice of Blake revealed itself to Adam.

"Blake..."

"Yes. It's me, Adam." Spy didn't exactly know what Blake's relationship with Adam was.

The only thing he knew about Blake on account of eavesdropping on Team RWBY(because that's what he does, got to keep tabs on people around him) was that she used to be part of the White Fang. He didn't care much for Blake's affiliation with these terrorists because at least Blake turned back when she did, otherwise she would be on the very wrong side of the mercenaries if she was still with the Fang to this day.

"Blake... I'm... so sorry." Adam looked like tears were forming in his eyes. Obviously regretful for what he's done to her. "You're right. I became a monster. Now look at me..." Well, might as well use his emotions against him. Adam's eyes opened fully when Blake suddenly phased into existence right next to him.

"You're a monster Adam, but it's not too late for you." Spy felt a little awkward that he was now caressing the cheek of a burned young man as if he were his lover. "I will forgive you for what you've done, only if you do one thing for me..."

"Anything..." A single tear went down Adam's cheek.

"Where. Is. Cinder?" Blake's tone shifted to deathly serious, but Adam didn't care.

"I don't know..." Spy was just about ready to jab his knife down his throat right now had Adam not kept talking. "But some of her associates are connected to us..."

"Associates?" Blake repeated.

 _Fantastic._ Spy thought to himself. Sounds like there's even more villains to fuck around with.

"When are they coming?"

Before Adam can reply, some fuckery happened. An attendant who was apparently the chief medical... doctor, thing came in to check on her leader when she saw Spy/Blake over Adam.

Before she could scream anything, Spy threw his Butterfly Knife right into her throat, undisguising himself as it happened. The woman grabbed the knife as she gurgled death sounds before falling out the flap she came through. As quickly as it happened, the entire camp was soon alerted to Spy's presence.

"I'll kill you later." Spy promised Adam as he immediately got the fuck out of dodge, leaving Adam wide eyed, still not understanding what just happened.

Spy was now running through the camp, shooting at Fang with his Ambassador and close combatting fools who got close with his knives and CQC. Think something like that scene from _Kingsmen: The Secret Service_ where Eggsy is running through the halls and wrecking shit. All the while, Fang nearby were getting holes put in their heads from a distant Australian he was running towards. Sniper was okay after all.

"Get over here you wanker!" Sniper demanded as he sniped as fast as he could on the Fang chasing Spy. He soon climbed down from his tree and got into his van so that they would be ready to go as soon as Spy got to him. Quickly enough, he did, and they sped off. Not without leaving some smoke bomb behind to cover their escape. Fortunately, it did seem to work as no one pursued them on their way back to Vale.

* * *

 **Patch**

"That went terribly." Spy told Sniper as they were on the road at Patch.

"Tell me something I don't know." Sniper grumpily replied.

"Well, guess finding Cinder is out of the picture for the moment."

"This means we're going after Ruby and the bunch, right?"

"Yes. They seem more likely to find Cinder than we are anyway."

Spy looked out the driver's window and up at the moon. He wondered how they were doing now. And that's not just Team RNJR, it was for the other two who went abroad, Weiss and Blake. He knew that Weiss was at least back home in Atlas, and he didn't exactly know if it's even legal for him to simply bring her back. As for Blake, there's no clue as to where she could be to him.

Upon arrival to the fort, they found everything to be intact. The robots were still working on completing it, Soldier's got Zhanna living there with him because they're married, and the gang had fully moved in. What was the best part of all of this other than the fort was near working order and that the portal to Earth was active?

Let's say that Engineer began work on something that will quickly allow them to travel across Remnant and hopefully catch up with Ruby and the rest of Team JNPr before they get themselves fucked up. What's even better about it? Progress was so fast on account of robot Engie help, that it might be ready in a day or two.

Yes indeed. They'll be seeing each other again soon enough. Then again, there was the whole deal of how exactly were they going to find them when they do get to the other continent, but come on! They're only men. One bridge at a time. Even if there's no bridge, they'll simply build one. That's honestly sort of how they pulled through this far.

* * *

 **It's also how I pulled through this far.**

 **Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!**

 **Got some stealthy Spy shenanigans up here. After watching _Kingsmen_ I sort of want to give a high tech Umbrella full of gadgets to Spy and see him fuck around with Neo with his new toy. Umbrella gang, what up?**

 **This chapter is not quite as long as the usual. This one is about 4000 words instead of the standard of 5000. Mostly because I can't think of nothing else to add in it, but here you guys go anyway.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Mr. Green37: Fuck yeah.**

 **MCZ: YEP.**

 **CapitalClassShip: I knooooooooooooooooooooooow! Whatever I think of, I know it's gonna be good!**

 **Awesome Arod: You're very welcome mon ami. I'm just really friendly :)**

 **Jack905: Oh fuck yeah.**

 **A fan: I don't have any consoles.**

 **buzzsaw935: Do you review on a phone? I notice that your reviews repeat themselves, but that would be a funny idea alright.**

 **darkromdemon: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Thanks mang.**


	41. Flying Guns

**Albuquerque, New** **Mexico**

"Alright pal, we're here." A cab driver said as he drove up to a ruined castle. "Thirty fiddy, fella, or I'm taking ya back to the penitentiary." This cab driver remembered Merasmus since he last dropped him off. Trying to swindle him out of money and shit...

"Yes, Merasmus knows..." The wizard gave the man thirty dollars and got out of the back, muttering curses out to the taxi as it drove off.

It has been five months since Merasmus has been given that two week prison sentence. Wait, it took him _that_ long to get out of a _two_ week sentence? There's a simple answer to that question. He attempted to break out of prison, and evidently, this went fairly well. Nah, not really. The wizard was caught, beaten up by guards, and got an even longer sentence for his troubles.

Taking a look at his destroyed home, Merasmus sighed. Plants were beginning to grow from the ruins.

"Merasmus will never understand why a 5000 year old wizard can't break out of a normal prison..." He muttered softly to himself. "Maybe I am finally getting old. Perhaps Merasmus should retire from wizarding and find a job..."

He truly was sad as this was one of the lowest points in his 5000 year old life. Ever since the ancient Sumerian civilization fell, there wasn't exactly a place for their grand, excuse me, _former grand priest_ , to go. Still, the immortal wizard traveled the ancient world, watching the ages go by as civilization advanced to how we know it today. Merasmus has spent time hanging out with yokai in Japan, djinn in the Middle East, Roman and Greek sorcerers, voodoo priests in Africa, and with other wizards and witches like him in Europe. Throughout all those millenia and centuries, Merasmus never forgot how powerful he used to be when the Sumerians were around, but he was at least content that he was able to find places to stay and practice his dark magic with problems far and few between.

Then the 20th century arrived, and he met Soldier. The single most annoying, most moronic, most disrespectful, most nerve racking man he has ever met during his long life on this planet Earth. Soldier and his friends were merely mortal, but they have made Merasmus' life a living hell, and he vowed to make their's a living hell as well. Wait a moment, they're already dead when Merasmus last heard of them.

Fuck.

* * *

 **Remnant**

It has been a couple of days since the infiltration of the Fang base went sour. Well, let us begin with a summary of what's happening now globally before we do get into anything.

Team RNJR had stumbled upon the recently raided village of Shion and continue on with their journey, wary of bandits and the possibility of encountering the tribe of bandits responsible for the village's destruction. They can only hope that the settlements ahead were not attacked and sacked like Shion, or else supplies might be a problem.

Weiss is still practicing her song for the concert the SDC is hosting as charity for the Kingdom of Vale. To anyone with a brain, this charity was just to make the SDC look good.

Blake and Sun arrived in Menagerie and were now getting comfortable with her parents.

Back in Vale, Pyrhha is still hospitalized and now the mercenaries _really_ can't get to her after that stunt they did last time they saw her. Much to Medic's disappointment, Yang got herself a robot arm and was training with her father so she can get used to fighting with it. Taiyang did not allow her to go see them in the last two days. It's not like Medic wanted to give your daughter's arm back anyway...

As for the mercs themselves, they spent the whole two days in Patch. They didn't go to Vale for two reasons, White Fang is most likely really on their asses after the battle at Mountain Glenn and that infiltration on their base so they didn't want to risk the Fang following them back to their fort, and they were certain Pyrrha's mom was going to fuck their shit all up if she happens to catch them on the streets in Vale. Anyways, Spy was certain the Fang would have packed their shit and relocate somewhere else after he raided them. Good choice considering these guys killed more Fang then any huntsmen or army alive has ever done, but that's mostly because the Fang would usually be arrested when caught

That's it, really. Not much different from what happens canonically, is why I put it in summary here for those wondering what was up with the others. Okay, now let's get to our gents.

Oh yeah, Engie's thing was ready.

* * *

 **With The Gents**

"Wow, you sure work quick..." Scout whistled. The gang was gathered down at the recently finished hangar and were now marveling Engie's also recently finished creation.

"You built this just in the last couple of days?" Sniper also couldn't believe it.

What they were looking at was a motherfucking airship of their own design. It's large enough to fit at least 20-30 people at full capacity, has enough armor to take multiple 20mm rounds or anything Remnant has that is similar in power to that, has a turret on top that fires something similar to Soldier's Cow Mangler, as well as Sentry guns that could be manually operated on the sides in a manner similar to World War II bomber planes. There were three sentries at the front that were to be used in a manner similar to fighter planes. As a bonus, this thing was capable of space travel just be-fucking-cause Engie wanted it too.

"Yep!" Engie leaned against his baby. "This girl's gonna solve our travel problems real nicely." He chuckled, then turned to the robo-Engie's still putting the final touches on it. "Ain't it right boys?"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The mechanical voices of the robo-Engie's hollered in their electronic Texan accents.

"Heh, well this thing better work. Heavy does not wish to travel across several kilometers of land to find Ruby and other kids."

"Mphmp!" Pyro concurred while the others agreed as well. It would suck to travel that far, even with their vehicles. Plus it would take too damn long, Ruby being on a continent literally on the other side of the world and shit...

"Well, whaddaya say we give it a ride?" Dell grinned.

 **Ten Minutes Later**

"THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!" Demoman screamed in joy as the G-forces acting on his face made him feel like his flesh was gonna peel off. It was just like a rollercoaster when Engie flies this thing at a full speed of over 40,000 kph because that's what it needed to leave orbit should they actually decide to go to space. I mean, rollercoasters are thrill rides that not everyone on board will enjoy. For instance, Demo, Engie, Soldier, and Pyro, were having a fun time while the rest screamed in terror of how fast they were going.

"SLOW THIS THING DOWN, NOW!" Spy screamed. His mask felt like it was turning into his skin.

"WHAT!?" Engie screamed.

"SLO-"

"NAH, I'M JUST FOOLIN' WITH YA!" Engie easily brought the ship to a gradual slow down to an easy cruising speed where some of them immediately opened up the hatches and vomited.

"Oh God, oh God..." Scout panted as Heavy patted his back. "Dell?"

"Yeah?" The Texan responded.

"Go screw yourself." The Boston boy flipped a middle finger at the Texan while the Texan simply laughed.

"You probably should you know..." Spy growled as he was in the seat next to Engie.

"Yeah? Do what?"

"Go fuck yourself." Engie just laughed more. Maybe Jacques and his son weren't that different after all. It's been a while since Dell's designed and built something, and he was mighty proud of himself for making this fine contraption. Only thing to do now was test it's weapon systems to see if they worked...

"Hey Jacques?"

"What?"

"This thing sure flies nice and all, but what do you say to findin' somethin' to make sure it's guns work too?" Engie bobbed his head out to his right, and Spy had to lean over to see what he was motioning to. It was the Grimm infested school of Beacon. A place full of disgusting bullshit for this beast to rape. (Grimm) With a look of realization, Spy gave a grin and a simple nod.

"Strap yourselves in, boys." Engie chuckled in anticipation for what they were going to do next. Looking up at the rearview mirror because he has that for some reason, he decided on a much better alternative. "Actually, on second thought y'all better get on the guns. There's gonna be a lot of killing to do..." The Texan set the sentry turrets to manual, and opened up the top hatch so someone can man the big turret on top. That someone was Soldier.

"Pass the bottle here, Tavish!" Soldier reached down the hatch and got a bottle of drink from Demoman who was coming up on top to man one of the top sentries here.

"Here you are, mate."

"Thanks!" Soldier got down on one knee, and began praying in his own American way. "Oh Lord in Heaven and his angelic guardians of all that is free and democratic..." In Soldier's mind, he got images of God himself flanked by Jesus, Uncle Sam, Columbia, and several American presidents and other heroes of the states. "...give me your blessing and make this fine flying machine a holy chariot that dispenses boatloads of ass-kicking democracy, amen." Before he opened his eyes, he got an image of his grandfather appearing and putting a hand on his shoulder, then he opened his eyes and smashed the bottle against the airship as if he was launching a new ship to sea.

* * *

 **Beacon, Huntsmen Reclamation Effort**

Well shit. Exactly as predicted, more Grimm came to the school and quickly replaced the numbers lost when the mercenaries attacked Even worse, they were older and more veteran varieties among them, making everything harder for the huntsmen and VDF trying to take the school back. At the current time, the huntsmen were on the verge of being forced to retreat from what gains they got from the mercs' attack. What's worse, the Grimm gathered up all of their flying creatures in one big swarm, and they were coming up on the huntsmen.

"Glynda! I think it's time we retreat!" Bartholomew Oobleck shouted as he and some other huntsmen were barely holding against a horde that contained a lot of alphas.

"I agree!" Peter Port was firing his Blunderaxe at any of the heavier varieties of Grimm advancing on them as the VDF tried to hold the wave back with their heavy weapons. The combat Bullheads would've been helpful had the abundance of flying Grimm not taken air superiority from them. The flying Grimm easily outmaneuvered the airships in combat, and the huntsmen didn't want to throw away good airships.

Glynda was struggling to make a decision. Sighing, she settled on retreating. No use in throwing their lives away.

"Everyone-" She was cut short when roars of gunfire and the explosions of rockets tore into the Grimm.

"Look!" A VDF soldier pointed to the sky. A very visible and steady stream of rapid gunfire and rockets were flying out from an airship of unknown make and design. The most striking thing about it was it's red coloration. Mercenary red...

"What..." The witch of Beacon gasped at this sudden turn of events. Shaking her head to knock the surprise out of her, she resumed her command. "Everyone! Pull back!"

There was so much firepower on this airship, that it destroyed several Grimm with each strafing run. Such was the effective devastation of the Grimm, that VDF soldiers and huntsmen alike began whooping and hollering in joy as if an angel of victory just arrived to save them from the flying demons. Meanwhile, the guys on board it were manning every turret they can get on and were laying everything into the Grimm ahead.

"THIS IS THE BEST THING!" Heavy loved destroying evil, especially when he had firepower such as the sentry he was manning.

"YOU SAID IT, PARTNER!" Engie hooted as he was letting loose with the guns in front. The guys sounded a lot like a gang of drunken maniacs all in one pick up truck driving off road at full speed with all of the hollering they were doing. Engie was sure that his ship's design can take the aerial horde.

"Huh, never thought I'd be fightin' in the air like a fighter pilot." Scout shrugged before getting smacked in the back of the head by Sniper.

"Focus, mate! Get shootin'!" Without question, Scout let loose with the sentry turret that he was on. They all did, focusing everything on the air as that was the biggest threat to them in particular right now. As they neared, the swarm only seemed to get bigger, and more fearsome.

"Mphmm..." Pyro mphmmed.

"Yeah, maybe this wasn't such a good idea..." Scout shuddered in agreement.

"Mphmm mphm mh mphmm!" Pyro mphmed.

"Show no fear? Oh, sorry my Pyronese is a little off." Scout replied, but Pyro's right. Fear is what these bastards want them to feel.

Then again, it seemed like the sheer firepower of the mercenaries' ship wasn't enough to stop the swarm as it came to them. Immediately within coming in range, the Nevermores let loose with their feathers and Griffons closed in. The feathers weren't that much damaging to the ship's armor, but the barrage did disable quite a few of the turrets that could be manned. This included the heavy turret that Soldier was using. Currently, Soldier and Demo were fighting off the Grimm in close quarters as they landed while Engie swerved the ship around to avoid collisions with the big Nevermores. Any collision shook the ship and as the barrage of feathers and claws kept coming, all the turrets that could've been manned were inoperable from damage.

Welp, back to the old way I guess. All hatches were opened and the boys were shooting out at the flying Grimm with their regular assortment of weapons. This was a big problem though as they were at a severe disadvantage now that the flying Grimm can get really close without the murderous fire of the turrets working on them. Nevermores and Griffons were all over the ship as the boys were trying to get them off of it. The Grimm were using their maneuverability against the mercenaries.

"Woah!" Engie yelped when the ship clipped against Beacon Tower, scraping off some Grimm tearing into it from underneath. "Stop eatin' my girl!" Engie got his Peacemaker out and shot it out the cockpit at some Griffons chewing through the nose. "Dammit, maybe I should've added a shield to this darn thing..."

"You think!?" Medic shouted as he was healing Heavy up when a Nevermore stuck it's huge head inside and snapped at him. Currently, the Russian was strangling it to death.

"Grrr- wait! Doc!?"

"Jawohl!?"

"You're healing sphere, dome, thing! You got one!?"

"Vat!?"

"The thing we worked on together!" Realizing what Engineer was getting at, Medic got out the same kind of device he used to protect Sniper's van from White Fang attack all those months ago. It was only the second time he used it.

"Here goes nothing!" Medic jammed his Medigun on the device to activate it, and it began charging up.

"Soldier! Demo! Get in here!" Soldier and Demo crawled back inside, not without slicing the head of a Griffon that poked it's head down the hatch. Holes began appearing in the hull as the Grimm kept tearing their way through to thick armor, and the guys also started shooting out of these holes.

"Medic!" Spy screamed after shooting the eye out of a Nevermore peaking inside.

"Arbeit! Verdammt nochmal! Arbeit!" Medic screamed in German as he kept charging up his device.

At the cockpit, Engie stopped shooting to grab a glance at the readings on the ship. Long story short, everything was fucked. The only good thing happening at the moment was that the VDF were aiming their autocannons up at the skies to assist as well as the fleet of combat Bullheads being mobilized to help out any way they can, but it was not enough.

"JA! ARBEIT MEINE SCHÖPFUNG!" Medic laughed evilly as his sphere activated and encompassed the ship. It had similar effects to his Medi-gun shield where it vaporized hostiles who touched it, and now it looked like a giant flying ball of glowing red was plowing through a cloud of black. The Grimm were totally oblivious as to what happens when they touched the sphere, meaning a lot of them were vaporized upon extended contact. It was sort of like flies going into one of those flytraps that kill them on contact. After maybe five minutes, the remainder of the swarm finally realized that getting to the sphere was futile and instead broke up and went back down into Beacon where they hoped to find safety.

"Woohoo!" The guys were relieved with that over. Fighting in the air wasn't exactly their specialty, except for maybe Soldier who claims he once fought off German fighters from on top of a B-17 in World War II.

"Cheers, mates!" A bottle of drink was passed to the each of them and they dinked their bottles together. The shield device had already imploded on itself from it's energy, but that was fine as the Grimm were no longer on them.

"Hahaha... ah hell..." The Texan pilot cursed when he saw one of the engines was on fire. "Strap in, boys! I'm taking this girl back home" Engie performed a hard turn in the general direction of where Patch was, completely forgetting the back ramp was still open.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Spy, Soldier, Medic, Demoman, Heavy, and Scout screamed together as they were sucked out the back. Sniper, Pyro, and Engineer stared out the back with blank looks as the screams of their friends faded away.

"Darn..." Engie blankly said.

"MPhmmhpmh?" Pyro asked if they should go back and get them, but this ship still had it's engines burning. On the plus side, the guys still on the ship can see a white parachute open up from Soldier.

"I think Soldier's got 'em. Now you better land this thing-" Sniper was cut off when the burning engine blew up as they were over the water between Patch and Vale.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The three screamed as Engie still guided the ship back to their fort.

* * *

 **30 Seconds Ago**

Six out of the nine just got sucked out of the goddamn ship and were now falling out from the sky.

"I HATE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!" Scout screamed. There's nothing much else but scream. Sky diving was not part of their job descriptions at all.

"Mon Dieu... looks like we're going to die again... already..." Spy sighed. "Can death come any slower? I don't have all day..." As he was sighing, the rest were still screaming, except for Soldier who was laughing maniacally.

"THIS IS JUST LIKE OPERATION OVERLORD!" Soldier screamed, remembering fondly the one time he rode on the back of a C47 with a stolen parachute. Unlike a lot of other stories he tells about World War 2, this actually happened. "GOD BLESS THE AIRBORNE!" He pulled out a B.A.S.E. jumper.

"Good idea, mate!" Demo grinned as he got his own B.A.S.E. Jumper out. Spy and Medic grabbed onto Demo as he released the parachute. Soldier doing the same for the rest.

"Oh man, we're gonna make it!" Scout hollered, almost letting go of Soldier from how happy he was.

"Yes we are, tiny friend!" Heavy high fived him midair.

"Hahaha! This reminds me so much of the time me and the 82nd Airborne dropped into France!" Soldier chuckled, remembering fondly the paratroopers who sort of accepted the random maniac who decided to join them on their jump into enemy territory. At least the paratroopers knew he was on their side. The rest of the way down was kind of serene actually. Despite, you know, some of them hanging on to nothing but their friends at somewhere of a dozen kilometers or so of height.

...

" _Put on your boots, boots, boots,_

 _and parachutes, chutes, chutes,_

 _we're going up, up, up,_

 _we're going down, down, down,_

 _We're all American and proud to be,_

 _for we're the soldiers of liberty,_

 _some fly their gliders to the enemy_

 _others are sky paratroopers,_

 _we're all American and fight we will,_

 _till all the guns of the foe are still-"_

...

"Stop singing, Soldier." Spy ordered him. It looked like they had another three minutes until they safely got down to the ground, and he didn't want to spend it hearing Soldier singing the theme of the 82nd airborne. A moment of silence.

...

" _-Get ready! Airborne, from skies of blue,_

 _We're coming through, Let's Go!_

 _Put on your boots, your jumping boots_

 _your parachutes, get all those gliders to attack today,_

 _Hook up! For we'll be gone,_

 _into the dawn, to fight them all the 82nd way!_

 _Hey! Let's go..."_

After suffering Soldier's patriotic singing (he's not that good of a singer, but he loves his country too much to care) the guys landed safely near the defensive line of the Beacon reclamation force. The force had retreated back to their original line, losing the gains they got when the mercenaries attacked in their rage induced rampage. Wasn't like the gains meant that much anyway with all the Grimm that was still coming into the school.

"Gentlemen!" Port yelled jollily as Goodwitch, Oobleck, and some other huntsmen met them when they landed. "That was amazing!"

"Yes, indeed! Where did you get that peculiar airship?" Oobleck questioned them with a keen curiosity to him.

"More of those things would sure be useful in helping us out." A random huntsmen went. More people bombarded them with questions before Goodwitch broke them up.

"Please! Our fellow huntsmen here have just had a rather rough air battle. I suggest you give them time to rest, as a matter of fact I believe you all need rest. Who knows when the Grimm will advance on us." Glynda then led them over to tent.

"Thank you for your sudden support..." She shook each of their hands. "We would've taken far more losses if you hadn't come along."

"Eh, it wasn't a problem at all!" Scout proudly proclaimed, flexing a bit for some huntresses nearby.

"Heavy is happy when he destroys evil creatures."

"Gern geschehen." Medic said "you're welcome."

"Americans are always ready to kill the enemies of freedom!"

"Ach, twas nothing, lass."

"De rien, now if you excuse us we better get going. Come along, gentlemen. We need to see if Engineer's-" Then, he was tackled and being crushed by the motherly grasp of Pyyrha's mom.

"WHY DID YOU TRY TO TAKE MY DAUGHTER!?" Aleka Nikos screamed at the top of her lungs as she furiously slammed Spy back and forth on the dirt. She was then counter-tackled by Heavy and Soldier.

"Calm down!" Heavy demanded of her. The others moved in to restrain her, but then Demoman and Medic's necks were grabbed by a massive man. Pyrrha's dad.

"Are these the men, honey?" Argus Nikos asked his wife after kicking Heavy and Soldier off of her.

"Yes..." Aleka said as she got up. Before the two of them could jump the mercenaries, Glynda froze everyone in place with her semblance.

"STOP! This is no time to be fighting each other! Especially with Grimm just over there..." She let them go. "Now, I was wondering the same thing. Why did you try and take Ms. Nikos from the hospital?"

"BECAUSE THOSE DOCTORS DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING!" Medic raged. He was already upset with not getting to help Pyrrha wake up, and he was even more so when he found out Yang got her robot arm on. Last thing he wanted to be reminded of are people who refuse his medical expertise as he was clearly the best doctor ever. "I'm the only one on zis world who can get her out of zat coma! I CAN BRING THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

"He's not wrong..." Glynda casually muttered to the Nikos.

"JA! SEE!? LET'S HAVE A DEMONSTRATION RIGHT NOW!" Medic got his Ubersaw out and was about to carve Soldier's face off in his quest to prove that he was the real deal, but he was quickly stopped by Goodwitch.

"No, no, no! It's fine, Mr. Medic. But he does have a valid point." The Nikos looked at Goodwitch as if she were insane.

"What are you saying!? They tried to take our daughter!" Aleka shouted.

"Because we're her professors!" Heavy defended them.

"So!? We're her parents! You don't have the right to take her wherever you please!" Argus shouted.

"But I can-" Spy stopped Medic.

"Medic, please." With a glare to the Nikos, Medic backed down. "Very well, if you wish it, we will not attempt to see Pyrrha again."

"You got that right..."

"Indeed, besides, we really have to go back and see if Engineer is okay. _Go, go, go..._ " Spy ushered his team out, leaving Goodwitch to talk to Pyrrha's parents.

"We really should meet with each other sometime." Port waved to them as they left with Oobleck by him. The mercs didn't say anything as they started down the long road to Vale. Then they noticed Scout was still trying to hit on some huntresses.

"I tell ya ladies, fighting those monsters up there wasn't a problem at all." The huntresses scoffed at him. "Yeah, yeah, what if I told ya I perform just as well in bed as I did up- woah!" Heavy grabbed him and dragged him away with them, leaving the huntresses to giggle at how pathetic he was as he flailed to get out of Heavy's grasp.

* * *

 **Patch**

Travelling through Vale was uneventful. They kept a low profile for two reasons. The possibility of the Fang and therefore any of their bigger enemies finding their base of operations, and to see if Engineer was alright. Upon getting to the ferry that'll take them across to the island, they immediately checked for any suspicious Faunus characters that maybe connected to the Fang, but ultimately found nothing. Maybe the Fang learned their lesson after trying to ambush them the first time.

When they got to Patch itself, they found Sniper was about to take his camper van over to Vale with the same ferry that these six were on. Turns out that the ship did crash, but the three of them got away with... uh... every bone broken, but they survived and their passive healing took them to full health. It did take like fifteen agonizing minutes of pain though. As the camper van drove down the road leading to their fort, they found Yang training outside with her father. The girl waved at them while her father gave glares at them. Medic returned the glare, salty about Yang getting a robot arm without his permission because he was the motherfucking doctor here.

"Holy Mary mother of Joseph..." Soldier gasped when they drove up to their fort. Well the ship that they flew in earlier did land, it crash landed. As in crashed into the forest and grinded against the ground until it went through the fort wall and somehow perfectly got itself into the garage without damaging it. Currently, robots were working on repairing the wall and setting up automated defenses. Once those defenses were up, the fort will be 100% finished.

Engineer was inside the garage, already working on repairing the ship with his team of robo-Engineers. Pyro was with him.

"There you fellas are! What took you so long?"

"We flew out the back of your damned machine here! That's what took so long!" Demo yelled at him.

"Yes! And it was very fun!" Soldier screamed.

"No it wasn't, Soldier." Scout muttered to him. The guys who flew out the back looked like they were about to fuck Engineer's shit up before Engineer raised his hands to defend himself.

"Okay, okay, I forgot the ramp was open, but you got to admit fellas, it sure was fun flying around in this thing, right?" Engie slapped the side of it to emphasize his point. They gave him blank stares.

"...um, somethin' wrong?" Engie gulped.

"You know what, guess it actually was kinda fun." Scout said.

"Da, we destroyed much evil today." Heavy grinned. Seemed like they were warming up to him, actually starting to laugh together as a big happy group of friends who hate each other most of the time.

"Imbeciles..." Spy cursed them, then he was punched in the shoulder by his son.

"Lighten up, will ya!?" He grinned at his father. Spy gave his son a glare, but sighed in defeat.

"I suppose it was..." He sighed with a smile. In a minute, he joined his friend's comradery.

* * *

 **Salem's Lair**

Salem and Cinder's crew were at the main meeting table. Salem had a projection of what was happening at Beacon to watch her Grimm push the huntsmen back, but what bothered her was those mercenaries Cinder was afraid of coming in and doing severe damage to her forces. Sure, the Grimm still won as they regained their lost territory, but it was bothersome that these nine guys came out of nowhere and did so much damage.

"What the fuck..." Mercury trailed off after witnessing the mercs' shield activate. Salem's eyes shifted from the projection and over to Cinder, who looked visibly shaken by what she was seeing. Cinder looked like she was on the verge of a heart attack.

"Calm yourself, Cinder." Salem ordered the Fall Maiden. Cinder motioned for Emerald to come and speak for her, but Salem stopped her with a raising of a hand. Salem looked Cinder over one more time before addressing her.

"You truly fear them, don't you?" Cinder nodded her head, slowly. "Humph, a maiden afraid of nine mercenaries. I'll never understand why you fear them so much. It's almost as if you believe it is their destiny to destroy you, somehow..." The Fall Maiden froze when she said "destiny."

"Tell me Cinder, do you believe in destiny?"

* * *

 **Technically, I wasn't lying. The notice said I'll still be working on new chapters, just not as fast as they usually do. I started work on edits already and am still in the process of reading my friend's stories. And video games.**

 **Also, WE MADE IT PAST 40 CHAPTERS! YAY!**

 **The mercs' ship is based off of the ship from "Burning Through Space 2", an SFM short by the legendary animator Winglet. It's just that it has drastically improved combat capabilities.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: You be in the closet.**

 **TheFrankcisco: It's not going to be anything too major.**

 **delta4phoenix: It's not really an accent, more like Deutsch vocabulary, but I see how you did not see that coming. Thanks for understanding.**

 **Awesome Arod: Thanks mang, but it's not a break if I'm still working behind the scenes.**

 **buzzsaw935: POOT RO DA!**

 **Jack905: You'll see when the ship's ready again.**


	42. The Medicine and the Ice

**Remnant, Skies near Atlas**

"Hmm..." Engie hummed as he checked the ship's navigation system. "If I built this thing right, then we're already close to Atlas."

After a 4 hour or so flight in their ludicrously fast airship (not even at full speed), Engie, Heavy, and Scout were nearing Atlas. The ship was not completely repaired after the banging it got yesterday as it still looked like total shit. The only guns that were working were the fixed (as in stuck forward) sentries in front, and a single sentry turret on top that was set to auto at the moment. Engineer simply repaired the essentials needed for flight to make this trip. Sure, one of the engines was smoking black, but at least he had another engine to rely on. That's terrible logic, but that's what they decided to go with, so fuck it.

"I still don't get why we're going to this place anyway..." The white landscape that was the mostly cold continent of Solitas did no look that appealing to Scout, remembering fondly Siberia when he was sent to find Heavy. "Shouldn't we go, you know, find Cinder or even those damn kids before they get themselves killed meeting her?"

"Heavy agrees."

"Come on, fellas. I just wanted to take this thing out on a test run to see if it's capable of long ranged flight." Engie reasoned, ignoring the still fucked state of the engines. "Spy said if we're going anywhere, it might as well be to Atlas so some old ghosts can say hello to that Weiss girl."

"How come we can't just do this long range flight test-thing on the way over to Mistral or whatever the Hell that place is called?"

"Mistral's further away, that's why. Atlas is closer and we at least know there's gonna be civilization if this thing crashes." I mean... I guess. "That's also why I brought you two. Least I won't be alone if we die far from civilization in a burning wreck."

"That is stupid thinking." Heavy said while Engie waved him away.

"I just hope the weather here don't mess with the engines..." Frost building up on the cockpit as well as through several unpacked holes in the ship didn't make him feel much better. The guys had to break out some jackets to keep warm, Heavy making do with his Siberian Bear coat.

"Relax Dell. If it's as cold as it feels up here then at least the engine thing won't catch on fire." Scout tried his own hand at reasoning, and failed miserably.

"That is not how fire works, stupid." Heavy lightly slapped the back of his smaller friend's head.

"Yeah, you don't need to be Pyro to understand that, dummy." Engie told him to make him feel stupid.

Another moment of relatively safe cruising passed, and the city of Atlas itself was now visible. It was a clear day in the cold kingdom of Atlas, and the white to light blue/gray colors of the high-tech and fancy looking buildings was quite a sight to see the city sprawled across the snowy landscape. Atlesian cruisers and some other smaller transport airships were out in the skies above the city.

"Yep. This is definitely where that ice girl lives..." Engie pointed out to some very recognizable symbols near the outer areas of the city. The snowflake symbol of the Schnee family adorning Schnee manner as well as some SDC owned buildings. Speaking of Schnees...

"Unidentified airship!" A female voice called out from a speaker system as an ornate airship with ribbons flying behind four wings. Winter's personal airship. "Land, now. Comply peacefully and Atlas will deal with you civilly. Refuse, and we will use force." The voice of Winter echoed. Some Atlesian dropships flanked the merc airship now.

"Hey! That sounds like Weiss' hottie of a sister!" Scout remembered how fine Winter Schnee looked the one time he met her. She's so hot when angry.

* * *

 **Patch**

"Did I ever tell you about that time my buddy Keith and I snuck into a junkyard and fought each other with plungers? Like, we was just kids back then, but I tell you it was fun as all Hell. You ever did that when you were a kid?" Fucking Ellis from L4D2 was telling a story to Demoman, Spy, Pyro, Sniper, Archimedes, and Lieutenant Bites as they were gathered in a locker room and were playing cards. Soldier and Zhanna were not there. Probably doing something that involves the complicated process of which members of the Homo Sapien species conduct an act of passionate interaction for a biological process to occur where a baby is made as the ultimate result of such an interaction taking place between a male and a female.

"I mean look, I know y'all probably had different childhoods n' shit, but my buddy Keith told me somethin' 'bout how if there's like ten, or was it twelve... yeah it was ten, if they're or more than ten people in a room then there's a chance they got somethin' in common. So do y'all smack yer buddies with plungers when you was kids or was that just me?"

"No... when I was a child, I spent my time sneaking, learning how to fight, and lying! Now please shut up!" Spy yelled.

"Seriously mate, you have got to shut up." Sniper growled. He has done nothing but talk THE. ENTIRE. FUCKING. TIME. **HE WAS HERE!** The mercenaries still remember Ellis after that offscreen moment where they traveled through other Valve worlds when the teleporter first started working. Last time they saw him, they helped the entire survivor cast from L4D survive a horde of infected, which was really easy because the zombies were easier than balls for the mercs to fight with their array of weapons and skills.

"You know what, maybe I have been talking too much..." The guys lightened up with hope that he actually meant it. "This reminds me of the time I got yelled at church because I kept talking to my buddy Keith-" Ellis kept going as everyone in the room groaned in agony.

"Should we throw 'em back into the portal?" Demo whispered to his friends.

"Ahhh, what? Y'all's gonna throw me back with the infected?" Ellis hear him. "I mean we got picked up and safe with the military and all, but my world's still pretty shitty if you ask me."

"Speaking of worlds, how the hell did you get here?" Sniper rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"I'm glad you asked! You see, I was hanging with my girl Zoey when I got a vision from my buddy Keith that there's a cool hole nearby that I should check out..." He droned on as usual.

"I regret even asking..." Sniper covered his face.

"Mphm, mpmhmh Mphm mphm?" Pyro Mphmed out a wonderful suggestion. A suggestion that they quickly and happily agreed on. Pyro nodded it's head to the others and got nods of severe approval back while Ellis was still telling a story of how his buddy Keith somehow told him to find a portal here.

" _Mphmmmm?"_ Pyro tempted him with a Balloonicorn. Upon seeing the horse-like toy, Ellis put his hands on his cheeks and did something that was like a mix between a gasp and a squeal.

"Oh my God, I love horses!" Ellis proclaimed without a sense of shame for being attracted to a childrens' toy. "This is just like that time my buddy Keith and I went to Whispering Oaks and won-" Ellis didn't get to finish his fucking story when Pyro dragged him all the way out to the portal with the mercenaries watching.

"Oh, okay! See y'all later!" Ellis waved with the Balloonicorn tucked closely as Pyro threw him into the portal. "I LOVE TEAM FORTRESS 2 BY THE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYY!" He screamed as he flew into the void.

"Good riddance..." Spy muttered out.

"Right, Team Fortress 2..." Sniper scoffed.

"Yeah... still can't believe a bunch of psychos made our jobs into a video game in his world." Sniper commented.

"I know, right? What ninny in their right mind would think what we do is fun?" Demo asked a semi-valid question.

...

"Besides us?" Nobody answered him.

"Yes, well... we'd better shut this portal down before even more people from other worlds come. I warned you this would happen." Spy sighed. A callback to chapter 34.

"I hope Engineer gets back with his so called 'test run' soon. I sort of regret even letting him go to Atlas. Who knows if Ruby's already met Cinder?" Spy worried.

"The hell are you talking to?" Sniper asked from behind him.

"Oy lads, anyone's seen Medic? The bread van is missin' too!" Demo yelled from the garage. Running over to the garage, they saw there was indeed a bread van missing.

* * *

 **Vale**

" _Zer you are..._ " Medic ominously whispered. The mad- I mean, good doctor had parked the bread van at a distance far enough from the hospital where Pyrrah is being kept at, and was now using some binoculars to see through her room while sitting on a bench.

" _Oh you vill see..."_ He growled upon seeing Pyrrah's mother enter the room. " _I am going to heal your daughter so hard, she'll scream in joy from my treatment..."_ The random civilian sitting on the bench next to Medic leaned away from him when he said that. " _She's going to hug me, thank me, maybe even kiss me on ze cheek if she's that happy that I, ze best doctor in ze world, saved her..."_ Okay, the civilian stood up, and held his hands up in front of him as he slowly backed up from Medic. "Vat? I'm serious, I'm going to heal ze hell out of zat unconscious girl!" The civilian ran away, shouting for police as Medic remained there. "Ugh... some people don't understand medicine... welp! Better get going! Pyrrah is going to wake herself up!"

Medic got up from his bench seat and walked over to the hospital with a kick in his step. He was immediately halted by security and told to 'get the fuck out' in civilized terms. The hospital's memory of his attempt was quite vivid.

"Sir, you're not allowed on the premises anymore. Please leave or else we will be forced to remove you... uh..." One guard trailed off.

"Forcefully?" His partner finished.

"No, not forcefully, retard. I said force earlier, I can't use it again."

"Sure you can!"

"Yeah, but I'll sound stupid." Taking this opportunity of the two guards arguing over proper sentence construction, Medic slipped right past them. He looked back and chuckled at the incompetence of the guards, until he bumped into someone.

"Oh! My apologies miss... oh scheisse..." He bumped into Pyrrha's mom. She had only came by to check on her daughter before going off to the huntsmen reclamation effort of Beacon. "Hehe... N-now look, Ms. Nikos, I'm not here for your daughter, but I'm here to- GAH!" Medic didn't get to finish as Aleka had grabbed him by the shirt, and swung him far out and away of the hospital.

"Oof! Ah... I zink I broke both my legs..." The doctor said as if that wasn't such a big deal. "Maybe walking up to ze front wasn't a good idea anyway... Oh hello kids." Looking up with his legs still broken, he saw Velvet... and the rest of Team CFVY. Medic landed right in front of them as the former team got together for old times sake.

"Mr. Medic! Are you okay!?" The teens were all over him, trying to help anyway they can, but Medic waved them away.

"Nein, nein, I am fine. Just let ze passive healing take effect..." To their amazements, Medic's injuries slowly went away as if he had an aura.

"Oh my dust... YOU HAVE AN AURA NOW!?" Velvet shouted excitedly, cutely bouncing up and down in place.

"It truly is a pleasant surprise." Yatsuhashi folded his arms together in approval.

"But how did you do it? I thought you guys didn't have any auras..." Coco wondered.

"Oh, no, no, zis is not an aura, but an upgrade to myself, you see..." Medic explained, not like it made Team CFVY understand it any better. "I suppose it's similar to an aura as it heals us, makes us more resistant to all kinds of damage, makes us faster and even make us jump higher, but unlike aura it lasts forever. As in never runs out like zose aura monitors you used at Beacon."

"..upgrade... yourself? What are you, a robot?" Coco joked.

"Nein, I am a Deutschmann." Medic calmly dusted himself off. "Well, it's been nice meeting you kids again, but now I must go back to ze hospital." He started whistling a tune as he walked away from them.

"Oh, I get it! You're a doctor at the Vale Royal Hospital! Right?" Velvet assumed, making Medic kinda stop in place.

"Urm... vell... not exactly... it's just that I got something that must be resolved over zer."

"Like what?"

"Oh it's nothing! Just trying to break into ze hospital and steal Pyrrah so I can take her with me so I can wake Pyrrah up. No big deal..." Medic casually explained to the shock of the four teens with him. "Okay! For real zis time, before you ask anymore questions, I am going to go and do exactly that. Ze hospital security's going to be more alert now zat they know I've been zer..." Suddenly, a soft feminine hand grabbed his own medically trained hand.

"You're going to-" Velvet was interrupted by Medic.

"See? Zis is exactly what I'm talking about! It's like you kids never run out of questions... anyway, go on ahead. Might as well answer what you have left for me."

"... you're going to _break_ in, take Pyrrah, and try to wake her up."

"Vell zat's exactly vat I said except for the 'try' part. That word implies there's a chance that I can't do it, and zat's a silly thing considering I'm the best after all, hehe... Oh... I do hope you do not intend to stop me. Otherwise zis could gett quite awkward..."

"No..." Coco stated matter of factly. "We want to help."

* * *

 **Atlas**

"All units on standby." Winter ordered of her men. The unidentified airship had just docked down and now she had it surrounded with Atlesian Knights and soldiers. "Contact the General and inform him that the unidentified craft has peacefully landed."

"Yes, ma'am." A soldier nodded before leaving to do so.

Winter took a moment to fully observe this strange airship's features. First of all, it was heavily damage. That much was obvious from all the holes and claw marks on the hull. The other obvious thing was that this ship was armed to the teeth, even if it seemed like the majority of its visible weapons appeared to be damaged as well. Lastly, it was painted red. A shade that reminded her a lot of those mercenaries she met. She may have met only two of them and they were annoying, but it was indeed a shame that they died at Beacon. Weiss told her all about it when she came back home, and she felt for her sister after she lost her academy and many of her friends. She put those thoughts away as now she had a job to do.

"Attention, occupants of this airship, under the authority of-" Suddenly, the back ramp slid open. Soldiers and even Winter tensed up a bit when a large, furry looking figure was slowly revealed to them. It was dark inside the cabin, and some of the soldiers almost lost their nerve when they thought it was an Ursa.

"Step out into the light." Winter ordered authoritatively, hand on her sword.

"And get a better look at that hot bod? Sure thing, babe..." Winter froze. _That_ voice. It couldn't be... "I know what you're thinking, and let me say it for ya. 'Damn, that's one handsome guy!' Am I right?" A kid from Boston flashed a smile and flexed a bit. The massive furry figure was revealed to be Heavy when he and two other men walked down the ramp, one being Engineer, and the other being... Scout.

"Sup, sweetheart. Miss me?" He said after seeing Winter remaining still and in shock.

"Howdy ma'am." Engie tipped his construction hat at her with a polite nod. "If my memory ain't buffaloing me, then you're Weiss' sister, is that right?" His sweet Texan voice said. "I know we didn't actually meet and all, but Scout here has said a lot about you." He held out a hand as if for her to shake, but Winter was still standing with a face of surprise.

" _What did you do to her?"_ Heavy whispered down to Scout.

" _I think she's just stunned by how good I look!"_ Scout was being cheeky as usual. " _Watch this!"_ So Scout strutted over to Winter like he was hot stuff and was in the process of putting an arm around her shoulder. "It's cool babe. I know I'm just too- OW!" Winter smacked the fuck out of him when she came back to her sense from Scout touching her and Judo flipped him back to his friends.

"You died." She said with a genuine sense of care to it. "You disappeared at Beacon. Weiss told-"

"Yes, yes, we know all this already. You are shocked that we are alive." Heavy cut her off. It really does get tiring when people see ghosts come back to life. Asking "HOW?" and "WHAT!?" every time you see someone you used to know.

"We would love to tell you why, but we just got to drop by to your sister and say hi. We got other places to be, so you gonna point us the way over to your house or are you going to lead us yourself?" Engie said.

...

"Lieutenant?" Winter said over her shoulder.

"Yes ma'am?"

"Tell the General I have some people he should see."

 _Ah, shit._

The words above are pretty much what the mercs mentally said together with the prospect of meeting a man of high authority again, especially since this is Ironwood. As said a couple of times already, they do not like authority figures. More specifically, authority figures who'll fuck with them. Ironwood is highly likely to be one of those authorities.

* * *

 **Patch**

"...I just hope wherever Medic is, he doesn't do anything stupid." Spy grumbled. He was aware that despite his craziness, Medic can keep himself fairly well mannered. As with all the mercenaries, however, it didn't matter how stable they were in the mind, there was a chance that a moment of derp will happen with them. Suddenly, one of the Huntsman wielding Sniper bots keeping watch at the gate beeped into Spy's earpiece.

"What is it?"

"Some young blonde sheila's at the gate. Says-"

"I'm already here." Spy surprised the Sniper bot as he walked out from behind it and slid the flap that's used for seeing who's on the other side. They got security cameras n' shit, but it doesn't hurt to be old school sometimes. Flipping the flap up for a second, he saw purple eyes on the other side. Flipping the flap down, he went out the side door because he didn't feel like opening up the whole gate just for her. "Hello, Yang."

"Hey, is everything alright? What was with that crash yesterday? Where did you get that weird airship come from? Also nice work on the fort by the way. You guys work fast."

" _Yes..._ don't worry about that crash. We're all fine and good."

"What about that airship?"

"We built that yesterday, now why are you here other than the obvious? I thought your father said you can't come and see us."

"He went out to town, but you guys built an airship in just a single day!?"

"Actually, it took two days, but now it's heavily damaged from our little adventure yesterday... hehe." He tried to hold back a chuckle from the insanely dangerous but a little fun attack they had in that new airship of theirs.

"Yeah, I can tell. It was all over the news. You guys are pretty gutsy for flying an airship these days. Air travel's restricted to the government and evacuation purposes now, but then again, it _is_ you guys flying. Can't say I'm too surprise you don't care much about the law." She grinned.

"Indeed." He grinned back.

"So is that what we're going to use to get Ruby back?" She asked with hope.

"Of course." Spy assured her, much to her satisfaction. "Just waiting on Dell to return and make some more repairs to it, then we can go."

"Wait, he already _took_ it somewhere?" Yang gasped. "Wasn't it like, you know..." Yang lifted her robot arm up and made a gesture of a plane crashing into the ground.

"Yes. But you said it yourself, do we care about such thing?" He said smugly.

"Hehe, of course not..." She giggled a bit uneasily. "It's just that shouldn't we be getting to saving Ruby instead of flying off somewhere?"

"I know, right? That's exactly what I said, but then Dell somehow convinced me to let him go out on a test flight. I told him he might as well say hello to Weiss, but I didn't think he'd take it seriously."

"Go see Weiss!? Y-you mean he's bringing her back!?" Yang asked with hope. She did miss Ice Queen too.

"Maybe, but I don't think so. I don't believe her father is the kind of man who would allow strangers, at least to him, take his daughter away from the comforts of home."

"Oh..." Yang tilted her head down as if sad.

"Yes, well... in any case, how is your new arm?" He motioned to her new robot right arm. You know, the arm Medic is fucking pissed about because HE IS THE MOTHERFUCKING DOCTOR! You don't go around putting new body parts on without his permission! HE DIDN'T PRESCRIBE THIS SHIT! Whew... anyway, Medic's personal rage infesting me aside, that's Medic's thoughts on the new arm.

Yang flexed her robotic hand a bit before answering. "It's pretty good, actually. I thought it was going to be hard getting used to having two arms again, but it's working out pretty well." She threw a punch with the robot arm to emphasize her point, holding her fighting stance.

"Yes, I've seen you training with your father. You know, Medic is a little upset about your new arm."

"Really?" She looked up from her fighting stance.

"Well, a 'little upset' is a severe understatement. He's flat out angry that you put that on."

"Why? He should be glad that I got a new arm. General Ironwood was nice enough to ship this all the way down from Atlas to here."

"You see, that's the thing. That is why Medic is angry. _He_ wanted to give you an arm. And before you say something like he was going to attach a random arm from someone or something to you, no, he wasn't. He was going to give you _your_ arm."

"I-uh... what?" Yang was confused. " _My_ arm?"

"Yes. Medic still has your arm." These words struck Yang like a train. "He's furious he didn't get to give you the pleasant surprise of your old arm back. We even have the other half of your shotgun gauntlets as that was still on your arm when he found it."

"Oh..." Yang looked sad again. "Well, thanks for telling me..."

"You spoiled the surprise for yourself. Now you should go home before your father comes back."

"Yeah... I guess you're right..." The girl turned around and walked a few steps the way she came. "You're going to get me when you guys go get Ruby though, right?"

"We'll tell you, but we're not ta-"

"Mr. Moreau." This was the first time Yang called him by this title and it caught him off guard. "Jacques, please. She's my sister." Her eyes had a pleading look to them. They weren't puppy eyes, but it was that look of genuine worry and emotion that had more power than any puppy eyes.

"...of course we will bring you." Spy assured her with a warm smile.

* * *

 **Vale**

"Alright, stand guard better this time, dumbass." One of the guards posted outside of the hospital said to his partner. "We let that creepy doctor guy slip past us because you were being so stupid."

"Hey man, it's not my fault you can't speak correctly."

"So what, dude? You- actually, nevermind. We're going to get distracted again, so shut the fuck up and keep watch."

"Whatever you say man, just know that I was right though." His partner smugged, much to his friend's annoyance. Turning around with a face that said 'I am going to shit talk you as much as possible because I'm clearly more right than you and this is my only way of arguing effectively.'

"Now what the fuck-"

"Excuse me?" Both guards looked forward and saw a young rabbit Faunus stand before them. "Is this the Royal Vale Hospital?" She asked innocently, and cutely. One of the guards was blushing from how adorable she was, but his partner snapped him out of it with a bump in the shoulder.

"What's wrong, can't read?" He pointed a thumb toward the big sign that clearly said that this was indeed that hospital.

"Oh, I'm sorry... I'm just a little... ditzy! That's all." She closed her eyes and smiled at them.

"Damn she's cute..." The other guard's heart was melting.

"Dude, she's like 17."

As the guards got into another argument and Velvet kept them distracted, Medic snuck over with the rest of Team CFVY around to where a window on the third floor was left open. Medic was wearing a disguise in the form of the Einstein paired with A Brush of Death, and the Bunnyhopper's Ballistic Vest. The idea behind the disguise was to attempt and make him look more like a huntsman, at least one that wasn't allowed back at the hospital. Yatsuhashi was keeping watch for anyone coming while Fox distracted some other guards with whatever excuse he was making up.

"Ack... I wish I had one of Spy's disguise kits..." Medic grumbled. "Zis would be so much easier... anyways, I cannot thank you kids enough for helping me on zis mission of mine."

"No problem. Everyone at Beacon owes you for what you did back at the school." Coco told him with warmth. "Looks like we're going to owe you even more when you get Pyrrah to wake up, right?"

"My dear frau, are you questioning my medical abilities? Of course I'll wake her up! Now, let us get going. I don't think we have much time left."

"Right." Coco got her back against the wall and cuffed her hands together.

"You're sure you're strong enough for zis? Three stories is fairly high..."

"Please, I swing around a purse that can turn into a minigun all day without a sweat." She grinned.

"Right... here goes nothing!" Medic ran forward, stepped onto Coco's cuffed hands, and she threw him all the way up to the window. He missed the sill, but he saved it by grabbing the ledge right under it. Looking back down, he gave Coco a thumbs up, and then crawled in. He appeared to be in some kind of janitor's closet on account of all the cleaning equipment and spare stuff in here. Perfect.

"Oh! Looks like I won't have to look for ze vent system after all, hehe!" Medic laughed, still laughing when he put on a gas mask. Whistling under his mask, he got out a canister of special knock out gas of his own make, though it was a much weakened version.. He didn't really use it as most of the time his patients were either already unconscious or they were fine with letting him operate on them while conscious. Sticking it into the vent system and turning the fans on, he let all of it go. _All of it._

"Hehehe..."

Medic snickered. Whoever's affected by this will be out for at least thirty minutes. This was the weaker version of his knockout gas after all, but thirty minutes was more than enough time for him to get Pyrrah and get the fuck out of here before the authorities show up when it becomes apparent something's amiss. So he waited a few minutes to make sure the gas had enough time to spread throughout the hospital and do its magic. In that time, he looked back down the window to make sure the teens didn't leave him, and they were still there, waving up to him when they laid eyes on the man.

When he was done waiting, he peaked out the door of the janitor's closet to make sure no one was standing. The door suddenly stopped going forward, and hew as forced to force it open.

"Oh, okay! Hehe." He saw an unconscious nurse was blocking the door. All over the hallway he saw staff and security out like rocks. Funnily enough, the janitor was on his way to this very closet when the gas hit him. He was only a couple of feet from reaching the door. What luck!

So easily enough, Medic was on his way to Pyrrah's room. He was aware that security cameras were still active, but he had faith that no one's awake to see him. Then again, they will see it _after_ they wake up and review the footage. Sighing, Medic took a quick detour to the security office and deleted the fuck out of the footage. It was a simple deal since he just took a key off one of the guards to get into the security room.

After he was done with that, _now_ he went to get Pyrrah.

"Oh, zer you are... my dear patient." Medic said in a fatherly way, brushing her unkempt hair away from her closed eyes. "Hehehe... do not worry Pyrrah. You will see ze world again with your own eyes." Unhooking Pyrrah from the stuff that she was connecting and not able to describe because I'm not qualified to talk about that, he held her bridal style back to the very janitor's closet he entered in from. He whistled German tunes as he stepped over the unconscious forms of hospital staff in the hallways. It sounded like he was whistling " _In Stiller Nacht._ "

Looking back down the window, Coco was still there. Before she can say anything, he already was in the process of getting Pyrrah through it, accidentally bumping her head on the sides. "Pardon!" I didn't know 'pardon' was actually one of the German words for 'sorry' either.

Seeing Pyrrah, the teens got excited looks on their faces from Medic's success, but then they were quickly replaced with urgency when he slid her out all the way. It was fine though because Yatsuhashi rushed over and safely got Pyrrah as she fell. Medic also fell out, getting caught by Coco this time who actually landed flat on her back when he fell into her arms.

"Ah! I thought you said you were strong!" Medic cheekily said to the girl with a smirk. Coco gave him an annoyed look, tilting her glasses down.

"Are you going to get off of me or what?"

"Oh! Ja, sorry about zat!" He got off of her.

"Mr. Medic, we should leave now." Yatsuhashi said as he peaked out the corner. "It appears as though Velvet and Fox can't hold the guards for any longer."

"Right!" Medic got out a bodybag just for Pyrrah, and she was slipped into it smoothly like a sword into a scabbard. "Let's go! Schnell!" The three of them stealthily made their way to some shrubbery planted near the hospital. Velvet and Fox saw this, and said goodbye to the guards they were distracting before going off to join them. After that, it was pretty easy to get her into the Bread Van. People just assumed the bag was one for holding a tent or something.

"Gott im Himmel, I can't believe zat vent so smoothly! Danke, danke, I can't thank you kids enough!" Medic shook each of their hands with very genuine thanks to them. "Usually when I do something like zis it ends miserably or even with my death!" He giggled as if that wasn't a big deal.

"Uh... right... but we're just glad to help." Coco said for her team. "We owe you big time for what you guys did at Beacon. I know we keep saying that, but we really do. Not a lot of people could say they died to save their school and their students."

"If there's anything you need, you can always call on us for help." Fox said with a smile.

"I vill." Medic warmly smiled at them, and shook their hands one last time.

"I must get going now, Pyrrah's not going to wait to be woken up forever. Auf wiedersehen!"

* * *

 **Holy shizzz...**

 **So much is going on at once! We got some guys stuck in Atlas, Medic being awesome, and Ellis somehow dropping in for a few minutes!**

 **I'm surprised the popularity for this is still going. I thought I peaked out at like 140 favs, but more people are still coming in and to that I say thanks. Any support or words said to me are really appreciated, and I highly encourage you to PM me or put a review for anything. However I respond is totally up to me, but I respond to every single one no matter what.**

 **Still in the process of editing.**

 **Review Responses :  
**

 **Lord hellfire913: I wish they could, but that requires them to find out where Salem is and who she is first. Then they could say fuck it and attack.**

 **jhdztab: It's gonna follow loosely and most likely with my own ending as I have caught up with the series already. Then again, this is me, and I don't exactly know what happens next. Which one did you read by the way?**

 **Awesome Arod: Because easy is for pussies. No matter how illogical that sounds.**

 **Battle9921: When I made up Pyrrah's parents, I just randomly typed them up as how I thought parents would react to some guys they never met claiming they were taking their daughter to help her out of that coma. I don't know, maybe they are like this canonically cuz I think Pyrrah said she was praised her whole life and kept at the best. I fucked that whole English sentence up, but you can work out what I mean.**

 **darkromdemon: Yeah. It's supposed to be the same ship from the "Burning Through Space 2" SFM movie by The Winglet. I love SFM movies by him.**

 **Raraiki: Have no fear. Meds' got this now.**

 **A fan: These things take time and certain things have to be met first. May be soon with their ship now.**

 **eren jaeger 1st: This guy is so far back that I don't know if he's even up here yet, but yeah, I like Pyro.**

 **Jack905: Well, they're just being realistic. I don't think I would want my kids around psychopaths the likes of the mercenaries either.**


	43. Heartfelt Warmth Amidst Cold

**Atlas**

Winter Schnee and her entourage of Atlesian soldiers and knights were escorting Scout, Heavy, and Engineer to General Ironwood. It was very apparent that Winter was uneasy, even shaken as her usual stern military demeanor was having trouble maintaining itself in the presence of these ghosts. Currently, they were on a walkway high above the streets as they were on one of the landing pads on the roofs of Atlas Academy. They were forced to land here.

"Heavy does not want to see General. I want to see Snow girl and leave..." Heavy grumbled.

"Darn right! Say, Specialist Schnee, what say you we just skip meetin' the General and say hi to your lil' sister? Sound good to you?" Engie tried to level with her, but Winter wasn't having any of it.

"We are going to see the General." She said sternly without looking back at them. "Please remain silent until then." Well then, it's obvious one lovable merc isn't going to keep that promise. Said kid from Boston was snaking his way close to her.

" _I got this_!" Scout whispered back to his friends. Clearing his throat, he got ready to work his charm. A charm that he largely failed to inherit from his father. "Hey there, good looking!" He stepped up to Winter's side and gave his best charming look to her, but she did not bother to look at him, her face only contorted in immediate annoyance. "Look hon, my friends and I really-"

"You will see the General and that is final." She growled. "Now step back with your fellow ruffians or else..."

"Or else what? You gonna give me a smooch- woah!" Scout narrowly dodged a punch from Winter. "Ha! Too slow!"

 **" _Mr. Scout... this is your last-_** _"_ Winter was putting on a threateningly serious voice, but Scout seemed totally oblivious to it.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyways, you gonna let us go or not?" He gave a pleading grin.

...

"... is that a yes?"

Those were the last words Scout said before in the blink of an eye, Winter delivered a slap so hard that it knocked Scout out cold. He tumbled back a few feet before coming to a complete stop, flat on his back and stiffer than a plank of wood. Winter stood in place, heaving in anger as she looked down at the knocked out Scout with contempt before looking up to his comrades. Heavy had picked Scout up and Engie had gotten a weird looking wrench from somewhere, much to her confusion. The Atlas soldiers around her were just as confused.

"Where did you get that?" She demanded in a serious tone, not in the mood for any antics since Scout soured her up real good.

"Now I don't mean to sound unreasonable Ms. Schnee, but me and the boys don't handle talkin' to people like you very well. As in the authorities. So this is your last chance to handle this civilly, just let us go see Weiss or even let us go back to our ship and we'll be off." He said just as seriously. His seriousness made the Atlas personnel start lightly chuckling, except for Winter of course.

"Are you saying that you wish to _fight_ us if we don't meet your demands?" She scoffed. "I'm sorry, but you're the ones who are not taking this civilly here. We simply ask for you to meet with General Ironwood and nothing more. Besides, Weiss is preparing herself for a concert tonight. She has no time to see the likes of you..."

"Ah well, seems like you made up your mind..." Engineer then clutched Heavy tightly in a totally not awkward way. "For the record..." He lifted the strange looking wrench up. "I didn't say a thing 'bout fighting..." With that, the Eureka Effect got to work, and the three of them were gone. The soldiers and Winter could only stand there in shock after witnessing three men disappear in a flash of lightning.

...

"What in dust just happened!?" Winter shouted out. "Find them! Find them now-"

"Specialist!" A soldier called out for Winter's attention. "We have word that the unidentified airship is taking off!"

Turning around towards the direction they came from, Winter and other Atlas soldiers saw exactly that. The absolutely fucked airship was rising with some of the soldiers who were told to keep watch over it trying to jump inside it to no avail. Using her semblance, Winter practically flew over to the scene and easily got up to the still open back ramp of the ship as it kept rising, grabbing onto the edge. Climbing up, she was suddenly stopped when a massive hand wrapped itself around her body.

"Do svidaniya." Heavy said before dropping her back out to the landing pad ungracefully.

"Call me!" Scout waved down to her as she fell, the ramp closing her view of the annoying Bostonian.

Immediately upon landing on her feet, she screamed in anger. It didn't help to stop her anger from rising even higher when the ship began to move away from them.

"Haha, silly girl. Thinkin' she got the drop on us." Engie chuckled from the cockpit. "Right fellas?" He looked back at his gang.

"Heavy does not think we are safe yet." The Russian sounded off with a bit of anger in his voice. Scout was at his side, and they were both looking out at something. Confused as to what they were looking at, Engie looked forward from the cockpit and saw Atlesian Cruisers and dropships immediately converge on their location. Worse yet, his sensors apparently detected several anti-air weapons on the ground being locked on them.

"...Darn..."

* * *

 **Patch**

"Good God, man! You actually got her!?" Demo exclaimed when Medic got out of the Bread Van with Pyrrha Nikos in carry. It was a shock for all at the fort that Medic came home with a girl... uh, as in somehow getting Pyrrah from the hospital and bringing her here.

"How did you manage this?" Spy asked with curiosity. He had mixed feelings of satisfaction from getting Pyrrah and dread from the possibility of facing the wrath of Pyrrah's parents, and maybe Vale for that matter.

"Simple! I got help from Team CFVY and knocked everyone out with some gas." Medic hummed as he kept his way to the medical bay. "Do not worry, I destroyed all ze security footage. They'll never know it was me who done it!" The Deutschmann kept moving on while he left his friends behind to marvel at his accomplishment.

"Well then, guess we got Pyrrha taken care of then..." Sniper said. "Now what do we do?"

"Mphmh mpmh phmmpmh." Pyro muffled.

"Ah, right. Engie's still got to get back here."

"Yes... just what is taking him so long?" Spy looked at his watch and saw that he'd been gone for 5 hours. "He should've been on his way back now..."

Welp, looks like they just got to wait some more. Medic was quite obviously doing some totally sound medical stuffz to Pyrrah in the medbay while Demo, Pyro, and Spy kept hanging around the locker room by the portal. Seemed kind of weird having a locker room when they already have a barracks and armory, but I suppose that it's just a callback from the days when they fought each other. Soldier also finally came out from having an intimate interaction with Zhanna where a biological process could potentially happen and result in a new member of the Human species. Trying to avoid the "s" word despite all the swearing I'm known for already.

"Oooh! Maggot bear is best bed partner!" Zhanna and Soldier were arm and arm with each other.

"And Zhanna is one Hell of a woman!" He kissed her.

"Alright, Zhanna must return to Earth and check on family." She kissed him one more time before leaving to the portal.

"Bye Zhanna! Make sure you avoid fat, greedy, sons of bitches named 'Gaben' while you travel in the Void!" He waved.

"Sure!"

With that last word, Zhanna was on her way back to Earth. Spy immediately went to the portal and closed that shit lest some crazy shit come out of it. We already got Ellis, there's no telling if something like a Space Marine, some Touhou character, or even a Red Vs. Blue character coming in and making things more complicated than they have to be. I should say right now that there have been no Gaben encounters since they first returned. Damn Gaben, fucking around with our business if you don't buy his shit.

"Hey fellas?" A robot Scout walked into the room. "Human Engineer's back in the teleporter room. Says he's got something important to tell yas."

"Engineer? Huh... thank you for informing me, Scout bot..." He gave the bot a pat on the back before leaving.

" _Ahh..._ no problem. Dad. *robotic giggle*" That made Spy cringe a bit, but he kept going. Demoman and Pyro decided to go out to the training range to pass the time while Soldier was fiddling around with the portal without anyone noticing.

Upon reaching the teleporter room, Spy found the one labeled as "Engineer" was activated and Engie was waiting there, covered in a bit of snow. The other teleporters leading to the other parts of the fort were also active by the way.

"Dell. Where's the airship?"

"Yeah... about that... we ran into some trouble with Atlas..." The Texan rubbed the back of his head as Spy raised a brow.

"What kind of trouble?"

"Oh you know... kind of trouble where they got us surrounded and are threatenin' to blow us off the map." Engie admitted. "The ship can still fly, it's just that they got us so outgunned, that we stand as much chance as a rabbit in a snakehole."

"What did you do?" Spy covered his face and sighed. Obviously, the three of them had done some fuckery for Atlas to treat them like this.

"What do you mean by that? I swear-"

"Did they demand for you to see the General and you immediately responded by trying to run away?"

"...well... not immediately."

"Ugh... Dell, what the Hell!? That ship is our only way of getting to Mistral and you got it surrounded by Atlas guns! I knew I shouldn't have let you go out on this so called 'test run'."

"Yeah well, it's too late to complain about that now. Now we got to worry about how we gonna get it out of there."

"Well then, if they got it totally surrounded and we risk losing it, then I suppose our only option is to talk it out with them." Spy sighed.

* * *

 **Atlas**

"Come out of there!" Winter banged against the side of the ship, peeping through one of several unpatched holes. The ship landed right back where they took off from lest Atlas blow them the fuck out of the sky with their advantage in guns.

"What if we don't wanna?" Scout peeped back at her literally eye to eye as that's all the hole was big enough to show. "Man you got a pretty eye! What is that, iceberg blue? I love icebergs! Thought they were the coolest thing back when I was a kid, not as cool as you, of course." Winter didn't take that joke on how her name relates to the cold well at all, but Scout didn't seem to notice. Mostly because he can only see her eye. Heavy was at the seat next to the pilot's, giving dirty looks to Atlas soldiers outside.

"Come out here this instant!" She banged even harder on the side, actually making the ship rock a bit from how angry she was. "Or else I will order the men to open fire on you!"

"Pffft! Whatever! I know you want me to come out because you just want to see my biceps." He said confidently as he went to take a seat at the cockpit. The boy put his feet on top of the controls and reclined back on the chair, then was startled when Winter suddenly plopped herself, plopped, _herself_ , onto the glass of the cockpit like a fish, giving a death glare to Scout through the hard reinforced glass. "See? You just wanted to get a look at these guns!" He closed his eyes, held his breath, and flexed as hard as he can. Maybe he shouldn't have closed his eyes because if he hadn't,he would've seen Winter rearing a fist back for a powerful hate filled punch and causing severe cracking to the cockpit glass to the point where you can't see shit out of it. "Ha! You hit like a girl, you know that!?"

"Yet you hit like baby yourself..." Heavy muttered.

"Shut up! Least I'm good with girl- GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Winter had simply forced her hand through the glass with such force that it shattered it and she was now throttling Scout in absolute RAGE. Heavy was so startled by this that he actually fell backwards out of his set before scrambling to get this angry woman off of Scout. She was unbelievably powerful thoguh, and she sort of shrugged Heavy right off of her like fly with all the rage she was in.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" She raged with the fury of a blizzard on Scout's poor neck. Winter then felt something hard get pressed onto her head. Looking up, she saw a well dressed man with a ski mask aiming a revolver at her.

"Let the idiot go." Spy demanded with the Ambassador leveled at Winter. With some hesitation, Winter gave one last death glare at Scout and got off of him. "Good." The Frenchman put the Ambassador away, and much the Winter's surprise, took her hand and shook it. "Bonjour, I'm told you are the sister of our student Weiss Schnee, correct?"

"Yes. That is correct." She was slowly regaining her composure, even though this man just pointed a gun to her head. Well, she did remember the General saying they were a pack of maniacs.

"She's a real looker, ain't she?" Scout gasped for breath to which Winter knocked him the fuck out with a kick to the face. Looking behind the Frenchman, Winter saw Engie had returned. "Under the authority of the Kingdom of Atlas, you all are under arrest. Please hurry and-"

"No, will _you_ please hurry this up? We have things to do and we do not wish to spend it dealing with the military."

"Specialist Schnee?" An Atlesian Soldier popped his head up from the shattered cockpit. "The General is here."

"Let's get this over with then." Spy turned his head to Engie and nodded. Engie nodded back, and opened up the back ramp to reveal General Ironwood flanked by some Atlesian other Atlesian specialists. Winter felt strange about this masked man. For whatever reason, she got serious vibes of Scout from him despite this being the only time she ever actually spoke with Spy. When the ramp opened fully, there was a highly visible look of surprise on the General's face upon seeing the ghosts.

"Hello, General." Spy shook the General's hand. "Excuse me... Heavy take Scout back to the fort. Engineer and I will handle this." The Russian nodded and scooped the unconscious Scout off of the ground before disappearing through the teleporter. Engie then packed the teleporter into it's toolbox so that no one can use it to sneak into their base.

"I hope you do not intend on trying to escape again." Winter said venomously, still quite hostile to them.

"Yeah, well it looks like we ain't going anywhere with this thing anyway. Damn engines' are frozen over."

When Engie did the repairs necessary for flight on this ship, he neglected to put the measures in place that kept the engines from freezing up. He kind of hoped that the engines will be kept on long enough so that the heat from them will keep them from frosting over, but that didn't work out so well after the length of time they were forced to land here.

"Even more complications..." Spy pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Mr. Spy?" Ironwood asked, making him turn to face him. "I expect you're going to tell me where have you been since Beacon."

"Of course I will."

* * *

 **Anima**

Ruby didn't know where she was. Everywhere she looked, a blanket of darkness surrounded her.

"Hello?" She called out, moving her hands in front of her because she couldnt see a thing. "Jaune? Nora? Ren? Anyone!?" There was no response. She was getting a little scared now. Being shrouded in literal total darkness wasn't something she ever experienced before. I mean to say that it is so dark, that it's as if light never existed. Ruby was beginning to shake a little, afraid that there might be some unseen entity in the dark that is here with her and she'll never know about it.

Then, something was glowing red on her person, more specifically shining off of her belt. It was hard to not notice it since it was the only thing giving off any light here, and it was the Black Rose knife that belonged to the late Spy. Glad that there was some form of light, she took it out and held it up in the hopes of seeing something in here.

"Huh, at least I can sort of see now..." The light was dim, but it was something at least. Upon having a source of light, Ruby found she was in a room. There was nothing inside the room at all, except a disturbing amount of cobwebs and clear signs of abandonment. Leaving the room, it was clear that the whole area she was in was abandoned.

Abandoned and ruined.

"No..." She fell to her knees.

Ruby was at the ruins of Beacon Academy, to be more specific, at the very edge of the cliff where the airdocks were located. The sight she saw before her was awful. Vale had been overrun. Grimm infested the city and there were no signs of life other than the Creatures of Grimm rampaging around. The sky was dark, and the moon was blood red. She felt like crying, and she was crying after only a moment. There was no one. Only her. As she wept, a voice came to her.

" _Fear no evil_ _..."_

Ruby instantly stopped at the sound of a voice. "W-what?"

"... _for evil is weak..."_

"Who's there!?" She looked around frantically, holding the knife up lest it be a hostile since she didn't have Crescent Rose with her. Then, the knife moved itself into a slash in the air. When the knife slashed the air, a cut into reality was made.

"What..." Ruby wondered as she looked into the cut.

The cut led into a world of sunlight and was far more pleasant than being in this messed up version of Remnant. Without a bit of hesitation at all, she jumped into the tear in reality where it closed itself as soon as she got her entire petite little body in. Standing up, Ruby can't help but awe at this world. It was brightly lit with sunlight, there was a picturesque little city by a ocean. The city definitely wasn't Vale as she didn't recognized any of it's features. As for where she was specifically here, she appeared to be in the backyard of a pleasant suburban home.

" _For that is the reason there can be no mercy for the wicked..."_ Now that she heard the voice more clearly, it appeared to be that of a child, and it was coming from really close by. As a matter of fact, it was coming from a treehouse. Even more matter of factly, it was a treefort. A treefortress. The knife in Ruby's hand moved itself toward the tree, and it was obvious it wanted her to go up there and see what was up.

" _No mercy for the wicked..."_

 _"_ Okay, can we go out and fight now?" A separate voice in a weird but familiar accent said. It was also child sounding.

"Shut up! We need to say a battle prayer first!"

"But we're just gonna go bash some- Ow!" A different voice from the other two cried in pain. Ruby heard a loud thump come from above as she climbed up.

"Ha! Now let me finish! Ahem... _Freedom, justice, peace, love. These are the things that the United States of America stands for. It's what all people should stand for if they wish for such things... and apple pie."_ Whoever was saying that got some cheers from his little friends. Ruby's got to admit, even if it was little kids saying it, this was actually pretty epic.

" _Oh, Uncle Sam in Heaven, give us your strength. Protect us, be with our little souls so we shall walk through the shadow of the valley of darkness without a single hit of fear, for fear is for hippies."_

"I don't remember the pastor sayin' that when me parents took me to church..." A very familiar sounding accent reached Ruby's ears. Mostly because she reached the top of the ladder and was absolutely shocked to see what she was seeing right now.

" _...No fear, no mercy. Only justice, freedom, and democracy!"_ Little Soldier shouted at the top of his lungs.

"AMEN!" Eight other voices shouted. Belonging to child versions of the mercenaries.

"Yeah! FOR UNCLE SAM! LET'S GO- hey!" Soldier went when he saw Ruby at the ladder. "Get out of here! No girls allowed!"

"S-soldier?" Ruby stuttered. She was certain this was a dream now. Solely because the mercs are dead, and they are not children. "Why are you so... young?" It hurt her to see them again, but this was the first time she had a dream about them in weeks. A strange dream at that. She usually had dreams about her closer friends from Beacon during that fateful day instead of the mercenaries, but anyway, the kids were looking at her as if she was stupid.

"Who's Soldier? That's Johnny you're talking to, dummy!" Kid Scout shouted at her.

"Oui, now what are _you_ doing here?" Kid Spy demanded as he stood in front of her. It was kind of hard to take Spy seriously since he was so young compared to her now. That and she thought the rich kid's clothing he was wearing was adorable and his cute little kid face was exposed because he wasn't wearing a mask.

"Uh, well... I got lost." She lied, trying to hold back a giggle at how she had to look down at kid Spy.

"Lost? Haha, real funny, lady. We ain't dumb!" Kid Scout threatened her with a bat but she thought it was just cute. "There ain't nobody who just comes up a tree fortress with a lame excuse like that!"

"Woah, just put the bat down little fella before you hurt yourself with it." She giggled. It was strange. Why did she have that awful darkness as part of this dream if this awesome innocence happens next?

"Put bat down, stupid." Kid Heavy threatened Scout. The Boston kid hesitantly put his bat down, not wanting to get rekt by the big Russian kid. "Ma'am, I am sorry for stupid friend, but please move from ladder. We have fight to go to."

"A fight?" She titled her head to the side. "Little kiddies like you shouldn't be fighting."

"But we have to fight! It's all we're good for!" Kid Sniper said as he held up a slingshot rifle with scope. This is an actual thing by the way. It's basically a slingshot put onto a rifle-shaped piece of wood and the rubber part is pulled all the way back like a crossbow.

"Oh..." Upon hearing those words, she supposed they weren't wrong. She didn't know a thing about their pasts, but if they were anything like how they were when they were alive. "Well.. who're you fighting then?" She asked, just curious about what a bunch of kids were going to fight. Might've been a cute little turf war where someone's going to get a boo-boo.

" _Them._ " Kid Medic pointed out the window of the treehouse. Ruby was smiling the whole time she was talking to the kid team, but her smile instantly went away when she saw what the Deutsch Kind was pointing at. He was pointing at a scary looking abandoned house, abandoned in the sense that no people lived in it. Emphasis on people, as there were only creatures in it. Creatures of darkness.

"We're going to give them a real hard whoopin'." Kid Engie straightened his cowboy hat, hands on his little wrench and cap gun revolver.

"I'm gonna burn them." Kid Pyro said. It was a little creepy because if you didn't know it was Pyro, she looked like a regular sweet little girl. The kids made for the ladder, but she stopped them.

"B-but you can't! Those are Grimm! They'll kill you!"

"You think we care!? Those things are total jerks!" Kid Soldier yelled. "Look what they did to the American flag I made!" A very messed up American flag was held, and it was clear that it was crudely made too.

"And they hurt us real bad!" Demokid chimed in. Ruby was struck because she knew what they meant. Their deaths at Beacon, but she still held her ground. The kids simply jumped out of their treefortress and onto the ground.

"You can't fight them though!" Ruby said upon jumping down in front of them. "Let me handle this! I'm a huntres- oh..." She reached for Crescent Rose, which she forgot was not with her right now. "...I'm still not letting-"

" _Fear no evil..."_ The sound of adult Soldier's voice was coming from kid Soldier. " _For evil is weak..."_

"You seem to not understand yet, Ruby." Adult Spy's voice came out from Kid Spy.

"Mr. Moreau..." She said slowly. It's been a while since she heard that voice.

"We are going to fight, and that's final. You're more than welcome to help us." The Frenchkid said.

 _"No mercy for the wicked, for only the wicked looks to darkness for whatever pitiful gain that they can't wait for freedom to give them..."_ Soldier was talking like a priest, maybe because he technically is a priest.

"But... why? Why are you going to fight _them?_ " She gestured back to the Grimm which were sort of hanging out at the ruined house.

"Because..." Suddenly, the world began changing. The kids slowly turned into adults. Almost like petals flying away in the wind, pieces of the kids flew off and the adult mercs were left in their place. The world itself crumbled, collapsed, and turned into the dark world that she first found herself in.

 ** _We want vengeance._** All of the mercs said menacingly in unison.

Ruby stepped back from them, and she looked around at the dark world she found herself in again. Now, she saw the Grimm cover the land. Shockingly, there was Cinder Fall standing at the head of all the Grimm, grinning with her Fall Maiden powers. Immediately, Ruby understood why they were so angry. She herself tensed up in anger, but she also coowered at how much Grimm there were. Then, she felt a hand placed on her shoulder.

"Penny?"

"Salutations, friend!" The robot girl beamed. "Don't worry Ruby, I'm combat ready!"

"Yeah! What the robot said!" Nora chimed in as she, Jaune, and Ren came out of nowhere.

"We're with you Ruby." Jaune said with nod.

"We all are." Ren said just as all of her whole team and other friends appeared too. Ruby smiled warmly at this. Even if it wasn't real, this was awesome.

Still, she can't help but feel fearful of the Grimm that literally covered the landscape ahead of them vs the like 30 or so of them. She snapped out of her fearfulness when the mercenaries suddenly ran ahead, yelling at the top of their lungs and firing their weapons at the fullest degree of FUCK YOU to the Grimm and Cinder Fall. She gasped in shock and almost ran to stop them, but Spy had taken hold of her hand and held it tightly.

"Go on. You wish to slay monsters, do you not?" She nodded. "Good." The Frenchman smiled and ruffled her hair in a friendly manner. "Fear no evil, Ruby. For we're with you. Now, let's go fuck some Grimm." The teens had no problem with that whatsoever, as they all ran down in a glorious charge against a dark sea of fangs, fur, and claws.

* * *

"Ruby? RUBY!?" Nora furiously shook Ruby awake from sleep. It may be daytime in Vale, but Anima was on the other side of the world and it was night here.

"AH! What!? What!?" The red caped girl screamed upon waking up.

"You were dreaming." Ren stated stoically.

"Out loud..." Jaune groaned from his sleeping back, unable to sleep because Ruby was talking to herself. Calming down and looking around, Ruby saw she was at the place they decided to camp for the night. She took a deep breath and sighed.

"Hope it wasn't a bad dream. Was it about that... you know, we found the other day?" Nora asked with a worried look. Ruby simply reached for the Black Rose butterfly knife at her belt and flicked it open, examining the blade.

"No... it was awesome."

* * *

 **Atlas**

"Ms. Schnee?" An attendant knocked on the door to Weiss' dressing room and entered. "You're expected to begin in five minutes. Do you need any assistance?"

"No, I'm fine. Thank you for asking." The heiress politely responded.

The attendant bowed and left Weiss to finish up. The Sun was setting over the cold continent of Solitas and it was nearing the time for Weiss to perform in her concert. She didn't want to perform, and she wasn't technically forced to perform either. This was to raise chairty for the Kingdom of Vale, and Weiss was content that the funds raised her would go to the kingdom where she attended school at. The school that had fallen six months ago.

Well, there's no time to worry about that now. She's got a performance to do.

* * *

 **This took longer than expected. Nah, just kidding. It was because I was busy playing video games since I got back into them. Still editing this by the way.**

 **You know, this story is _really_ longer than I thought it was going to be and I'm happy to see that there's still those of you who stick with me to the end. This is my first story, and it's really nice to see it so successful. Guess I'm good at writing, or maybe it's something else entirely. I don't know, but thank you guys anyway for reading.**

 **I think I'm going to stop declaring Game Days solely because relatively few people show up to them and I often just invite people randomly anyway.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **user02: First. It's not 'simultaneously', it's 'rapidly.' Maybe it is tiring, but I don't exactly feel that way. I really should be editing and reading like I said I was going to though. Like, is there any particular reason to why you feel it's tiring? You made an account just to post this review for some reason when you could have easily done it as a guest. Do you want to talk to me?**

 **Reader: Valveverse is best.**

 **A fan: No. You decide. *troll face***

 **Jack905: Most definitely.**

 **Guest: Fuck. They already failed :)**

 **Michamya: Ahhhhh... got game day though.**

 **Mr. Green37: 2 American Soldiers... i was thinking something of the most militaryily patriotic men ever, like Sarge, Bill, Soldier, and others all in one place.**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Willing to game?**

 **Lord hellfire913: Well goddamn, okay that's some loyalty right there!**

 **buzzsaw935: I never played the game, but I know the characters so well!**

 **Awesome Arod: Well then, we'll see. Get Steam.**

 **A Shattered Piece of Crap: Done.**

 **darkromdemon: Yes it was the best!**

 **FrankZTank13: Man, that's quite a story you got yourself, but I think you might want to read again when all the edits are finally put in place. Sorry. :(**

 **Lolwat: Done, and thanks.**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: Ahhhhhhhhh...**


	44. Warming Coldness

**Atlas**

Ironwood was unsettled to say the least. Six months ago, when Beacon fell, Spy was found dead the day before the attack began and his friends were confined on Ironwood's flagship for severely disturbing the peace. Yet there were multiple claims of him battling the Grimm alongside Team RED with their army of robotic look-a-likes. They disappeared after the battle, and most assumed they had either died or simply fled the scene when things got really out of hand. For Ironwood, he believed they ran. Now, however, he knows the truth, and he didn't know what to think about it.

"I'm sorry for doubting you men." Ironwood apologized to Spy and Engie. They were in an interrogation room at Atlas Academy. "Your efforts at Beacon saved many innocent lives, and your sacrifice was a valiant one that should be remembered."

"So we have been told, many, many, times..."" Spy trailed off.

"Yep." Engie added.

"Now that you're... breathing, again, what are you going to do?" Ironwood asked with genuine curiosity. They were still mercenaries.

"Two things, mister." Engie began. "We're gonna get our students back, and we're gonna whoop the woman who killed us like a mule."

"Indeed." Spy added with a serious tone for good measure.

"Well, seems like we have a common goal. As headmaster of Atlas, and a fellow huntsman, I invite you to join me and stop this madness from getting any worse." The two mercs looked at each other while Ironwood was a little worried of not getting such allies on his side. "I know you two are professors of Beacon, and I understand if you want to go back to Vale and help Glynda retake the school. The choice is yours, just know that Atlas can proved you with the best."

"Well, Beacon's a second priority at the moment, but we decline your offer. We're not here to join any army." Spy answered.

"Speaking of which, why are you here? And what about that strange airship you used to travel here?"

"Came here for a test flight." Engie said casually. "Also came here to see Weiss as a plus, it's the kingdom she lives in after all."

"I see, but are you aware that all air travel is restricted to only evacuation and authorized personnel? We would have shot you down if you refused to land when you did."

"Yes we are." Spy replied lazily, making Ironwood raise a brow at him.

"Then why-"

"We don't care." Spy answered before he could finish.

"I see..." Ironwood trailed off. Then, someone knocked on the door, and it was revealed to be Winter Schnee. "Specialist Schnee. Are you ready to depart for Mistral?"

"General." Winter saluted back, not giving any notice to the two mercs in front of the General. "My ship is ready for the flight. Clearance from air traffic control has been granted and all systems are green."

"Good, good... do you wish to stay and watch your sister perform?" Ironwood asked. Winter's eyes looked down, thinking about it.

"As much as I would love to, I would rather perform my mission with haste." She kept a straight face.

"Can't stand your father too, is that right? You rarely saw him since-"

"General." Winter stopped him, a look in her eye that said she didn't like the mention of her father. "Apologies for the interruption, sir."

"Excused. If you wish to go on your mission, then I suppose you should be off then." Winter saluted the General before leaving. She also finally stole glances at Spy and Engie after not acknowledging them for most of that time. Spy felt she didn't like him for some reason.

"Sorry about that. That was Specialist Schnee, Weiss' sister, but I'm sure you're already... acquainted with her... But in any case, if you wish to return to Vale, then be my guest. Just be careful next time you fly in Atlas airspace. It would be a shame if you were killed by friendly fire."

" _That implies he's friendly to begin with."_ Engie whispered to Spy.

" _Least he's not actively hostile..._ but General? A question, if you will?"

"Go ahead."

"Is it fine if we stay for Ms. Schnee's concert? We're already here after all."

"I don't see why you shouldn't, but I also have a request for you."

"Oui?"

"Try not to cause any trouble..."

* * *

This was the night of Weiss' performance, and she was going to give it her all. Her father didn't technically force her to perform, but this was a fundraiser for the Kingdom of Vale after all. Vale was her home. A real home away from here where she met people she loved. She knew better that her father didn't actually care for Vale and was only doing this to make the Schnees look good, but the money would go a long way into helping Vale rebuild. Still, the song she chose for this concert will reflect her true feelings of her father, even if he'll probably just look it over and not even notice.

It was a full house, but she had no fear. She done this before.

 _"I'm not your pet!_

 _Not another thing you own,_

 _I was not born guilty of your crimes!_

 _Your riches and your influence can't hold me back anymore,_

 _I won't be possessed, burdened by a royal test,_

 _I will not surrender_

 _This life is mine."_

She finished, and received plenty of applause but no cheers. That was typical of Atlesian high society though, for cheering is associated with the lower class. She bowed, and smiled at the crowd before turning around to leave the stage. Before moving to leave though, she looked up to the balcony where her brother Whitley and father were watching with grins on their faces.

Later on, a banquet was held for the charity after the concert. It was like the entirety of the Atlesian elite was there, but this was Atlas. Rich people attend everything so long as it's nice and prim, trying to gain influence or getting relations set so that deals can be made later, all depending on what their profession is of course. For a lot of the elite here, it was in business, and Jacques Schnee was a very valuable business partner and friend to have.

She can see it in these people that they didn't actually care for Beacon. Just now she met a boy named Henry Marigold who painted a fine piece depicting the front of Beacon Academy, a piece that touched her heart. However, this boy didn't touch her heart in the same way. He angered her when he said he was only here for the free food and drinks, and she promptly told him to leave with threat of security escort. Weiss sighed to herself as she looked back at the painting, remembering better days that felt so long ago.

Then, a man walked up to her side. She got a quick glance at him and saw that he was tall, and was wearing a sharp and crisp red hued tuxedo. He said nothing upon reaching her.

"You have a lovely suit." She said to be polite after the man said nothing. "I suppose you had it custom tailored like everyone else here."

"In Paris, actually." The man responded in a shockingly familiar voice. It got Weiss so good, that she didn't look at him for the shock of hearing a French accent again, afraid she was hearing things.

"Paris? Pardon me, but I've never heard of such a city. Is it to the South of Solitas?" She said to keep the conversation going, and to see if she wasn't hearing things.

"More like to the northwest of Troyes and on the banks of the Seine." The French voice sounded off. Okay, Weiss was convinced this guy might be fooling with her and his accent might've been a coincidence, so she turned to face him with angry eyes and then...

"What..." She gasped, eyes going wide and stepping back at the sight of a ghost next to her. He wasn't wearing a mask, but Weiss has seen him without the mask before.

"Bonsoir, Madame Schnee." The ghost raised his glass at her before taking a sip. Taking some more steps back because she feared she might be losing her mind, she accidentally bumped into a rather large man who was also wearing a red tux, one that fit Heavy's large frame of course.

"Dobryy vecher." Heavy said his good evening to her in his native language.

"W-what?" She gasped once more. Taking rapid glances around the place full of Atlesian elite, she saw that the others were here too. "This... this can't be real. You're not real." She closed her eyes. "You died..."

"Tell us something we do not know." Heavy said. The other mercenaries were coming up to see their old Ice Queen again, all dressed in Red tuxedos including Pyro even though it still wore it's gas mask and flame suit.

"Hello Weiss." The ghosts said altogether at the still very shaken Weiss. Medic was reaching for something under his tux.

"I-I ah..." Weiss was going to faint, but Medic rushed her and caught her, sticking a needle in her but in a way that no one saw. The needle instantly woke her up. Wouldn't want any girls to faint at seeing ghosts now would we?

"Woah!" Medic yelled aloud with everyone in the room looking towards them. He set Weiss on her feet with a slight giggle. "Be more careful, Ms. Schnee! Wouldn't want to embarrass yourself by tripping in front of all these people, am I right!?" The people in the room laughed and waved him away before continuing on with their random rich people talk. Her father even looked over, but he soon resumed his attention on an associate of his. "Seriously though, do not faint. We already dealt with that problem with Yang." Medic told her. The other mercenaries except for Tuxedo Sniper and Spy had already dispersed to see if they can do rich people things too.

"You guys saw Yang? How-" Sniper put a finger on her lips and hushed her.

"Know what you're going to say, but we got it covered already..." He gave her a little pamphlet looking thing that said "To Weiss, from RED Team with love" on the cover. She was to shaken to even open it at the moment.

"What's this?"

"It's a pamphlet detailing everything that happened to us from the moments before our death till now." Spy explained. "All written in one hour so we never have to explain it at length ever again. Explaining it to the General was the last straw for me..."

"Jawohl, but anyway, now that I've seen where you hail from, you truly do deserve zat last name of yours."

"U-um... what?"

"Schnee means snow in Deutsch. My native tongue." Medic explained. "You already look ze part of an Ice Queen, even more so with zis cold region you call home!"

"Heh... right, mate." Sniper fist bumped Medic.

"Yes, but just read the pamphlet and you'll understand." Spy patted her shoulder. "It's good to see you again, Weiss." He smiled warmly at her. A lot of emotions were going on inside her at the moment. A cocktail of shock, surprise, joy that people she liked were actually alive, and even a little sadness at seeing them after so long. Some of those emotions are the same thing, but just go with it.

"It's good to see you too..." She said shakily with a smile, holding back the urge to hug them since that was considered improper.

"That was a nice performance you put up there, sheila. Didn't know you had such a nice voice."

"Ah, scheisse! Soldier get away from zat!" Medic ran to Soldier to stop him from doing some stupid shit.

"Um, thank you. Mr. Sniper." Weiss bowed to him.

"Yeah, yeah... Spy? You think it's time we leave now, I think Soldier's startin' to cause some trouble..." Looking over to Soldier, he can be seen getting into an argument with some man over something they couldn't hear. Medic was holding him back. "And I think your boy's gonna get in some trouble for himself..." Looking over to Scout, he was trying to work his low class charm on these high class women. Heavy was just laughing his ass off at his miserable attempts while Demoman, Pyro and Engineer found some people actually worth talking to here.

"Indeed. We must get Engineer's ship repaired too..." Spy nodded his head. "Well, it was a wonderful evening Weiss, but it's time we made our leave."

"You're leaving already?" Weiss was a little afraid of this. It's so nice to see people who she cares for again, besides Klein of course, but she was otherwise alone here in Atlas. "Did, did you bring Ruby? O-or Yang? Even Blake?" She asked with hopes of seeing her old friends again. Earlier, they mentioned meeting up with Yang already so Weiss wondered if they brought them too.

"Sadly, no. Yang's father won't let us do a thing with her, Blake's missing, and Ruby's on a suicide mission to Mistral."

"What!?" Weiss' attention was instantly caught by this.

"Read the pamphlet and you'll see." Sniper already went to gather the gang up. Seemed like security was coming to get Soldier.

"No!" She put her foot down. "You can't just tell me Ruby's on a suicide mission and leave! I demand to know what's-"

"You will see it in the pamphlet... but have no fear. We'll save her." Spy said as he walked away. "Au revoir, Weiss." Weiss was going to stop him and demand if she can go, but she knows her father will never allow it. Hell, he hasn't even met them yet, and she rather he didn't considering what the mercs are like. She even considered sneaking away with them now, but her father was in the room alongside dozens of witnesses.

Watching Spy walk off through the gathering of rich people was sort of surreal. He was indeed mannered like a gentleman, yet she never imagined he _actually_ could mingle well with the elite. Seems like he's raised something like her, with proper etiquette and such. That and his looks got to the hearts of a lot of the ladies there. He was way older than her, but she had to admit he was really good-looking. Several women blushed and giggled when he set his eyes on them, and some even tried to go and flirt with him until he politely waved them off.

"FAUNUS ARE ENTITLED TO THE SAME DEMOCRACY THAT ALL PEOPLE ARE BORN WITH, YOU HIPPIE TRASH!" Soldier yelled as Heavy and Demoman dragged him away from the man he nearly beat for talking shit about Faunus. Because freedom is for all people in world. GO AMERICA!

"We're so sorry for zis!" Medic apologized to security as they watched, only escorting them out as they leave.

Weiss watched them leave with a heavy heart. It was comforting to see them again, but it was also unsettling with what they said. Her hand held the pamphlet up, and she was definitely sure she'll read it later if it contained anything on what they were doing, and maybe some closure for what happened at beacon.

"Ugh! Can you believe some people? Actually giving a damn about the Faunus..." The man Soldier almost beat said aloud, outraged that someone was going to lay a hand on his expensive suit.

"I know! Like those idiots in Vale..." His wife said aloud as well, catching Weiss' attention. "Vale, humph! Maybe if they invested in better kingdom defenses and kept the Faunus under check, then maybe their kingdom wouldn't have been breached! Personally, I say good riddance to them!" This got some laughter from the gathered elite in the room, obviously sharing similar ideas.

"SHUT UP!" All eyes were on Weiss after that outburst she made.

"Weiss..." Her father said from across the room.

"You don't have a clue! None of you do!"

"Excuse me!?" The woman said with a gasp.

"You're all just standing around talking about nothing! Worrying about your hair, your money, your stupid problems that don't mean anything!" At this point, her father walked up to her and grabbed her arm to stop this.

"Weiss! That's enough!" Jacques Schnee whispered to her.

"Let go of me!" She said loudly, struggling to get him to let go.

"You're embarrassing the family!"

"LET GO!" She broke free from his grasp and fell to the floor, accidentally summoning a Boarbatusk she slew all the way back from her first class with Professor Port. The crowd backed up as the summoned beast turned its attention on the woman Weiss was yelling at.

"Ahhhhhh!" The woman screamed. "Please! I'm sorry! Just leave me alone!" She begged as the beast came ever closer to her. Unbeknownst to a lot of people in the room, RED team was barely out the door when this happened.

"TIME FOR A RIGHTEOUS ASS BEATING, YOU FILTHY UN-AMERICAN ANIMAL!" Soldier screamed as he did a flying tackle and proceeded to beat the shit out of it with his fists. under normal circumstances, the team would get Soldier off of whoever he was beating, but considering how boring this banquet actually was for them they decided to join in on the beating of the creature.

"Have taste of Russian fury!"

"I'm gonna tan you like a goddamn buffalo, son!"

Ironwood was going to shoot the creature, but he held back when the mercs suddenly charged in. Now he was watching unamused as the rest of the crowd watched with horror at how brutal they were with it.

"Okay, gentlemen- gentlemen! I think it's dead now..." Spy heaved as he stopped, looking up at Ironwood. Silence.

...

"We should get going." Spy casually said, getting the boys up for a one way ticket from "you're totally not welcome here anymore"-ville.

"Wait!" Weiss' father called out to them. "Who are you?"

"Jacques Moreau." Spy said to him, helping Scout up as he somehow got under the Boarbatusk. Papa Schnee was going to ask more questions, but they already got the fuck out of there. The banquet goers were unsettled by this turn of events and they were now leaving, much to Papa Schnee's displeasure.

"Weiss, I need to have a word with you later..." Jacques Schnee said coldly to his daughter before going up to Ironwood, demanding to know who they were. Weiss was left alone in the banquet hall. The only thing of comfort was that the mercenaries were alive.

* * *

 **Patch**

After making Pyro use it's flamthrower to defrost the engines to the airship, they all fle win it back together to Patch where it is now undergoing full repairs. Vale air traffic control already had them cleared for flight since Goodwitch gave them the go, but it did take some pulling strings for Goodwitch to convince the council of the mercenaries. Ozpin didn't say a lot about them back when they were professors, and the council is of suspicious of them. Still, the council recognized they were huntsmen, and they turned their attention to other things like trying to reestablish Vale's CCT network.

"John, why do you always try to fight someone whenever we go somewhere?" Demoman sighed. He, Soldier, Sniper, and Scout were hanging in the living space of the fortress with some robots who were taking a break for some reason. Heavy was in the kitchen getting a sandwich while Engineer got to work on fixing the airship to full restoration. Medic was with Pyrrah.

"It's my duty to protect all free people! You can't go around saying things like that! Not with me around! It's against the Freedom of Speech clause in the Constituion!"

"I'm willin' to bet my scrumpy here that you haven't even _read_ the American Constitution. Hell, I don't think you can read at all."

"Pffft! Whatever! I'm going to bed, MY AMERICAN BED! Good evening, and God bless you!"

"Night, Soldier."

He went to the barracks and got into his bunk, sighing once he got settled in. "Humph... how did he know that I never read the Constitution? I can't afford one, but at least I'm still a good American, right?" He said to himself.

Deciding to reinforce how American he already was, he got down and knelt by the window with his Saber out. The saber sheathed, he placed it in front of him and prayed like a knight using his sword as a crucifix. This was no ordinary prayer if it could be considered one at all, rather, it was a declaration of what Soldier believes an American is and therefore what he believes is right. Saying this was one of the most American things he can ever do, and it was all thanks to his grandfather...

* * *

 _Fear no evil, for evil is weak._

 _When darkness covers the land, it runs with the lighting of a mere candle. An insignificant and small source of warmth drives darkness away in an instant. Light thy own candle and cover it, where upon the gentlest lifting of the cover, light seeps out with a vengeance and drives the dark away, allowing you to see. No matter how dark the shadow may be, light will always pierce it's black heart._

 _As for the wicked who resort to such vile means as to achieve their petty goals, they shall be shown no mercy. No mercy for the wicked, for like the darkness they embrace, they are just as weak. As light drives away darkness, so does justice strike out against evil in such a manner as rapid and violent as the mere candle._

 _Protect us, give us your strength so that when the day comes where I walk through the shadow of the valley of death and despair, I shall fear no evil for I know that you are alongside me, spreading the good word and faith of this clean country. May the Lord, Christ, and the Founding Fathers in Heaven smile with the intensity of sunshine down on me and my grandson, for you know we will always be the truest and rightful defenders of what is good and right._

 _Such is the purpose of men of the United States of America. We live for the defense of the good people who are as free and happy as the wild mustang through fields of golden prairie._

 _By the blessings of our very existence courtesy of you, we devote ourselves to fearing no evil, for it is weak, and we are strong._

 _Amen._

"Amen." John Doe opened his eyes after his Grandfather finished up their prayer. He was wearing a stolen U.S. infantryman's uniform, as this was the day he would travel to Europe to fight the Nazis as a stowaway soldier. His Grandfather was here with him, here to see his boy go off and become a real man through the fire and blood of war.

"Goddamn, I should be a pastor, did I ever tell you this?" The old man grinned.

"Plenty of times." His 20 year old grandson replied. Times before Soldier lost his mind. "You'd really make a great one though."

"Damn right I would. Wished I was so that I can knock some real sense in people about why America's so great." Howard chuckled. "But uh... I do wish I was younger too..."

"What's the matter grandad? Feeling old? Ow!" Howard slapped his grandson in a loving way.

"I am old, dummy. Just that I wish these legs can carry this old warhorse back over to Germany and kick some ass! Right alongside you..." Howard took his grandson in for a loving embrace. It didn't matter if he was 111 years old, he still had quite some strength as he squeezed Soldier in the embrace only two good men would know. "Those words I said in the prayer, you keep that in mind, alright?"

"I sure will, grandpa."

"Yeah, of course you will... Johnny. Boy, how many Nazis you think you're going to kill over there?"

"How many? How many are there?" Soldier joked, sort of.

"Hehe, that's my boy! Just make sure you kill every single damn one of them. For us, and America."

"Now that is something I can promise!" Soldier snickered.

"Good, good, good..." A foghorn was heard, and looking back behind his grandson, Howard saw the troop transport heading to Europe was getting ready to set sail. "Very good..." They let go of each other, and Soldier turned to reach the ship before it leaves him.

"Watch the farm for me! I'll see you when I get back!" Soldier waved as he ran.

"I'm sure you will..." Howard waved back.

* * *

"Amen..." John finished his prayer, over thirty years since he's last heard it. Even after seeing him after death, Howard was that important to him. Well, technically, Howard kept his promise, and Soldier kept his even though it was 30 years overdue.

"Can't wait to see you again, grandpa." Soldier went to bed.

* * *

 **Menagerie**

Yes, Blake went to Menagerie and not Mistral like my fucking mistake a couple of chapter back said, still need to edit that and this out by the way, but they've been fairly good there so far. It's night in Menagerie, and Blake was getting settled back in her old home. It was a little unsettling for her to be seeing her parents again, especially after she left them, but they're the only ones she got.

Sun was out in the streets, seeing what was good in this island crowded with Faunus. As for Blake herself? She was looking through her scroll. Looking back at the time before the Fall of Beacon. It hurt her... so much to see these pictures of Team RWBY and their friends.

"I'm so sorry..." She said to herself, touching the scroll where it had the faces of her friends. Blake believed this was all her fault, that she was responsible for Beacon's fall. She soon snapped out of those thoughts though when Sun returned.

"Sun! Where have you been?"

"Out in the market. You'd be surprised at how many people are actually awake this time of night." He said, holding up a banana bunch because monkey Faunus.

"Somehow, I doubt that..."

"Yeah, well I heard some crazy things from some guys there."

"This better not be about the White Fang..." Her cat ears folded downwards. The encounter with those two White Fang guys earlier REALLY got her uneasy.

"Nah, it's not. But I heard some talk about crazy things happening in Vale." The mention of Vale hurt her a little. "Something about some weird huntsmen going around and fighting Grimm."

"How's that different from any other huntsmen?" Blake asked, unamused.

"Dunno. Only heard people say they were crazy though."

"Humph... those are just stories and rumors, Sun. Communication with Vale is cut off..." She said sadly.

"Yeah, I know. Just thought it was interesting, you know?" Sun said before taking a bite out of his freshly peeled banana. Blake kept the look at him for a moment, and sighed, looking out at the shattered moon outside.

"I know..."

* * *

Well then, now that we know what the kitty is doing and what fuckery the gang is doing at the moment, let's check up on Mann Co!

Surely something interesting's going on back home, right?

* * *

 **Earth, Mann Co.**

"HAHAHAHA!" Saxton Hale Austrailianed as he and his long time partner, Margaret, fought a bunch of Pacific giant Mountain gorillas he had shipped here with some of the funds Mann Co. was able to earn in its steady climb back to international hat and weapon maker.

"Told you we can do this even as I own this company!" Hale shouted aloud.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... BEHIND YOU!" Margaret smiled as she knocked a gorilla the fuck out with one punch.

"Oh... fighting these things remind me of that other world, Margaret..." Hale's mood instantly went sad. He's still not completely over not getting back to Remnant. "They had these monster things just like this fella here..." He held a gorilla up as an exampled as it smashed its fists into his face, though he didn't seem to care that much. "... but they were bigger! Scarier! And tougher!"

"As tough as Australian gorillas?" Margaret asked after dodging a gorilla kick.

"Oh, Hell no! But they come pretty close." Hale said casually as he threw some apes into other apes. He sighed once more, making Margaret feel for her husband. Saxton Hale and Maggie actually got married to each other after breaking off the deal with that suave ass zoo enthusiast, Charles Darling. Together, they burned down his zoo together and beat up the animals contained within them. Not including the other zoos Saxton destroyed over the seven months that he's been away from Remnant.

Elsewhere, Ms. Pauling was at the front of Mann Co., making sure the robots were in order before continuing with her administrator duties. Heavy's whole family had gone to Albuquerque for shopping or some shit like that, and Scout's family was expected to arrive together soon. They haven't been told that Scout was alive yet.

Then, Ms. Pauling felt someone tap her shoulder.

"Yeah-ohhhhhhhhh, holy Jesus!" She exclaimed upon seeing who it was.

"COWER FOOLS! FOR MERASMUS IS HERE TO WRECK YOU!"

* * *

 **Ah shit.**

 **Thank you guys for reading again, but now is time to talk about something. Monty Oum.**

 **So... this is the second year anniversary of Monty Oum's death, and I know you've seen it all over the RWBY fandom if you read other dedicated RWBY fanfiction and the deviantart page. It's a tragedy that such a man had to go, but like any other thing in this world, men do not live forever. It's a sad truth, but a truth we must all come to terms to as we grow older. Life does not last forever, but what matters in it is what we do with it. You can choose to make your mark on the world like Monty did with his amazing animations and RWBY, or you can choose to live it away wastefully, not caring for the little things that give life its color like family and love.**

 **Monty Oum is distant to me, but still an inspiration. I only knew of him after RWBY was revealed in 2012, and I've been following him till his death in 2015. Every single animation he had out for eyes to see I have seen, and I loved it. He's a creative mind, but a lot of people are creative. It's just that there's not a lot of creative people who can actually express their ideas like Monty and so many others can.**

 **I respect the man, and I love his work. His presence in this story is directly connected to my respect for him. I think I'll have a full on special for him soon, I don't know. I wrote this at 11:00 PM and I'm tired, but for Monty Oum...**

 **You may be dead in body but not dead in spirit. Millions of fans still follow you and your work, and keep you dear in their hearts and minds. As long as your works exist like the poets of the classical era, you will not be forgotten.**

 **We love you, Monty.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **buzzsaw935: Wish granted.**

 **Jack905: Good indeed...**

 **A fan: Sure.**

 **Xenolis: Yeperoni**

 **TF2RWBYCrossover: Fuqin' TF2 fanboy...**

 **Guest 907: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyy.**

 **Ghostshark24: I made it up myself. With bible references.**

 **MCZ: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.**

 **Xenolis: VIOLENCE! YES!**


	45. Ze Healing Process

**Mann Co.**

"COWER FOOLS, FOR I AM MERASMUS THE MAGICIAN! AND I AM HERE TO WRECK YOU!" Were the words Merasmus uttered 5 minutes ago when he finally found Mann Co. HQ and commenced wrektening the place with his dark magic. It took him a while because he didn't know where the HQ was, and his subscription on teleportation magic ran out since he couldn't renew it in prison. Yep, he has to buy teleportation magic. Do not ask me how that works, ask Wizards and Witches Inc...

Anyway, Merasmus may be a wizard, but this _was_ Mann Co. HQ after all. So after the Mann brothers, The Administrator, and the Classic Mercenaries died, Ms. Pauling wanted the international headquarters of Mann Co. to be a fortress that was fuck hard to capture in light of all the potential threats that could possibly come to Mann Co. after her experience with the mercenaries. All of these measures were put in place when the mercenaries disappeared the first time (which might be the _actual_ reason why Mann Co. is broke.) This place was fortified for literally anything from Alien Invasions to cybernetic flower attack, and even measures in place to shoot down and disable any nuclear warhead around the world because World War Three is bad for business, and all of this was under direct control of Ms. Pauling because she couldn't trust Saxton Hale with shit. Saxton Hale didn't have a problem with it. As long as he's got shit to beat up and moeny to acquire said shit, he's good with whatever Ms. Pauling does.

So, anti-magic was also one of the things this place was fortified against, so Merasmus got the surprise of his life when all of a sudden, these strange devices popped out of from hidden panels and severely weakened most of his magical abilities when it radiated some form of energy at him. The only thing Merasmus really had going for him was his extreme resistance to a lot of damage and his staff, which he promptly used to start smashing the fuck out of robots and defensive emplacements in absolute RAGE from losing his magic and hatred of anything associated with the mercenaries.

Then, Saxton Hale and Margaret showed up. After all the damage he already took from the defenses and robots, I think I don't have to say how badly Saxton whooped that wizard ass.

"Damn Witch! Thinking you can come in here dressed as a hippy and not get my fists in your stupid face!" Saxton laughed as he was punching Merasmus repeatedly in the face. Margaret was holding him in place with a tight hold.

"Argh! Merasmus is not a hip- OW!" A punch to the face from Saxton stopped that sentence. " _Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!_ You barbarous brute! Merasmus will not be-AHHaha! I think you knocked a tooth out!"

"Yeah? Well we're going to knock so much more out of you before we're through!" Saxton grinned with a fist ready to bunce him.

"Say we start with the dope and drugs in him. That's what hippies eat after all, right?" Maragaret suggested, Merasmus still wiggling to break free from her grasp. Then, he did wiggle free, and then quickly retrieved his staff and bashed Margaret back. Saxton was going to pounce him with that manly warcry he's known for, but then Ms. Pauling got in between them. Good thing too, since Merasmus looked like he was going to shit himself, at a totally unfair disadvantage n' shit...

"Hold it right there Mr. Hale!" Pauling said to the massive Australian man. She had her Derringer pistol out and it was against the Wizard's throat. "Let's see why he's here..."

"Eh, alright. Maggie and I got to go and finish those gorillas off anyway. They're tearing up my office." He said whilst helping Margaret up. "Let's go, Mags."

"YOU!" Merasmus screamed with unholy fury at Ms. Pauling. "YOU DESTROYED MY CASTLE OF ELDRITCH HORROR! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO FIND REAL ESTATE FOR THAT KIND OF HOUSING!? MUCH LESS BEING ABLE TO AFFORD-"

"Shut up." Pauling pressed the pistol harder against his throat. "Now, Murismuz-"

"MERASMUS!" He corrected her.

"... _Merasmus_ , why did you come here and... and how did you even find this place anyway?" Pauling was genuinely confused as to how anybody can find Mann Co. HQ. Place was _very_ well hidden.

"Merasmus found _THIS_ postcard!" He held up a postcard, and it was of Soldier standing in front of an open hidden entrance to Mann Co. with the words _"Greetings from Mann Co.! Wish you weren't here!"_ The handwriting wasn't Soldier's. "Merasmus was searching through the rubble of my eldritch castle when I found it! Then it was a matter of trekking through the desert and finding the rocks that match-"

"Yeah, okay, I get it..." Pauling face palmed with her free hand. Such stupidity and unprofessionalism, but that's to be expected from RED Team. It's _the_ mercenaries after all...

"YES! AND I'M HERE TO KILL YOU FOR DESTROYING MY HOME!" He raged to the point where Ms. Pauling had to shoot a bullet into his neck, but his resistance was still high and it did not kill him. (Have you even _fought_ Merasmus in TF2 before!?) The wizard then pounced on Ms. Pauling and was now strangling her to death. "IF MERASMUS WILL NOT HAVE THE PLEASURE OF KILLING THE MERCENARIES HIMSELF, THEN MERASMUS WILL HAVE THE PLEASURE OF KILLING THEIR FRIENDS!" He yelled with a wicked look on him. "NOW I SHALL HAVE MY VENGEANCE FOR YOUR DESTRUCTION OF MY CASTLE!"

"It... was... an... accident..." Pauling choked, Merasmus not caring at all. At least until she got the robots and defenses to focus on him again, with two robot Heavies pulling him off of her and holding him back as everything with a weapon pointed it at him. As in he quite literally has a hundred gun barrels pressed against his whole person.

"You alright, Ms. Pauling?" A robot Scout helped Pauling up as she felt her neck after that brutal strangling.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." She said hoarsely.

"Damn right you are..." The robot Scout whistled with that robotic Boston accent. Ms. Pauling sighed at how for some fucking reason, the robot's programming make's them behave nearly identical to the mercenaries, and worst part was she didn't know how to change it herself.

"Right... anyway, the mercenaries aren't dead, Merasmus." Pauling said after dusting herself off, placing her hands on her hips afterwards. Those words made Merasmus' eyes widen up. "They're alive, and they're on some mission of there own in that other world they've been stuck in."

"Other world..." Merasmus said to himself. It then clicked in his mind that she must have been talking about the world those four girls he totally wrecked came from. "Uh... pardon Merasmus, but do you happen to know a way to get to said other world?" He said with sudden politeness in his voice. Saxton Hale and Margaret were passing back through here, dragging the dead Pacific Mountain Gorillas they just beaten over to body disposal.

"Lookin' for a way to the other world? Why, that device over there's got your troubles solved..." Saxton said with a straight face, still salty that anyway to get him into the Void in general doesn't work. "Got more of a chance of it workin' for you than me..."

"Thank you, good sir! Now if you excuse me, Ms. Pauling..." He slowly stood up, the guns against him following him. "How about you let me pass into that other world and kill the mercenaries instead of me kill you? What do you say? Good deal, or not?" He gave a big smile in hopes of convincing her to accept the deal. Which she totally didn't.

"What? No! Why would I let you go and kill my friends?"

"Because... they're a bunch of moronic maniacs? Merasmus isn't wrong..."

"Well, you aren't, but they're still my only friends." Pauling said sternly. "Now, because you have been such a jerk to my friends for as long as... as long as I've known them, actually... She clapped her hands, and the robots took their melee weapons out. "I'm going to have the robots beat you to death." Then the robots commenced a well deserved and painful whooping onto Merasmus' soul and body. Not so much the soul since he sold that to dark powers long ago...

Anyways, the robots, since they have the mercs' personalities to them, were spitting out insults among other things to the wizard as they dished pain on him.

"MPHMPHM!"

"HAH, YOU SCREWED UP NOW WIZARD!"

"WUH HUH HO! WHO'S LAUGHING NOW WIZARD?!"

"I AM GONNA MESS, YOU, UP!"

"I'LL SHOW YOU SOME ELDRITCH HORROR, H.P. DUMBCRAFT!"

"STUPID WIZARD WILL MEET FISTS!"

"IMMA WHOOP YOU LIKE A MULE, WIZARD!"

"SCWHEINHUND!"

"PIKER!"

"LET'S GIVE THIS _WRETCH_ HIS FINAL REWARD!"

And so on... with Merasmus screaming and hollering in pain as it took a while to get him down to the point nearing death. That was going to take a while, but it wasn't like Pauling or the robots had anything wrong with it. Not a problem at all...

* * *

 **Patch**

" _Oh my gosh..._ " Yang gasped to herself as she watched a news broadcast. It was morning now, and she decided to have some breakfast before training with her dad today. She was eating said breakfast as she watched the morning news.

"In light of yesterday's gas attack on the Vale Royal Hospital, police have confirmed that there have been no injuries and that the mystery gas had only induced all in the hospital into sleeping, similar to regular anesthetic gases used in the hospital. This gas had no ill effects, but it is now confirmed that one patient is missing from the hospital." A picture of Pyrrha back when she was still up and kicking was put on screen. "Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl, and student of the fallen Beacon Academy, has been confirmed missing by the authorities. Security footage from the hospital has been deleted, and no witnesses have came forward to reveal anything to authorities..."

Then Taiyang came into the room and shut the TV off. "Time to train, you ready?" He asked his daughter with a fatherly smile.

"Just let me finish my cereal first." She replied.

"Okay, just make sure you get your lazy butt out there once you're done." He then went outside. Yang watched her father go out the door before reclining back on the sofa, sighing because she had a pretty good idea about where Pyrrha might have gone. And better yet, who took her...

"I know you guys want to help, but seriously?" Yang sighed to herself about the mercenaries lack of care for things. She decided to possibly sneak out and go see them later, but for now, she's got to continue training with this here robot arm.

* * *

Elsewhere, at the mercs' fort, Engineer was repairing his airship with his team of Robo-Engies as promised. The repairs were quite complicated and time consuming since there were so many holes in the hull, that almost the entire thing had to be replaced. Not to mention the engines and thrusters that needed some serious fixing if they were going to make it to Mistral, which was even further than Atlas.

"A little more to the left." Engineer was guiding the moving of a reinforced metal sheet into position. "Alright, stop! Now move to the left."

"But that's where we were heading before." The Robo-Engie who was operating the thing that held the metal sheet called from above.

"I know! Just keep moving left." So the sheet kept slowly moving left, until Engineer called for it to stop of course.

"Alright, that's good! Engineer #543!"

"Yeah?" Said Robo-Engineer serial number responded. He was with some other Robo-Engies sitting down on a bench for no particular reason other than to be not helpful. If that was the intention of course.

"Get over here and weld this in place."

"Alrighty then!" He came over with a welder and started welding the thing as ordered. Engineer watched the robot do its work for a bit before turning back to fix a turret they took off from the ship.

"Hey boss?" The Robo-Operator shouted down. "I think there's something wrong with the crane."

"Ah, that's just horsetalk. Nothing I build ever breaks." Engineer was quite confident in his abilities as an Engineer. It's in the name after all. So as he was replacing the damaged barrels on the turret, Scout came in.

"Yo, hardhat!?" The Boston kid called, shuffling past Robo-Engineers bringing stuff in and out. "When's this thing good to go?"

"Whenever it is, boy." Engie replied, not looking up from his work. Damn he wished this airship was wrench compatible. It'd be as easy as fixing up a Sentry if he fully understood how his Australium infused Grandfather made it so that a mere smack of a wrench can repair and upgrade a device.

"Really? Cuz whenever it is seems like's it going to be a while..." Scout was referring to the state of the airship, which was having entire sections removed because of damages.

"Nah, relax son. It ain't gonna take that long. Nothin' I ever built-"

"INCOMING!" A robotic voice shouted from above, and in that instant, the crane device broke and came crashing down, making the panel Engineer #543 was welding fall on top of him and destroy him. Then the robot Engies started flipping the fuck out as they thought they were under attack and robots started swarming the place in search of any attackers. "I TOLD YA THERE'S SOMETHIN' WRONG WITH IT!" The operator yelled from its seat.

"Then why didn't you fix it then, ya damn tin can!? You're a robotic version of me for Christ's sake!" Yeah, the Robot Crane Operator didn't have an answer to that and he just slowly sunk back into his seat, robot Medics coming in to possibly save Engineer #543. Looking back at Scout, Engie saw he had a shit-eatin' grin on his face.

"Nothing you build eva' breaks, huh?"

* * *

Elsewhere (again), Medic just got done getting ready for the day and was going in to check on Pyrrha in the Medical Bay. He was humming a nice German folk tune as he entered the bay. The Robot Medics inside the bay heard this, and also began humming the tune. It was beginning to sound like a _song_ was coming on! Medic started the song, and the robots joined soon after, singing in their robotic German voices.

 _"Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,_

 _Über alles in der Welt,_

 _Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze,_

 _Brüderlich zusammenhält,_

He was nearing Pyrrha's bed now, still singing the song with the robotic assistants using some medical implements like instruments as if this was a Disney movie up in this bitch. If he wasn't singing, he would've noticed something was wrong.

 _"Von der Maas bis an die Memel,_

 _Von der Etsch bis an den Belt..."_

"Guten Morgen, Pyrr- oh... oh dear..." When Medic reached Pyrrha's bed, he found that she was dead. The heart monitor was flatlined, and apparently the injection of his own blood which he oh so generously donated wasn't sitting well with her body. "Hmm... alright, who forgot to tell me she died?" He asked the robots behind him casually. None of them came forward, just rubbing their metallic heads and saying they don't know. Ugh... anyvay, do any of you know how long she's been dead?"

"Ja, Herr Doktor." A robot rolled forward. "She has been dead for eight hours."

"Eight hours? But zat vas when I vent to bed! I left her for ze blood to settle in."

"Her body rejected your blood type-" Medic slapped this robot and its head spun around wildly.

"Pffffffffffft! Blood type, rejection! Preposterous!" Medic scoffed. No woman's ever rejected him! But... that was mostly because he only ever asked one out, and this was a teenage girl. Taking a closer look at Pyrrah, it indeed appeared that ironically enough, Medic killed her with his blood. Looking back on it, it made sense since at this point, none of the Mercs had natural blood types after the experiments Medic's done on them and himself...

...which maybe why Pyrrah didn't survive since she was never subject to such experiments.

"Hmm... do not worry your little red head, Ms. Nikos..." He brushed her hair aside. "I will bring you back to life _then_ wake you up from this coma! Robots!?"

"JA, BLEI ARZT!" The Robo-Medic's answered at once.

"TO ZE OPERATING ROOM! SCHNELL!" In a flurry of activity, the robots and medic moved around and gathered the things necessary for an operation. First and foremost, a goddamn operating table... which doubled as a stretcher. They were moving with such speed, that one of the robots moving the stretcher tripped over and accidentally broke it against a table, making Pyrrah ragdoll off.

"Oh Scheisse!" The robot exclaimed as Medic picked him up.

"Dummkopf! We need another table! Raus Raus!" He demanded. "Ah, forget ze table!" He lifted up Pyrrah with the strength of three guys and plopped her down on a regular table, knocking everything off of it. "We vill operate here! Bring ze tools!" As the robots were bringing the tools over, Medic examined Pyyrah to make sure no serious damage was done... despite you know, already being dead.

Well, Pyrrah was still quite fair. She had been bed ridden the whole time between now and the Fall of Beacon so she was skinnier, and might need to go through some rehabilitation so she'd be used to walking and gain some strength back.I would say almost skeletal, but that would imply that she had her bones showing under the skin, which was not quite the case. Her red hair was unkempt and it wasn't tied back, and it was much longer now because of her com-uhhhhh... dead state. She was in a coma before, but now she's dead. We'll see for how much longer though!

"Well zen, let's begin with removing her blood..."

...

"Erm... _my_ blood. Hehehe..."

* * *

 **Vale**

"Ma'am- ma'am!" Detective Burns of the VPD was trying to calm down Aleka Nikos, who was currently crying out over her daughter's disappearance. The consolation of her husband and Glynda Goodwitch at her side wasn't much comfort. "We'll find your daughter, don't worry." He said to comfort her to no avail.

"Do you have any leads as to where they might be, detective?" Argus Nikos asked him.

"Not a single clue. She's disappeared like a kid down a well." Detective Heyman answered. His answer was not comforting at all to the crying mother who didn't want to face that her baby was missing. "Only lead we got was the gas used at the hospital, but it don't match up with anything."

"Yeah, and no one said a thing 'bout seeing any suspicious figures at the hospital... Wonder who would've took her?" Burns placed a hand on his chin and thought as hard as he can. Not really, he was probably thinking about donuts or something right now. Goodwitch, however, did have a thought as to who must've taken Pyrrah, and though she highly disapproved of how they done it, she knew they were far more likely to wake her up than the people here in Vale. She just hoped they did it soon before any-

"I-I think I know who took my daughter..." Aleka stopped sobbing, and slowly got up to her feet.

 _Damn it._ Goodwitch cursed internally.

* * *

 **Atlas**

Weiss was quite upset. She sat alone in her room, eating a fine breakfast Klein had made for her. Didn't matter how fine the food was though, it couldn't take away the bitterness she felt after the talk her father gave her last night. Long story short, after the incident she caused at the banquet last night, her father revoked her status as heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, making Whitley the heir. Her chances of restoring the good name of her grandfather's company had dropped to near zero as a resul, and it made her angry. Still, this anger gave her the determination to finally work up the courage to leave this dungeon she calls home.

To make things more stressful to Weiss, the pamphlet the mercenaries provided was surprisingly full of information on what was up. Kinda reminded her of when she first met Ruby, but anyway, she was really unsettled with discovering that Ruby and the standing members of Team JNPR have gone out to Mistral by themselves and have not been seen for the last five months, and also Blake had gone missing. The only good thing that came out of the pamphlet was that the mercenaries were alive through a method she didn't understand or really care about since she was thankful they were alive, and that Yang was the only one who she knew was safe from her old team.

With all these events unfolded before her, she was absolutely determined to leave Atlas. Where to? She wasn't completely sure yet. She considered maybe hitching a ride with the mercenaries as she knew they were trustworthy, but she didn't have a way to contact them and her father most likely had them banned from coming here. The other thing she considered was directly heading for Mistral where she knew Winter was currently at. While she didn't know what Winter was doing there, she had faith and trust in her big sister to not turn her back if she did reach her.

Whatever happens, the future will tell. Finishing up breakfast, she went through the process of moving all her furniture aside to practice. Her summoning's getting better by the day.

* * *

 **Anima**

"Have you guys been having weird dreams lately?" Ruby asked her group as they wandered along a dirt road. Another day of walking to Mistral.

"We know you have..." Jaune said without looking away from the map, calling back to when Ruby was dreaming out loud. "But to answer your question, not really. How about you Ren?" Ren shook his head no.

"Nope!" Nora said giddily, keeping spirits up on this journey of their's.

"Huh...okay." Ruby sighed to herself, looking down and reflecting on her dreams. The strange thing was-

"Do you want to talk about it?" Oh, okay. I see how it is, Jaune cutting the author off and shit. "I mean, it sounded like you were having a nightmare, but then you woke up and said it was awesome."

"Was it really?" Nora asked, getting close to her. Thinking back on it, it was 100% multiplied by like eighty-four million levels of awesome topped with a layer of cookie dough. A reminder of more innocent days, and old friends.

"Yeah, it was. I had a dream about the professors, well, the mercenary professors."

"What about them?" Nora asked, getting a bit more somber since they all remembered their ultimate sacrifice at Beacon.

"It was weird, I was in a very dark and scary room then Mr. Spy's knife started glowing and then I went outside and... then I saw Vale destroyed by Grimm..." She took a moment before continuing on. "After that, Mr. Spy's knife swung itself and cut a hole into this really nice place where I found the professors hanging out in a weird tree house that was more like a fortress..."

"Hehe, why would they be hanging out in a tree house?" Jaune chuckled, trying to relieve some tension since this dream took quite a silly turn.

"They were kids. As in, I saw them as kid versions of themselves."

"Oh..."

"It was really weird. Hearing their squeaky voices, their cute kid clothes, and their cute little faces..." She was embarrassed to say that last part since she knows them as grown men, but she kept on going. "...and there was this really young girl there which, now that I think of it, was Mr. Pyro!"

"Are you saying Mr. Pyro is actually a woman?" Ren asked before getting hushed by Nora.

"Shhhhh! Let her finish! Go on, Ruby!" Nora's imagination was running wild with thinking of what the kid mercenaries were like. She imagined something like adorable little chibi versions of themselves, complete with innocent behavior and squeaky voices.

"Yeah... then Kid Soldier was saying a surprisingly awesome battle prayer, and then they said they were off to fight someone."

"What, like a rival gang of little kids? You know, like when they told us they used to fight each other based on Team Color." Jaune chuckled.

"That's what I thought! But then they showed me a bunch of Grimm! I tried to stop them, but then, the awesome part happened..." She had everyone's full attention now. "Out of nowhere, the world changed back to Vale with Grimm everywhere..."

"Well that doesn't sound very awesome..." Nora looked saddened.

"Then they were adults again, and everyone, you guys, Penny, Pyrrah, the mercenaries was with me! And together, we fought the Grimm and saved the day!"

"Now _that_ sounds awesome!" Nora said with a big smile on her face.

"It sure is, but that was a dream after all." Ren said. "Doesn't seem to be a nightmare though... are you just thinking about the professors, Ruby?" The girl looked down and took a second to answer.

"Well, yeah, yeah I am." She answered honestly.

"Oh, Ruby..." Jaune thought she must have been feeling for them again. "I know you miss them, we all do but we have to be strong for them, and for all the people we left back home. That's why we're going to Mistral." He said to comfort her.

"I know, and you're right. I do miss them, but that's not what's making me think about them." She told them, a bit to their surprise.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I-I..." She trailed off.

"What is it Ruby?" Ren asked, curious to hear her reasoning. All of RNJR was curious in fact.

"I feel like they're still alive." That response was not what they were expecting at all, and they simply brushed it aside as her emotions getting the best of her.

"Oh Ruby..." Jaune said worryingly.

"No! You don't understand, I can feel they're alive! It's almost like I'm connected to them in some weird way..." She trailed off, moving a hand to the Black Rose butterfly knife and holding the blade in front of her while still in carry form. Sighing, she pressed it against her chest. Memories of good times at Beacon filled her mind, the questionable classes of the professors, being with her Team, and just the fun and happy times in general.

"It kinda feels like they're inside me..."

"That sounds weird." Nora blankly said.

* * *

 **Patch**

"Oh!" Medic gasped, accidentally making a cut too wide and the blood in Pyrrah was pouring out in gallons. Well, that wasn't really a problem considering they were going to drain it all out anyway.

"Something wrong, Herr Doktor?" A Medic-Bot assitant asked.

"Hmm... I think I just had a spiritual connection with someone..." The Doctor said, feeling his chest. "I feel all tingly all of a sudden, hmm..."

"Do you require medicine, Herr Doktor?"

"Nein, I am good. Now, let us continue with ze drainin- oh... it's all out already..." Medic was talking about the blood that overflowed out of the thing he was using to hold it in and was now all over the floor. "Well then, nothing to worry about here. *claps hands* Come! Get some blood of her type! Ugh... 'blood types.'"

Elsewhere in the fort, the mercenaries were trying to decide on where exactly to go once the airship was finished repairing. They could go straight to the city of Mistral itself, but there's no guarantee that Ruby and her friends had made it over there yet. However, if Team RNJR was going to Mistral on a lead of where Cinder was, then it was beneficial for them to go there first and beat Cinder's fucking face in. Then again, it wouldn't hurt to save their students on the way and then give them a verbal ass whoopin' for going out on this suicide mission all by themselves, and them give them a pat on the back. The opposite of the Goodwitchh approach!

Though it was a stupid idea to go and travel to Mistral all by themselves, the mercs had to give them respect. Why? Because honestly, the mercenaries would have done the same, but considering how these were four teens who were nearing adult age with relatively little experience, that was worth some serious respect. That is until they reached Cinder and die at the end, then that's shameful.

However, the mercenaries had no intention of letting that fuckery happen. For Cinder Fall's about to fall all over herself when the mercs come and topple her off of her high and mighty "I have ultra magic powers now" bullshit.

* * *

 **Mann Co.**

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow..."

Merasmus was still getting his ass kicked by robots. It has been like three hours since the beating commenced, and at this point he and the robots were getting pretty bored. The robots had stopped spitting insults and their attacks lowered in intensity from how bored they were, even tagging each other out for breaks once they didn't feel like hitting him no more. Merasmus himself didn't seem to feel hurt by the attacks anymore.

"Hey guys?" Ms. Pauling came back to check up on the situation. "Done killing that wizard yet?"

"Nah, this guy's surprisingly tough." A Robot-Scout replied, giving the wizard a kick that he merely grunted at.

"That and you know if Merasmus dies, I can just come back, right?" Merasmus said while still being beaten. "I mean, I'm an immortal wizard after all. Your mercenaries killed me every Halloween for the last, what? Six years? And I still come back each time..."

"At least you won't be here..." Pauling replied to that Wizard. Then, Saxton Hale came up with Margaret, on their way to get some more animals to fight. "Hello, Mr. Hale, Margaret."

"'Ello, Paddlestock!" Hale greeted. "Still killing that hippy from earlier?"

"Yeah, it's taking a while but I'm sure the robots got it handled."

"Heh! Robots! What you need is some real flesh and bone to kill this bag of flesh and bones! Right Mags?"

"Sure, Sax." Margaret said from his side.

"Saxton Hale! It's me! Merasmus the Wizard! Remember? Halloween last year?" Merasmus called out to Sax in hopes of getting out of this.

"Hmm... never heard of her." Hale shrugged.

"I'm the one who took you into that void before that strange fat man and Asian person stopped you from entering with me!" At mention of fat man and Asian guy, Hale instantly remembered.

"OHHHHHHHHH! IT'S YOU!" He laughed, pushing robots aside and helping Merasmus up. "How've you been, chap?"

"Uh, beaten. Literally."

"Hehehe, well that's just dandy! Hey mate, say you got any way for me to get back over to that other world?

* * *

 **Here's another chapter, and I hope you lads and ladies enjoy it. Thank you all so much for stopping by for a read and I hope you stick to the ending.**

 **I must say, though I'm still in the process of editing, the feeling of writing I had from the start had reawakened in me and I'm having fun again. I'm feeling more like myself when I write these chapters now and I feel like the chapters are higher in quality and content from this sudden renewal of feeling.**

 **I'm a post a thing for the full reasons I wrote this later.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **CapitalClassShip: Long live he in our memories and hearts.**

 **Raraiki: GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE, WIZARD!**

 **MrtheratedG: Yeh.**

 **Ren Woods: Realistically, unlikely. That and she's not really a priority, they don't know what her situation is actually like in Atlas.**

 **Frank: Soon she will.**

 **GamePhysics: Awesome.**

 **Awesome Arod: It took me two minutes to write that awesome prayer.**

 **Mr. Green37: Eh...**

 **Michamya: It wouldn't really fit what's happenin' though.**

 **MCZ: Subtlety is something only like two of them have.**


	46. Takeoff!

**Patch**

"Alright fellas, I think we're ready to move..." Engie said as he was checking the ship's systems. From dawn till dusk, he and his team of Robo-Engies had been working on the airship nonstop. Despite that minor setback earlier and the robots nearly shooting the place up, he forced the robots to rush repairs to the ship until it was a done deal. So glad he had spare parts lying around, Engie went to get his buds while the robots stayed behind and put the finishing touches, which was just painting the ship a fresh coat of red.

"Not bad... not bad at all." Spy marveled at the fresh look of the ship.

"Ain't she a beaut?" Engie leaned against his creation and kissed the hull.

"So she's ready to go this time?" Sniper asked, still wary of the incident of him crashing down and getting everything in his body that could be broken, broken when they flew this the first time.

"Mhpmhmm." Pyro had the same worries.

"Yep! Everythin' from the thrusters to the guns is ready and loaded for bear. Now what do you say we get this over with and get those kids back?"

"Not to mention destroy evil woman as well." Heavy added.

"Most definitely, brother in law!" Soldier put an arm around Heavy's neck in an act of comradery. Heavy still had trouble accepting Soldier was his brother-in-law now, but he did accept that Soldier was a brother in arms as he's fought alongside him for a long time. All the mercenaries have, in fact. A family of brothers who may hate, beat, insult each other everyday, but when on the battlefield, they will give their all. Especially against an enemy they unanimously hate. "Gentlemen, I say we board the U.S.S Freedom and be on our merry way to beat the crap out of that Communist woman!"

" _Yeah..._ the name needs some work, but I agree with Soldier, let's get this show on the freakin' road!" Scout went.

"Well you can go ahead and zat. I will be staying here." Medic stated.

"You are not coming Doctor?" Heavy asked.

"Not this time, mein freund. I must stay behind and care to Pyrrah. Do not worry though, I'm certain I can just teleport to ze airship anytime, correct Engie?"

"Yep. Got a teleporter linked to the ship. The Doc can come any time he likes." With a thanks, Medic stood back and watched his friends take off before hurrying off to take care of Pyrrha. He successfully got blood that her body will accept, now it's a matter of bringing her back to life. Hopefully it will wake her out of the coma too.

"Alright, gentlemen, I promised Yang we'll take her once this thing is finished." Spy said.

"Dropping by her place then?" Engie asked.

"Oui."

* * *

Look's like Yang's not going to see the mercenaries today. Professors Port and Oobleck had dropped by for another visit, and she was currently stuck in the living room, talking to her guests with her father. The conversation was all nice and good, until they got to the topic of Pyrrha's disappearance which made her quite uncomfortable because she is 125% positive she knows who took her.

"Do you suppose that the people responsible for Beacon's fall have taken Ms. Nikos?" Port asked seriously.

"Dunno." Taiyang answered. "I just don't see any reason why except for maybe revenge or something like that."

"But if it was a revenge kidnapping, then why has it taken so long to happen?" Oobleck put that out there for them to consider. "Even then, why go through the trouble of kidnapping one girl? It just doesn't make any sense..."

"Well, she is the Invincible Girl after all, but you know, not at the moment... Bet whoever took her is holding her ransom." Taiyang reasoned.

"I hope neither scenarios are the case... Yang?" Port asked Yang when she has said nothing for a while. "What do you think about this peculiar situation? Pyrrha is your friend..." At being called, Yang jumped a bit and snapped out of her thoughts about the guys.

"Uh... well..." She was trying to come up with something that won't give them away as the adults waited patiently for what she's about to say.

"Yang. I know it is hard on you. We all lost a lot at Beacon, but Ms. Nikos was lucky enough to stay with us considering the state she's in. It's okay if you don't want to saw a word. We understand." Oobleck said, thinking Yang's hesitation was because she felt for Pyrrah.

"I heard her mother ranting and raving about how those mercenary professors must have taken her." Port said. "If I recall correctly, they did try to take Pyrrha forcefully before."

"Yes, yes, do not forget that they also claimed they were able to bring her out of that coma if her parents allowed them to take her."

"Those psychos did what?" Taiyang wasn't told any of this. This was all new information to him. Then, there was a knocking at the door, and there was also this whirring noise outside that sounded like an airship.

"I'll get it!" Yang said in a rush, quickly getting out of her seat since she didn't want to spend another minute still in that conversation. Opening the door, she found it was Scout and Pyro at the door.

"Mphmlloo!" Pyro greeted with a wave.

"Sup. Ready to go?" Scout asked. Looking behind them, the airship was good and ready to go. Wondering what the noise was, the three adults in the room came to the door to see what was up, and were just as surprised as she was.

"Evening, Professor Scout, Professor Pyro!" Port and Oobleck gave Scout their greetings. Then Taiyang shoved them aside when he heard 'Ready to go?'. Words a father never wants to hear when his daughter answers the door and a man that is not someone he knows is there.

"Dad!" Yang tried to stop him before he got all up in Pyro and Scout's faces, but it was too late.

"Excuse me, but did you just ask my daughter to go with you maniacs?"

"Mphm!" Pyro thumbed him up.

Taiyang took a moment to stand there and think. These guys were fucking insane. They have done little else then attack and beat their students when Beacon was still a standing school, they can bring people back from the dead, they kill each other and have no problem with it whatsoever, maybe they really did take Pyrrha without her parents consent, and these nine men want to take his daughter away to who knows what.

"Yang, get back inside."

"No!" Yang refused, making her father look at her angrily.

"Ah crap, we're gonna have one of those intense family moments..." Scout groaned.

"That indeed appears to be the case..." Port mumbled out as he and Oobleck slipped outside to join Scout and Pyro. "I do believe we should let them have some time together, alone."

"An excellent suggestion, Peter." Oobleck said, as the four of them let Yang and her father talk it out. The lone father and daughter waited for them to back up before commencing. Both of them stared at each other intensely.

"Get inside." Taiyang demanded a simple term.

"No." She refused once more.

"Yang, I know you want to go find your sister, but these men-"

"-Are crazy, I know!" Yang cut him off, surprising him a bit. "Trust me, you don't have to tell me that..." She sighed, looking over to the waiting mercenaries. Mostly fond memories of her time with them flooded her thoughts. "But believe me when I say they're good people. They just want to help, even if they're a little nuts." She stopped, and waited for her father's response. He looked right into her lilac eyes, and sighed. He did not say anything after that however, and Yang kept pushing her point.

"Dad..." She took her father's hands. "I'm going to bring my little sister back. Ruby." He looked up at his daughter. "These guys are the only way I can do that though. I know you don't know them, but I do." She turned to look back at the still waiting mercenaries with a smile, not noticing that they were getting annoyed with how long this was taking. "They're our friends." At the mention of friends, Taiyang reluctantly looked up at them as well.

"And don't worry, they won't try anything funny on me, but uh... if they do..." She held her robot arm up and clenched it into a fist, giving her father a wink. "I think you get it..." Taiyang stood there, looking back and forth between his daughter and the waiting mercenaries in the airship. Off to the side, Scout was holding a conversation with port and Oobleck about how they survived Beacon since they haven't been told of that yet.

"Yang..." Her father began. "I... Look..." He stopped, and took a breath before starting anew. "It's just that Ruby is not the only one I've lost in my life..." It took Yang less than a second for her to realize he was referring to her mother, and by extension, Summer Rose.

"Oh dad..." She went in to comfort him, but he stopped her with the raising of a hand.

"It's fine. I know you want to bring your sister back, and... hell, you might even find your mother along the way. After all, you've been searching for her your entire life, but I stopped you every time. Guess papa dragon doesn't want to let his baby dragons leave the nest and let them loose in this big, big world..." He sighed once more, and closed his eyes. "I've been holding you back all your life, but this time? I'm not going to stop you this time. Little dragon's all grown up, I think it's time you went out and see the world. Just wish it didn't have to be with those crazies." He grinned with a thumb towards the increasingly annoyed mercs.

"Oh, dad!" Yang playfully punched him in the arm.

"Hey! Just be happy I'm even letting you go with these psychos!" He chuckled, neither of them noticing Spy walking up to them, calmly.

"Evening, Monsieur Xiao Long, but what is taking so long?" The Frenchman asked.

"Hey, Spy? That's your name right?"

"Oui. That is the name I go by."

"Yeah... promise you'll bring both my daughters back. Preferably in one piece." Spy was a little shocked with what Taiyang was asking. The Frenchman's eyes went to Yang, who was just smiling at the prospect of her father letting her go with them, and back to her father.

"Of course we will, friend." Spy held his hand out, and Taiyang grasped it firmly in a handshake between two good men making a deal.

Not long after, Yang went to pack her things and get ready for this adventure, all within the next fifteen minutes as it was a very real possibility that they were going to leave her behind if they had to wait any longer. They understood it was a family matter, but understandably, they also wanted to get on with finding Cinder and doing what you think they're going to do to her, and bringing Ruby back. Upon coming out of the house, Yang looked somewhat similar to how she looked before the Battle of Beacon, with the most striking difference being a long trench coat. She also brought her beloved motorcycle, Bumblebee. The guys didn't care as there was plenty of space for it in the airship. Especially since Medic wasn't coming along with them, which she's glad about since it meant Medic's chance to have a stern talk with her not having him fix her arm was gone.

"You got everything?" Taiyang asked his daughter.

"Yep. Just got to load Bumblebee in and we're all set to go." Yang said, right before taking her father in for a loving hug. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

"Wish I could, but someone's got to watch the house..." He said. "Be safe out there. Okay?"

"I will." With a kiss on the cheek, Yang hurried off to get Bumblebee on board. As soon as the ramp closed, the ship went off. The three huntsmen below waved Yang and the mercenaries goodbye, wishing them good luck on this adventure.

"My, I didn't think you were going to let her go for a second there." Port said as they continued to watch the ship speed away in the night sky, its thrusters looking like fast moving stars.

"Don't worry about your daughter. She's in good hands." Oobleck added.

"I hope she is..." Taiyang trailed off.

* * *

"Ugh, what took ye so long?" Demoman asked Yang after takeoff.

"Just settling some things with my dad." Yang stated, reclining back in her seat. She was real happy now. Her quest to bring Ruby back begins now, and better yet, she was doing it with the few friends she still had nearby.

"Could've sped it up a little..." Scout groaned.

"Hey, have you even talked to your dad before? Those things take time." She said back.

"She's right, Scout." Spy added.

"Yeah, like you ever were there for me..." Ohhh... _Yeah..._ that didn't sit well with Spy. All mercenaries, and Yang since she remembered that Spy was Scout's dad, looked at the Frenchman to see what his reaction was. After only a moment, Spy looked back with a plain face, and said...

"Just be glad my absence allowed you to have a childhood." With those words, Spy faced forward in his seat, and no one said anything after a while. It got really awkward for Yang since she wasn't really as close to these guys as they were to each other so she could feel the tension in the ship.

"Um... so... how long until we reach Mistral?" Yang asked, breaking the silence.

"Well, as long as we maintain our current speed and course, it ought to be only a day or so." Engie answered, glad someone said something.

"Really!?" Yang exclaimed, not expecting to reach somewhere as far as Mistral in such a relatively short amount of time. "We're still taking breaks in between though, right? I mean, a day is a long time to be stuck in this thing..."

"Yep. This thing can go faster of course, but I just don't wanna burn through all the fuel before we even get there." Engie pushed some buttons and flipped a switch, and the ship was on autopilot with a robotic Engineer voice saying it was so. "For now we can get some shut eye." Getting some blankets out, they were going to sleep in their chairs which was perfectly fine because they could recline all the way back.

Yang laid back, content that she was going somewhere productive. That and she was tired from training with her father earlier. " _For real this time, I'm coming for you sis..._ " Yang softly whispered to herself with her eyes closed.

" _Mphm..."_ Pyro quietly muffled in agreement.

" _Uh... okay, but we're all coming for you... Ruby."_

While she was drifting off to sleepland, the topic of Pyrrha from the conversation the three huntsmen from earlier had came back to her mind. She might as well ask it now since she was here with them. "Hey guys, do you know what happened to Pyrrah by the way?"

"Ah, we took her." Sniper answered for her, not really surprising Yang since she saw this coming.

"Knew it... so you guys gonna wake her up?"

"Da. Is why Medic stayed behind." Heavy said.

"Oh, cool. How is she?"

"She is dead." Heavy said as if it wasn't a big deal.

"WHAT!?" Yang screamed. She was not expecting this at all.

"Shhhhh! No screaming! And do not worry, she is still safe with Doctor. He has brought us back to life before, and he will do it again with Pyrrha." With those closing words from Heavy, Yang laid back. Well, she wasn't expecting Pyrrah to be dead at all, but she supposed Medic did have her covered.

Speaking of Medic...

* * *

 **With Medic**

" _Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,_

 _Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang_

 _..._ "

"Alright, zat should be good!" Medic stopped his singing and wiped some sweat off of his forehead.

He just got done sewing all the parts necessary for bringing Pyrrah back to life. The reanimator was not compatible with her since even though he had her blood sample, she's been dead for far longer than the maximum for the reanimator to being her to life. I would describe what he put inside her, but that would be a long and painful list of animals parts from Earth, some synthetic organs he made himself, and some of the healing liquid that powers his Mediguns.

Motioning over to a Robo-medic, he gave the order to pull a switch. A switch that sent a retardedly powerful shock of electricity through Pyrrah's body which was supposed to activate the healing liquid put inside of her. He let Pyrrah sizzle a bit before ordering it to stop. When the electricity stopped, smoked emitted off of her, but Medic didn't mind it that much when he put his head against her chests, listening for any sign of a heart beat. He checked her veins for a pulse, and there was nothing.

"Ugh..." Medic groaned. He put both hands on her chest and started performing CPR, thinking that her heart maybe needed a kickstart if that electricity somehow didn't. After a while, she still lay motionless. "Ah... well, looks like I will have to try something else. Bring me ze bonesaw!" Medic screamed to his assistants, keeping one hand on Pyrrah while raising the other to call them. When Medic wasn't looking, Pyrrah's veins were faintly glowing red.

"You know what? Never mind. I will get ze bonesaw by my-" When Medic moved to get the bonesaw, someone suddenly clutched his hand tightly. "Gott im himmel..." He gasped upon seeing Pyrrah wake up, breathing heavily.

"J-jaune..." She moaned weakly, her beautiful green eyes struggling to open themselves so that she can see him. Acting quickly, Medic kept holding her hand while putting an oxygen mask on her face.

"Just breathe, dear frau. Breathe..." He calmly instructed her as he maintained eye contact with her. Then, her eyes closed, and her hold on his hand was loosened. For a second there, Medic thought she had died again, but a closer inspection reveals she had simply fallen back into her coma.

"Huh... well zis is good news at least." Medic said to himself. "You're not dead and you even got to see a bit of the real world again. Ha! Trust me, I know what comas are like... ugh, zey are not fun... at least for me." He said, moving her red hair back behind her head. "Hmm... though it is curious as to how you aren't completely awake yet..." He wondered. "Suppose the process of bringing people back to life from scratch is separate from waking people up from comas. Eh, then again I've never actually woken anyone from a coma before, mostly because I'm the one who's put them in one to begin with, but I'm still ze world's best doctor! I vill find out a way to wake you up..."

"That, I promise you..."

* * *

 **Vale**

"Goodwitch, please! You must organize a party to go and hunt these maniacs down!" Aleka begged Goodwitch for the hundredth time.

"I am not going to gather valuable huntsmen who are needed here at Beacon just to go after nine men who you suspect of taking your daughter." Goodwitch replied, though she's also pretty sure they took her. "You have no evidence that they did so."

"But... but the Grimm attacks have settled down! Surely you can send a group to check these men out?" Aleka reasoned. Argus was outside somewhere in the Reclamation Effort camp, but he also wanted to find his daughter. "Why not call them back here and have them questioned? If they're huntsmen, then they'll have nothing to hide!"

"I would, but these huntsmen are far different from any other huntsmen here..." She trailed off. "Besides, I have no control over them. They're not technically part of my operation here."

"Goodwitch, please, this is my daughter we are talking about here. I do not care if they are fellow huntsmen, I don't want to have my daughter be in the hands of such psychopaths!" She was pleading at this point. A mother in search of a child she really loves. Sighing, Goodwitch made her last decision.

"Fine. Tomorrow, I'll have Peter, Barty, and myself accompany you and your husband to... um..."

"Is there something wrong?"

"...wherever the mercenaries are staying." Goodwitch finished, not without Aleka realizing Goodwitch didn't even know where the mercs were staying. "We can just ask Taiyang as all I know about their whereabouts is that they are somewhere in Patch. That and account of that strange airship of their's crashing on that island a couple of days ago."

"B-but, shouldn't we hurry?"

"Have patience, Aleka, please." Goodwitch put a hand on her shoulder. "Even if they do have your daughter, I'm sure they mean well. They're her professors after all. I'm sure they'll keep her safe."

"That maybe so, but from what I have seen of them so far, they are just a bunch of maniacs." Aleka said seriously.

"Right, well... you're not wrong... Go to bed. We'll see them tomorrow."

* * *

 **Salem's Palace**

Viewing a orb that was looking from the point of view of a lone Beowolf at Beacon's ruins, Salem watched the RED airship fly off with Cinder at her side. Though it wasn't fact, they were flying far past the kingdom's borders to the East, meaning they were most likely headed to Mistral. Viewing the same ship from the point of views of several Grimm along their path seemed to confirm that.

Cinder was expressionless as she watched the ship, but Salem knew that she was still fearful. She can sense the fear within the Fall Maiden, and this fear will not do at all. The Fall Maiden should fear nothing, much less nine maniacs she could easily destroy. Especially, not a Fall Maiden under Salem's bidding. The literally white skinned woman had already discussed with Cinder how their destiny was the other way around from what she believed. Where Cinder believed they were brought back to life for the sole purpose of destroying her, Salem assured her that it was merely a futile task and that they're destiny was to be killed by her again.

"Cinder?" The Fall Maiden looked to her superior. "I feel as though it is time for you to remaster your powers. It has been quite a while since you've last used them. You seem to be quite out of practice after what that girl did to you..." Cinder said nothing due to her inability to talk, but she was paying full attention to her. "Meet me down in the chambers. And do not worry about these mercenaries..." Salem held a hand up and the view on the orb changed to one of a Nevermore flying over the sea that separates the continents that Vale and Mistral are on. A natural storm was building up there, and it wouldn't be the only storm there.

"If they really do scare you that much, then I will see to it that they are no longer a problem."

* * *

Yang woke up after another nightmare she had about Adam. Yawning, she sat up and sleepily rubbed her eyes to look around the ship. All of the mercenaries were fast asleep except for Spy and Sniper, who were talking about something. Seemed like they hadn't noticed she was awake yet. She didn't know how long it's been since they've taken off, but she saw the Sun was just barely peeking out over the horizon.

" _What the?"_ Yang whispered to herself when she saw Heavy was cuddling his Minigun which had a blanket wrapped around it. " _Woah, that's... weird..."_ She thought, still thinking it was cute though that a giant tough guy like Heavy would baby a weapon. Sort of reminded her of Ruby and how she treats Crescent Rose. Then, she focused on what Spy and Sniper were talking about.

"...Mate, I would still dominate you like the French wanker you always been..." Sniper softly chuckled. "Hell, how many times have I killed you back in the day? Two hundred, four hundred, Hell, maybe even a thousand!"

"And do you remember how many times I backstabbed you when you got too focused on someone?" Spy said with a grin.

"Yeah, well do you remember how many times I splashed you with me piss?" Sniper grinned, shutting Spy's grin down. The Australian laughed when the Frenchman's look went straight from embarrassment.

"Yes... let us not talk about that..." Spy trailed off.

"Eh, whatever you say, mate." Sniper slowly stopped his cackling before continuing on. "Well, speaking of piss, after seeing what that Damn Woman could do I think it's safe to say we're gonna need a lot of it."

"Indeed we do..." Spy got serious. "As well as everything we've got at our disposal. Even with our upgraded bodies, I fear it's still not enough to face her..."

" _They must be talking about Cinder..."_ Yang whispered to herself. She was well aware that the mercenaries were not only going on this mission of there's to save Ruby, but also to get more than even with Cinder. Though she hasn't seen what Cinder is capable of, she has seen more than enough of what these guys are capable of, but if even that wasn't enough to stop her, then she couldn't even imagine how powerful Cinder must be. _"Heh, well if she so much as lays a hand on Ruby, I'll have to help you guys break her..._ "

"Well thanks for the offer Yang..." Sniper suddenly turned towards her, startling her as she wasn't expecting him to be able to hear her. "But believe me and Spy here when I say that Cinder is someone who's way out of your league."

"Um... first of all how did you hear me?"

"Years of fighting these blokes gets your hearing real sensitive." Sniper tapped his ears while Spy nodded in agreement. "My hearing's saved me a bunch of times from this French sod right here." He gestured to Spy, referring to multiple near back stabs and Dead Ringering.

"Huh..." She got up and decided she might as well join them by the viewport.

The turrets were set to auto like the shit, and they were scanning the skies for any threats. So far there hasn't been any flying Grimm seen, otherwise the gunfire would've rattled the ship and make everyone wake up. Looking out the viewport, the Sun was quite beautiful as it rose over the East, giving the sky and water a wondrous coloring of gold to red.

"Bienvenue, Little Sun Dragon." Spy greeted her. He had his mask off and it was lying on his lap.

"Um, morning. Never heard anyone call me that before..."

"Ah, it's just that your name happens to translate to that in a language called 'Chinese' back in our world, _though technically it depends on how you pronounce it_..." Spy muttered that last part to himself, still bitter all those years ago when he learned that the meaning of Chinese words literally depended on how you pronounce the tone. It took forever to learn Mandarin. "It's quite a fitting name though..."

"Yeah..." She nodded her head. "I guess it is..."

"So what's on your mind, sheila?" Sniper asked. "Last time I checked, teenage girls don't wake up so early in the mornin'."

"Ah... you know... just a bad dream." She said, automatically looking down at her robot arm.

"Ah, yes. Medic said that Adam Taurus character of the White Fang cut your arm off..." Spy said. "You were lucky he was there to save you." Yang wasn't told before that Medic is the reason why she's alive. She thought Medic must have been saving that info for when he reattaches her arm, but it's too late for that now for obvious fucking reasons. "You ought to thank the man whenever you see him again."

"Yeah, I'll do that... Um..."

"Yes?"

"...did Medic... deal with him, by the way?" She asked.

Knowing the mercenaries, then there was most likely only one way a confrontation between Medic and Adam would've gone down, and that would be death. Where she would've loved dealing with Adam herself, that is if she can successfully muster the will to, she would be extremely thankful to hear that Adam got what he deserved.

"Well, he did say he chopped Adam's arm off and left him to die in the fires of the burning cafeteria he found you and Blake in..." Hearing mention of Blake brought memories back of her seeing him stab her best friend in the abdomen, and it made her hair glow a little. "But just the other day, I found that he was still alive, but barely..." Spy said, making Yang feel a mixture of fearful and angry. "The man's completely unable to walk from what I've seen, and he is indeed missing a hand as well as severe burns all over his body." Hearing this, Yang was relieved at least that he wasn't able to walk around and hurt people anymore, and deep inside, dark feelings of getting revenge on him were floating around.

"O-okay..." She said. "So how far off are we from Mistral?"

"Considering how we've just reached Ocean, this map here should place us between the continents." Spy said as he looked over to the map he had sprawled in front of him. He would use the navigation system, but the screen wasn't on and he didn't know how to activate it.

"Really? Then that means we're already halfway to Mistral!" Yang shouted, getting a pillow thrown at her from behind. Looking back, she saw her attacker was Heavy/

"Stop make noise! Sasha is asleep..." He rubbed his Minigun. Yang, feeling playful all of a sudden, blew a raspberry at him. Seeing this fuckery come from this reminded all of them of the fun old Yang. Heavy and the other mercenaries around him glanced around at each other, and threw every single pillow and blanket they had at her.

"Hahah, stop it!" Yang giggled as she got snared in a blanket. Spy and Sniper simply sat there and smiled at what was happening, even if it was pretty childish. A stray pillow hit Engineer who was still asleep through all of this, and he woke up with a yell.

"What in tarnation's going on here!?" The Texan yelled. When nobody stopped fighting, he got out his Peacemaker, loaded a blank, and fired once. That got everyone's attention. "Stop fooling around like that in the ship! Might break something important and make us drop out of the goddamn sky like a fly!" Then, they strangely all stared in his general direction with a look of shock and awe. "What's the matter?" He asked. When no one answered and they kept looking behind him, he turned around, and saw a massive storm of gray clouds.

And they were flying right towards it.

* * *

 **Okay, so as a direct response as to TF2RWBYCrossover's (who still needs to change his name sometime) post on why he writes, I'm going to tell the full length story as to why I wrote this.** **So you guys know already because I talked about it a bunch that this story was written for no other fucking reason than just because and ATTF's own TF2 X RWBY crossover was lit as fuck, but there is more to it.**

 **Let's start with TF2. I first found TF2 in 2007 when it first came out because I was at a San Jose gaming convention as Valve was holding a promotion for the Orange Box there, but I was too young to really get it. It wasn't until 2011-2012 when I encountered TF2 again, but this time in the form of the original Gmod masters. The absolute insanity of the boyz such as Rubberfruit and the late Kitty0706 hooked me up real good to the point where I wanted to see what the game was actually like. So I watched the trailers, and I thought "My God these guys are awesome!". Then I watched TF2 gameplay, and I never seen a thing like it because the only shooters I've played were the original World War 2 Call of Duty's and Modern Warfare, and the game looked fun as fuck. Upon discovering that it was free to play, I immediately jumped on that shit and played the game. I remember the first class I played was Sniper on Viaduct against bots because I couldn't figure out how to do multiplayer. Bots are surprisingly difficult.**

 **Anyway, I finally joined the Multiplayer scene, and it was fucking amazing. The game had a ridiculously hard learning curve, but I learned real quick and next thing I knew, I was popping heads as Sniper, bashing bitches as Scout, mowing the lawn with Heavy, showing bastards what's up with Soldier and Demo, cooking screaming meat with Pyro, laying medicinal care forcefully into my team and enemies, and stabbing dudes and stealthing as Spy. It was fun. It was really fun. I don't have as many hours as you think I would for a game I love, but this game is something I really care for. The fucktardedly awesome and hilarious Gmod and SFM animations only reinforce this, and if you see my history, I actually play Gmod a lot more then I do TF2.**

 **There is good reason for this. I have an extremely active imagination. My thoughts are ones where everything and anything could happen, such as the TF2 gang stupid shit like the Gmod animations. Then I got Gmod, and it was even more amazing. Still, I got Gmod because it brought me into TF2 to begin with. Both games are fucking amazing.**

 **For TF2, everything about the characters to the strangeness of this eternal war they were fighting connected with me real good. Like, when TF2 came out, there was little lore. There was no story as that wasn't a priority back then when Valve was developing the successor to TFC. Over time, however, a story was slowly built up where it's revealed that the mercenaries are quite literally fighting over nothing because two idiot brothers wish to kill each other off so they can inherit there father's company. This was hilarious to me because of how ridiculous it was, and then you Saxton Hale getting introduced and instantly becoming a fan favorite. It was only of relative lateness that they expanded even further into the story of TF2 with comics, and the comics are some of the best I've read.**

 **It seemed like it didn't matter what situation the mercenaries were in, it was all just silly and fun for us readers to see. I don't see why it shouldn't. After all, the game itself is not grim or dark or serious in any way whatsoever. It's just good fun, and that's what it feels like to read the comics. Basically, the entire world of TF2 is simple all around fun. It wasn't like a lot of other games at the time as it was a fun mix of dark humor and... actually, a mix of a lot of humor.** **Besides the gameplay being on point, I cannot stress enough how awesome the characters are. Seeing these very different and sometimes silly people interact with each other is a real blast to see.**

 **These guys will hold an eternal place in my heart because I cannot forget them even if you killed me. They're just that impactful to me growing up and up to this very day.**

 **Now, we come to RWBY. Back in 2012, I wasn't really into anime, but the only anime I've seen is Soul Eater, Inuyasha, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon (because it counts), and some others I can't remember. Soul Eater was what actually got me watching anime to begin with, but soon after finishing the series, I discovered that RoosterTeeth put out a strange video titled "Yellow". Like, I've been watching Roosterteeth since Middle School, and I didn't really find out that they were making RWBY until Yang's trailer came out. To be honest, I only watched Achievement Hunter back when they weren't put on a separate from Roosterteeth. I didn't watch Red Vs. Blue, though I think it's funny as fuck as well. So when I saw RWBY, I put it off for a bit because I needed my Let's Plays from the Achievement Hunter boys.**

 **Then, I finally watched the Red trailer, and I was hooked as a motherfucker. After watching all the trailers and then Volume 1, I decided that the world of RWBY and its characters were really fun and enjoyable to see. A fun high school setting where attractively designed characters hung out and fought monsters was something seen in a lot of anime, but this was just different with RWBY somehow. I don't mind the use of 3D animation at all.**

 **Then RWBY progressed into the next 4 Volumes, and I've been following ever since. There was just something so interesting in RWBY's story of light vs dark that was told time and time again that clicked with me, not mentioning how characters are based off of myths and legends which was awesome. Team RWBY and they're friends were just bundles of fun that was enjoyable to watch, and even the villains were cool. There is no one in RWBY that I do not like, even the villains. Now that Volume 4 has revealed a lot about Remnant, I'm just even more interested.**

 **So when that July day when I was looking through the RWBY crossover section and saw TF2, I thought might as well give it a go. And then, it was awesome. My boy ATTF's story was lit as fuck, and then that other guy who no longer updates his cool Sniper OC was also baller. I decided to give it mine own go, and you guys who read and stayed seemed to like it. I know these characters so well, that I suppose the way I mash them together just works. Now, I am invested in this story of mine real good since I never thought it would be successful and it's so fun writing it out and talking with you guys. Even as I start playing video games more, I still work on this story with quick update times.**

 **Now, I'm not dumb. I know that realistically, the TF2 gang would get their asses stomped in Remnant considering the shit people in that world do, but that's not fun for a crossover. If I went realistic for what would happen between the worlds, this would've ended in the first three chapters if you know what I'm saying. As for this story's success, I guess I really am funny and good at writing. Thank God/SFM/Gmod/internet shorts/gamers/internet for my sense of humor and sense in writing in general. (even if it's written on the spot. AND STILL IS.) Eventually, I came full circle when Awesome Arod and TF2RWBYCrossover wrote their stories as inspiration from mine.**

 **I'm friends with Cadaver1041, ATTF, TF2RWBYCrossover, Awesome Arod, and Goldenspartan86. Goldenspartan's story was not written as inspiration from mine, but I still support him anyway, and ironically enough, Cadaver's story was written because the way I wrote my story didn't fit his tastes when it comes to writing so he made his own. You can see what he likes in his own story. I'm not mad about that at all. I don't really care so long as you go ahead and let your imagination go wild like I do (Actually, my imagination goes wild in those few smexuals I write because they're literally no limits to making those). Just don't talk mindless shit about anybody and you'll be good with me.**

 **So that's what you got from me.**

 **Now, you can go ahead and post why you like TF2 or RWBY since I shared this for you and I like talking with my audience. Interacting with you all is so nice. I'm laid back as a motherfucker. I'm not serious most times, I'm just a guy who likes to hang out and relax with people. That's why I respond to every single review no matter what is contained within.**

 ***STILL IN PROCESS OF EDITING***

 **Review Responses:**

 **Battle9921: Pyrrha was rekt by a broken game.**

 **buzzsaw935: Indeed it be.**

 **MrtheratedG: Merasmus may be annoying, yet he's actually quite funny if you take some time to observe him.**

 **Mr. Green37: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...**

 **Awesome Arod: Hehehehehehehehehehe!**

 **A fan: AWESOME. But you spelled it so wrong.**

 **Lord hellfire913: Yeah... I updated right before school began in California. And thanks, also why don't you try writing? Hit me and I'll see what you got.**

 **MCZ: *I don't play Magic: The Gathering***

 **Raraiki: T_T**

 **Xenolis: YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! *sees chapter 30* Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh...**

 **ATTF: Indeedemente.**

 **Michamya: Uh, I'll see what I got. And also, that's because I had a resurgence in writing for this story where I felt good, therefore overall quality improved. Especially with the edits that will come within the next century.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: Awesome, BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

 **GamePhysics: That can easily be arranged.**

 **Mpopl2: I'm funny. And what Scout-Bot said about Lovecraft wasn't an insult about the author, it was a direct quote Scout says when he fights Merasmus, a reference of how Merasmus claims to be a dark wizard with unholy powers. Well, you're just a bundle of darkness then. READ MINE PROFILE TO SEE MINE OPINIONS OF SUBJECTS SUCH AS THAT. (though it might need to be updated)**

 **Frank: Yep, and I know I didn't respond :) Anyway, Whitley was not named after Wheatley because Whitley is an Old English name that means "White Meadow", fitting the Schnee children's naming scheme of snow.**

 **Jack905: Hope he can.**


	47. Goodbye and Hello

Last time we left the merco boyz, they were flying into a storm. Now they're in it.

All of the people inside the ship had looks of worry as the ship went right into the storm, except for Engineer. Rain pattered against the side of the ship, but other than that they were totally fine. There was no thunder or lightning or anything else the storm was hitting them with at the moment. Nothing too serious.

"Heh... look at y'all with them stupid ole looks on your faces." Engie chuckled to himself as he casually sat back into his seat, not minding the storm they were flying through. The Texan grabbed a beer and opened it up, putting his feet up. "Don't worry everybody, this ship's way tougher than any damn storm." As soon as he said that, one of the turrets was heard firing before something rocked the ship with a loud thud.

"...You sure about that?" Yang asked warily. "Cuz that did _NOT_ sound okay!" When the impact hit the ship, everyone immediately went to the windows to see what hit them. The storm was raging, and thunder was now heard as rain either flew past or harmlessly hit the ship.

"Can't see a bloody thing." Demo said the obvious. Then lightning was seen in the distance, lighting up the clouds for an instant.

"Welp, that explains what hit us..." Sniper trailed off as he went back to his seat. At seeing the lightning, they did settle down a bit. I mean lightning was somewhat dangerous, but at least they weren't getting attacked by something, right?

"But why did the turret fir though..." Engie wondered to himself, putting a hand to his chin. More lightning struck, still illuminating the dark skies. This time, shadowy figures were seen flying around in the flashes of light.

"Uh... guys? I think you want to see-" Before Yang can finish her sentence, something hit the ship again, hard. This time, they saw their attacker. It was a large Nevermore that was zooming away from them and into the cover of the clouds. The creature must have only taken minimal damage since it was only in the turrets line of sight for less than a second on account of the dark clouds surrounding them and the rain.

"Darn!" Engie cursed at the realization of the turrets limited ability to fight back on their own. "Strap yourselves in or get on a gun!" He yelled as he took manual control of the ship. Flipping a new switch that he added after the first time he flew this ship, a red shield identical to that of a wrangled Sentry enveloped the ship. "We got a fight on our hands!"

"Not even a whole day and we already got into trouble..." Yang sighed, wrongfully expecting something like this to not happen. "Why can't going on a crazy adventure be easy?"

"Because easy's for the weak!" Soldier laughed as he climbed up to man the big turret on top, Heavy following him. The rest of the crew were getting on the turrets to take manual control of them so that they can fight back.

"He's right, Yang." Scout had a huge smile on his face as got to a turret, ready to rip some ass open. "Nothin's easy!"

"Besides, easy ain't fun!" Sniper cackled from an autocannon turret. It was single barreled and fired explosive rounds more powerful than the regular turret but less than that of the big turret on top, and it was above the pilot's station like a World War II bomber. He must have chosen it because there was a scope on it, and it was also a new addition of Sniper's request.

Yang decided to climb on top with Soldier and Heavy to make herself useful. But before she can get all the way up the ladder, Spy grabbed her foot.

"Wait a moment..." He then reached inside his suit, and pulled out the other half of Ember Celica in carry form. "I believe this is yours." Looking down with wide eyes, she hesitated to take them. "Medic was going to give you these, but then he gave them to me when he got... _upset_ about your arm..." He gave her a wink, and urged her to take it, to which she gladly did.

"Thanks!" Yang slipped the bracelet on and climbed up the rest of the way, seeing Soldier on the big turret and Heavy with the Brass Beast out, scanning the dark skies around them. They were all soaked in rain. "You guys see anything?" Yang asked, extending her gauntlets out and assuming a fighting pose.

"I see nothing yet..." Heavy said. Everyone was scanning their surroundings, looking for that Nevermore and any other would be attackers. It was highly improbable that it was alone. Then, lightning struck again, lighting the sky once more for all to see the shadowy forms of aerial Grimm around them before fading away. Lightning struck once again, but this time, it showed the Grimm coming towards them.

Upon seeing the Grimm, first thing everyone did was panic and die. Lol, no. What actually happened was that they immediately let loose with everything they had. Visibility was still limited due to the storm, but at least they can actually shoot back and do damage. From what they can see, they were getting attacked by Nevermores and Griffons of various sizes as well as what look to be lesser versions of the Dragon Grimm that remains frozen at Beacon. The Nevermores were shooting feathers at them to little effect, only thing they did was help the Grimm slashing at the ship wear away at the ship's shield. Which is exactly why the shield went down a couple of moments later, but even then the feathers did little damage against the heavily armored hull.

"I just had those darn things fixed!" Engie shook his fist at them. Then he saw that they were once again eating his engines. "I ALSO JUST HAD THOSE FIXED!" He was pissed about the idea of fixing this ship up again so soon after it got wrecked the first time, not really thinking that there probably wasn't going to be a next time if they kept tearing at the ship's engines.

The firepower of the mercs' ship was countered with all this cloud cover as they couldn't see shit once the Grimm flew away. It's like how in War Thunder or even World of Warplanes where clouds cover the skies and some asshole keeps strafing you and retreating back into them, but so much worse as visibility was that low. They can't even tell how many they shot down as they weren't sure if the ones flying for a hit and run were the same ones they shot down earlier.

"MPhmhmphmh!" Pyro screamed.

"I know they're everywhere!" Sniper screamed back.

"Merde! Dell, get us out of- WHERE THE HELL IS DELL!?" Spy shouted where upon looking at the pilot seat, it was empty.

"Hey, I see him!" Scout yelled.

Running over to his son, Spy's eyes went as wide as plates at what was happening. Apparently, Engineer got so pissed about the creatures attacking his engine, that he crawled out of the fucking cockpit and was now wrangling the shit out of a Lesser Dragon's neck as it was foolish enough to stay there instead of doing hit and runs.

"DELL! GET BACK IN HERE!" Spy yelled through the glass. However, there was still the noises of the storm, battle, and Grimm screeching so Engineer couldn't hear him. Currently, he punched right through the lesser Dragon's neck with his still gloved robot hand which has yet to be properly revealed yet and pulled out his Peacemaker to drop some Griffons above him. Then he got swooped away by a Nevermore, screaming bloody murder.

"Merde..." Thinking quickly, Spy immediately went to the pilot's seat and took control.

Meanwhile, Yang, Heavy, and Soldier were still fighting above. The heavy turret wasn't of much use since Soldier couldn't see anything, so he just went to using his Reserve Shooter and rocket launchers. Which rocket launcher? Anything that worked.

"HELP!" They heard a Texan scream.

"Engineer!" Yang yelled, using Ember Celica to launch herself to the Nevermore and landing on its back.

"WHAT!?" Soldier screamed. "ARE YOU TRYING TO OUTDO ME, SISTER!?" He then laughed like the madman he rightfully was and rocket jumped over to Yang. It was insane especially considering he rocket jumped off of other Grimm on the way over there in a manner similar to surfing.

"Leave Heavy to do all the work..." Heavy groaned as he kept at shooting Grimm down. The ship was still fairly intact, only taking light damage to the hull while some of the turrets had been taken out. They were shielded like Wrangled sentries, but they were far weaker than the ship they were attached to.

Back with Yang, she climbed up on top of the Nevermore's back and was struggling to hold on. The rain made the back of the creature slippery, and she risked falling off if she stood up. Then, Soldier plopped himself hard right next to her, his Mantreads digging themselves into the back of the creature so that he didn't fall off.

"Hey Soldier!" Yang shouted.

"Hello, girly!" He pointed his rocket launcher down at his feet. "On the count of 3, I'm going to blow this feathered piece of crap out of the sky!"

"But wouldn't that mean we also get blown out of the sky!?" Yang yelled, now realizing how this might have been a bad idea. Suddenly, Yang nearly had a heart attack when Engineer grabbed onto her.

"Hold on a minute, Soldier!" Engie yelled.

He had apparently ripped off the leg of the Nevermore they were on with his robot hand to break free from it, on account of the fucking bird leg he was holding. Throwing the leg to the side, Engie went up to the head of the bird and literally shit its eyes outs with his Peacemaker. The creature screamed in agony as the Texan got some rope and lassoed it around the creature's neck. The creature struggled harshly at losing its sight, but Engie quickly got it under control by punching its skull.

"Hang on, you two! We're flyin' back to my goddamn ship! YEE-HAAAAAAAAAW!"

"You mean, _you_ two can fly back to the ship! This patriot's gonna kick some ass on the way there by himself!" He then reverse leap of faithed off the Nevermore, giving a salute before disappearing. Yang was totally speechless. They were more insane than she thought, that's for sure. With 'taming' a Nevermore and then Soldier to jump off and reappear with rocket jumping off of Grimm all the way back to the ship.

"Having fun!?" Engie shouted back at Yang with a grin.

Yang didn't say anything, scooting up to the Texan as he still shot his Peacemaker one handed at the shit flying around them. Then, she decided 'fuck it' and do it the Soldier way. It's been a while since she's been in a fight like this, and if the mercenaries were having fun, then she might as well have fun too even if she needs to get used to actual combat again. Then, she stood up.

"What in tarnation are you doing, little lady!?" Engie yelled as he looked behind him to see Yang stand up.

"Having fun." She winked at him, and did the same thing Soldier did.

Engie was at a loss for words as he watched her copy Soldier in how she was getting back to the ship and fighting these creatures. He then smiled as he swore he heard her laughing giddily, loving how their insanity was rubbing off on her. As for Yang, she was having fun. It was like how she was flying around the forest back at her initiation into Beacon, only several times more intense.

Eventually, they did all get back to the ship, which was still fine except the majority of the guns were offline once again, meaning that the Grimm could safely close in and tear at the hull. Right now the mercs and Yang were beating the monsters back away, but then, something awful appeared. Two Sea Dragon Grimm, the same kind that attacked Blake and Sun, and both were flying with beams charging in their mouths.

The ship was rocked when one beam narrowly missed, and the other was way off.

"I'll take it from here, Jacques." Engie said, Spy nodding to him as he let him take control of the ship.

Everyone had to stop fighting and hold on tight as the ship sped up and began doing ridiculous maneuvers to escape from the Grimm. The Nevermores and Griffons were too slow to follow, but the Sea Dragons were able to keep up and were attempting to bash themselves into the ship as their long bodies weaved in and out of the clouds. Anything they shot at them didn't do much since the creatures were really tough, so Engineer decided there was only one way to get out of this mess. The ship's nose pointed upwards, and it was now speeding up into the sky and above the clouds.

What totally surprised them was that both of the Sea Dragons got above them and was charging up their laser before Engie kicked the ship to **MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE.** One of the Sea Dragons was unlucky enough to be directly in their way as the ship plowed right into it and was taking it above the clouds with them. They were now flying above the storm, and the Sun was shining brightly as the ship flew out of the dark clouds below.

The Sea Dragon discharged its beam prematurely when it got struck by the ship and the beam did nothing except make a hole in the storm clouds below, while the other Sea Dragon followed had latched itself onto the back of the ship, still charging its beam.

"Oh no you don't!" Yang yelled.

All hatches were sealed, but that didn't stop her from opening up the top hatch and crawling up to the heavy turret. If her Gauntlets didn't do a thing to this Grimm, then this baby definitely will. She fumbled with the turret a bit as the glowing yellow light of the still charging beam was getting ever brighter.

"Heh... smile." She said confidently, winking at the Sea Dragon as the heavy turret was pressed against its neck, then she fired.

The head was completely severed and the beast fell back down to the dark clouds below. After disappearing in the storm below, the energy beam that was still being charged in the dragon blew up. Great, one dragon down, one more to go. The other Sea Dragon was completely helpless as the mercs' ship was very nearly cutting it in half with the speed they were going, and Yang giggling a bit as she swiveled the turret around at it.

"Yang! Get back in here!" Spy yelled.

"Why!? I got a perfect shot!"

"You'll die from asphyxiation! Now get in here and close the hatch!"

 _Asphyxiation_? Yang wondered in her mind. _Doesn't that mean dying from lack of air or something?_ Now that she looked around, it did became apparent that they were flying way higher than most airships on Remnant, and now she was feeling a bit funny from the lack of air. She was then roughly pulled in by Heavy and the Russian closed the hatch.

"HERE WE GO BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" Engie screamed very loudly as the ship went from **MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE** , to **HYPER SPEED!**

Seriously though, they were going so fast, that the Sea Dragon's lower end flew off from the sheer amount of force, and now...

They had escaped Remnant's atmosphere.

The other, still living, half of the Sea Dragon was roaring out before its roars turned into weak coughs. It soon died from no air at all, its corpse drifting away from the ship as it began fading like every other dead Grimm. For the first minute or so of being in space, no one said a thing. None of them had ever been to space, and Yang was especially at a loss for words since she believed that going to space was impossible, at least for Remnant. She nearly started panicking when she realized that zero-gravity applied to her, and she flailed a bit as she struggled to get her fleet down on the floor.

"Welp, that was mighty excitin'." Engie said after a while, getting up from the pilot seat and floating back to the others.

"Hehe, look at me! Look at me!" Scout was doing flips and stuff in zero gravity. Pyro was giggling as it looked like it was swimming, while the rest had varied reactions. Demoman discovered how pretty scrumpy looked as the liquid flew about in little streams that he sipped up. Heavy could eat a sandvich without using his hands. Sniper decided to try out pissing in space (in a closed space away from Yang). Soldier was juggling his grenades and rockets.

"Woah! Help, help, please!" Yang flailed like a fish as she tried to move around in zero gravity. She felt like getting motion sick because she was spinning around everywhere in place, but Spy came to her rescue. "Thanks, Mr. Moreau-ooooooooooh..." Yang trailed off with her eyes going really wide. Just a second ago, she was too busy flailing around to see what it was like being in space, but now...

She's the first person to see what Remnant looked like from space.

"Woah..."

She put a hand on the glass of the viewport, marveling at the majesty that is the planet she lived on. From up here in space, she couldn't believe how small everything looked from up here. Her whole life, she had only ever been in Patch and Vale. Even if she knew she lived on the world of Remnant, Patch and Vale was her world. Now she can see how much there actually was out there in the rest of Remnant compared to Patch and Vale. Up here, she can recognize all of the landmasses and where all the Kingdoms were from memories of looking at maps of Remnant her whole life. The only difference is that maps don't really show how majestic the world you live on is.

"Remnant... it's... it's so beautiful..."

"Oh man, she ain't kiddin'!" Scout whistled as the mercs joined her.

"Huh, the continents do look like dragons..." Heavy trailed off.

Yang didn't say anything to the mercs as they marveled at the world below. Only enjoying every second of this once in a lifetime view.

* * *

 **Salem's Council**

Salem, Mercury, Emerald, and Cinder were silent. The orb that projects the point of view of any Grimm anywhere had the POV of the second Sea Dragon before the images faded away, but not without showing the impossible. Quickly switching over to the POV of another Grimm nearby, their suspicions were confirmed.

The mercenaries went up to motherfucking space. I know that's not how they would put it, but they were all feeling thoughts of WTF right now.

"They... escaped... by going to space." Emerald trailed off, eyes as wide as everyone elses' except for Salem who was watching silently, elbows on the table and chin rested on her hands.

"Yeah..." Mercury awed.

Salem looked to Cinder, and saw that she looked distressed. Earlier, Salem had changed her mind of having Cinder go down to master her powers below in favor of having her see the mercenaries die. She hoped that watching them die again would ease the Fall Maiden's tension and have her back to full confidence instead of fearing these nobodies. Then this happened, and it was now having the complete opposite effect. Cinder looked like she was having some kind of panic attack. If they can go to space where no one else on Remnant possibly can, then who knows what else they are capable of? Maybe they had created something in their time of absence specifically to destroy her.

"...Cinder." Salem didn't change position at all when she said that. "You may go down to the chamber now and train. Take your... companions with you." Cinder hesitated, still looking at the orb that was still showing the smoke column the ship made it when it went into space. Mercury and Emerald had snapped out of it and went to help the Fall Maiden snap out of it as well.

"Come on Cinder..." Emerald took Cinder's hand and had to help her out of the room with Mercury following closely behind. As for Salem, she kept staring at the orb.

"Well... they're certainly more interesting than I first thought..."

* * *

 **Patch**

Taiyang woke up to the sound of knocking at his door.

"Ugh... who the Hell could that be at..." He looked at his alarm clock. "...nine in the morning..." Well then, he definitely overslept. Whoever was down at the door kept knocking, forcing him to mutter out some curses as he threw his blanket off of him. Quickly finishing the things guys do when they wake up in the morning, he went downstairs to answer the door. For a second there, he was going to yell for Yang to get it, but then he remembered that she left last night.

*door opens*

"Yes, what- oh, hey Glynda." Opening the door, he saw Glynda at the very front with Aleka and Argus nikos behind her. Oobleck and Port got preoccupied with other things so they couldn't come.

"Good morning Taiyang." Glynda nodded at him. Glynda doesn't see Taiyang very often, but she swears he hasn't changed a bit since they were students at Beacon.

"Hello, Mr. Xiao Long." Aleka and Argus shook his hand as this is the first time they have met him. "I am Aleka Nikos."

"And I am Argus Nikos."

He sleepily smiled at them. "Judging by your last names, I guess you're Pyrrah's parents. Right? Like the girl who got kidnapped the other day?"

"Yes." Aleka visibly twitched a bit at being reminded of her daughter's disappearance. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Huh, well the pleasure's all mine. Come on in. I'll see if I got any coffee or something to share." After getting his guests settled in nice and comfy, they got right into business. Glynda was the one to describe the situation to him since she didn't trust Aleka and Argus to be unbiased in the matter.

"You see, we are here to find those mercenary professors." Glynda adjusted her glasses a bit. "Though there is no evidence that they did this, Ms. Pyrrha's parents here are adamant in their belief that they are responsible fro her disappearance. So all we ask is for you to show us where they live so we can ask for their input of the situation." She glanced back at Aleka as she was uncertain of how civil she will act when they do meet them.

"Looking for where they live, huh?" Taiyang scratched his head. "Eh, sorry, but I don't have a clue."

"Then where is your daughter?" Aleka said abruptly. "Surely she must know something if you don't." She was getting a little aggressive under her calm demeanor.

"Aleka..." Argus placed a hand on her shoulder in an effort to calm his wife down.

"Well, sorry to say, but Yang's left with them."

"Left with them?" Glynda tilted her head at Taiyang in questioning.

"Yep. She left with those mercenary guys last night. Went looking for Ruby..." He trailed off, now uncertain if he should've let Yang go. It took him a moment before he continued with what he wants to say. "Yeah... well I don't think she knew where they live at, either." That was somewhat a lie, as in he hoped Yang hasn't been seeing them even though he felt like she totally has.

"Please, do you at least have any idea s to where they might be?" Argus asked, his wife giving Taiyang a pleading look.

Taiyang did feel for Pyrrah's parents though. After hearing what Port and Oobleck say last night about Pyrrah, he also believed that they must have taken her. Hell, he felt wary of his own daughter even hanging out with them, but now we have kidnapping? Tai knew that they were her professors and probably wouldn't hurt her, but they were psychopaths to him even if he sort of accepted them last night.

"Tell you what, Patch isn't that big of an island. How about we walk around the island and see what we find?" He offered. The least he can do is help them make sure Pyrrah was safe even if she really was with the mercenaries.

"That sounds wonderful."

"Great! Just let me get ready. You guys came on short notice, you know. Didn't give me time to prepare or anything..."

* * *

 **Mercs' Fort, Later**

"Hmm... okay... zis is interesting..." Medic hummed softly as he was poking around inside Pyrrah.

What was so interesting? Well for starters, there was absolutely nothing wrong with her. All her bodily sysytems were in order to the point where Medic actually had to remove the animal parts he placed inside her because he feared that was what's causing her to stay in a coma, but that wasn't it as she still was in one. The only thing he put inside her that he did not remove were the Ubercharge heart and the healing liquid he put inside her to bring her back to life. The Ubercharge heart was for good measure because Medic is such a nice guy.

"Welp, looks like you aren't waking up from zis coma after all..." Medic said as he got up and closed her body up. "Is what any other doctor would say! But not this one!... Even though I just said it!" He declared with a finger up in the air in defiance of the fate that Pyrrha is suffering right now. "I still promise to wake you up... later though! I've been at this all night..." Medic groaned as he sat down on a chair next to her.

"Hess... (so tired)." He said in German.

Deciding to unwind a little, he clapped his hands and called for one of the Medic bots to bring him his violin. Upon getting the violin, he looked at the instrument and reminisced on its significance to him. He used to play violin as a kid, and even back in his college days where he would play for his one and only lover's enjoyment. Playing this instrument soothed his weary soul and mind.

"Oh marvelous... if only you were an instrument of medicine..." He sighed, before putting the violin against his neck and using the bow to play some calming music.

The pleasant sounds of him playing the violin echoed throughout the fort, making the cold robots and even the non-Grimm wildlife around them feel at peace. It was strange as to the effect of what Medic playing a violin does to those around him. Whenever he plays music, an aura (not a RWBY aura, mind you) would go out and heal all those he keeps dear to him. Medic couldn't explain it with the only explanation he had was that the music was played straight from his soul, and that it reached out to the souls of his friends to heal them.

"Eh...uh..." Stopping his music for an instant, Medic looked down to see Pyrrah stirring.

"...what..." He said as he looked at his violin, realizing that this must be the cause. "Maybe you are an instrument of medicine!" He continued playing his music at a pace that wasn't too fast or too slow so that he could see its effect on Pyrrah. The more he played, the more the girl moved.

"I see now! Whatever you were hit with must have damaged your soul!" He laughed maniacally, but in a good way. "And zis music is healing you! Well, do not fear a single thing ,mein freund, for I will play my soul out for you!" With that, he kept playing, and Pyrrah kept moving. Medic got especially giddy when he saw Pyrrah slowly opening her eyes.

"Jaune... Ruby..." She moaned weakly. Pyrrah must have been muttering out her final thoughts before that arrow put her in a coma all those months ago. Putting his music on hold, Medic went up to her face to see if she was even a little conscious.

"Hallo? Ms. Nikos?" He waved a hand in front of her eyes. She was staring straight ahead and had no reaction to the hand in front of her. "Pyrrah? Are you awake yet?" After another moment, Medic thought she still wasn't going to react, but then...

Her eyes slowly, but surely looked directly at him.

"Do you see me?" He wondered as he looked back at her.

"... _yes..._ "

* * *

 **Ahahahaahahahahahahahahaahahaha. here we do, gents! Wrote this in a single day again!**

 **So as an announcement, for real this time I'm going back and editing every single chapter. This means there will be a delay for new chapters, but it's just something I feel I must do. Especially since the more new chapters I put out, the more chapters I have to edit.**

 **Thanks to you all for still being here. Everything I do is for your entertainment and enjoyment. Also, I genuinely do like talking to you guys and seeing what you think.**

 **This time around, I'm going to try something new. Go and ask me any question you like as long as it's not about the future of the story as always, I have no idea what happens next. Keep in mind I have the right to not answer any of your questions depending on what you ask of me.**

 **I will say that I will definitely not follow RWBY's story to the end as doing so would drag this out for a very long time. There's supposed to be like 12 volumes of RWBY, and that's going to be like another 7 years before RWBY ends. I will make up my own ending.**

 **I will respond to the development on TF2RWBYCrossover's story.**

 **Review Repsonses:**

 **CapitalClassShip: I knoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow! Those were my biggest fears about writing this as well as I didn't like seeing them not being them.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: Don't make me rekt u, bruh.**

 **Command8: Funhaus wasn't around back when I first got into it.**

 **Raraiki: Ummmmmmmmmmmmm... Jawohl (?).**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: Suppose my fanfic captures the spirit of TF2 really well for you then, huh?**

 **Awesome Arod: Sure. I'm just like real friendly and see no reason to put others down. Part of being a Buddhist (for me at least) is to be as happy as can be and keep life for others and yourself a joy while it lasts.**

 **A fan: You know what? I think there going to be an update for the extras.**

 **MCZ: Interesante. Still don't play Magic: The Gathering.**

 **TheLAGGER: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Congrats, m8. Must have been real troublesome to get all of those yous back together. And such adventure to be had!**

 **Matrix of Evolution: You sang too early... but after seeing this chapter, now you can! *angelic singing~***

 **ATTF: YES.**


	48. Space Troubles

**Spehss (Space)**

"Yang, are you ever going to move away from window?" Heavy asked the blonde as he had a freshly bitten Sandvich floating near him. The whole time Yang had been shown Remnant from space, she hadn't moved a bit from the window. She was too busy eyeing up the beauty of the planet she called home.

"Heh, girl's too busy sightseein',mate." Sniper said.

The guys had already gotten over their first experience in space, and were now patiently waiting for whatever Engineer was doing to be finished. Apparently, Engie says the ship's systems needed time to cool down after using all that power to achieve orbit, and he was also looking the ship over for any damages like hull breeches. Therefore, it was a total surprise for Yang when Engineer suddenly floated up in front of the window she was looking at.

"Engie!?" Yang yelled, shocked at seeing the Texan outside in the vacuum of space. He was still wearing his regular outfit, except he was wearing a helmet to provide him oxygen in space, and a little jetpack for movement out here. The Texan waved at her and gave her a big smile as he drifted passed her.

"What are you doing out there!?" She almost had her face against the glass as she watched in awe and worry for the man outside. "Don't you need a space suit or something?" Yang didn't actually no much about space, but she remembered that all the movies she watched about people in space had anyone who went outside wearing a spacesuit to protect against the cold vacuum of space. This man had no such thing. Just the helmet.

"Ha! Spacesuits! Them suits are just for movies and NASA morons who ain't ever tried going outside without a suit in space!" Engie chuckled over some radiopiece connected to the ship. "Want to come out and see for yourself? It's only a little cold out here."

"Wait, wait, wait..." Scout had rushed right over to Yang's side when he saw Engie out of the ship. "You're tellin' me that you went out there, first time in space too, knowing you didn't need a spacesuit?"

"Yeah-uh... well, first time for everything, right?" Engie admitted to not actually knowing if going outside without a suit and just a helmet would kill him. "Besides, how else am I gonna trynna see if there's anything need fixing outside of the ship?"

"Fair point." Scout said after not even a second of processing it. "Hey, you think we can go outside and do space things?"

"Surie! Just go on and grab a helmet and a jetpack.."

"Sweet!" Scout kicked off the wall and floated to where the jetpacks and space helmets were. Well, helmets and masks. There were oxygen masks as well as helmets, and they were floating about the back end of the ship. Seeing why not, Soldier, Demoman, Sniper, and Heavy saddled up to go out and meet the cold kiss of space. The beautiful mistress they were currently a guest of. "Alright, we're ready! Now how'dya get out of here? All the exits are-ugh-locked!" Scout was now struggling to open the back ramp with the guys coming out with him trying to get out as well.

"Idiots..." Spy grumbled. His cigarette smoke was making it real stuffy in the ship, and it was seriously making the eyes of everyone in it water. He then had a realization, and quickly took up two masks and jetpacks and passed one to Yang, telling her to put it on. When she asked why, Spy replied with "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Just got to press the button to exit, dummy. Don't forget to seal off the rest of the ship from the back though, otherwise you're gonna-"

"Found it!" Soldier screamed when he found the button that manually opened the back ramp of the ship. Upon doing so, the ship immediately depressurized and anything that wasn't tied down or bolted to the ship was sucked out into space, and that includes the people inside it.

"DEPRESSURIZE MAH SHIP!" Engie finished as he watched shit fly out from the back. Everyone screamed screams of either joy or terror as they flew out into space. In Yang's case, it was definitely in terror. Fighting flying Grimm in the air at high speeds was one thing, but getting sucked out into the vacuum of space was something else entirely.

"Heavy's got you, Yellow Dragon!" The Russian had grabbed onto the side of the ramp and was holding on with all his might as he tightly held Yang's hand. Looking behind her, Yang saw the others had also grabbed onto her leg where they made a chain of people trying to not get flung out into space. A mere second longer, the ship was done depressurizing and they no longer had to hold onto each other and the ramp.

" _Brrrr!_ You call _this_ a little cold!?" Yang shivered as she held herself for warmth. She was also angry about getting sucked out into space (as they all were) and smacked Scout up the head for being an idiot.

"Just be glad it's not as cold as up in Atlas!" Engie chuckled. "Oh, and Scout?"

"Yeah?" The Boston boy was throwing a baseball back and forth between him and Sniper. Then he got a Wrench thrown at his stupid, brainless, head.

"Don't ever do that again! You could have killed everyone if they hadn't already put them helmets on! And- Pyro? Pyro! Calm down!" Engineer was sidetracked when he saw the Pyromaniac clutching its throat and spinning around as if it was gasping for air. "Calm down, son! You already got a mask on!"

"Mproh." It instantly stopped spinning at this realization.

"Welp. Thanks to this idiot here, we're out in space now..." Engie grumbled as he stated the obvious. "Least we don't got to wait much longer for the ship to be ready though. Systems ought to be good soon." The Texan then set up a Rancho Relaxo and calmly floated around idly on it. Spy sat on top of the ship alone, patiently waiting for their return to Remnant's atmosphere. As for the rest of the group, let's just say they were either fooling or trying to figure out how to use the jetpacks. It was hard to tell with them flying all over the place and screaming.

* * *

 **Mercs' Fort**

The wondrously soothing sound of someone playing a violin flowed through the forest surrounding the fortress, making all who hear it feel at peace with themselves. Birds happily tended to their nests as they chirped with the tune, litters of fox pups joyously played in the woods with their mothers, and even the clean natural air felt fresher than it ever was before. In the compound itself, robots standing guard and doing other tasks around the place also felt their cold metal bodies heat up with warmth from the music.

Where was the source of this master violin player? Why, it was coming straight from the medical bay of the fortress, where a German man of medicine and his staff of similar in appearance robots worked. The German in question, Medic, was playing a nice German song he picked up from his university days. It was a song he used to play for his girl back when they were... still together, but now he was playing it for poor bed-ridden Pyrrha Nikos.

"How do you feel?" Medic stopped playing for a moment to address the girl. Pyrrha was still rather frail and she still seemed a tad slow reflexively, but she at least awake and conscious. Better yet, the music actually was making her more awake every second he played.

"Wonderful, Doctor." She weakly smiled at him.

"Oh-hoho! Good, very good indeed!" Words cannot describe how overjoyed Medic was that the music actually worked! He couldn't believe all he had to do to wake Pyrrha from her long coma was to therapeutically soothe her hurt soul with music played from his heart. He still wasn't sure what exactly hurt her soul, but Medic didn't feel like bombarding Pyrrha with questions so soon after her experiencing the real world in half a year. "Would you like something to eat or even drink? Spending six months on nothing but whatever ze hospital nourished your body with's ought to be agonizing! Even if you couldn't feel anything..."

"Yes please."

"Very well! I'll be back with some of zose Sandviches Heavy loves so much! Oh, I trust that you'll love them, haha! And don't worry! I'm sure Mikhael will be quite okay with us eating his Sandviches!" The good doctor lovingly messed with her hair before leaving to get the food as promised. He hummed a tune as he went, almost skipping like a fucking girl as he got to the kitchen. As the happy Deutschmann got out the food, a Scout-Bot approached him, and it looked like it was in a rush.

"Hey Deutschbag! Some Spy-Bots said we got some people travellin' through the woods."

"Well, vat am I to do about it? Just tell ze robots to lead them away from ze fortress." Medic then left with two Sandviches. One for himself and Pyrrha. The Scout-Bot nodded and ran back to tell the Spy-Bots what to do. It didn't take very long for the good doctor to get back to Pyrrha, who was being tended to by the Medic-Bots there.

"I have returned mein dear patient!" Medic hummed as he entered the medical bay. "Here's mine, and here's yours."

"Thank you." Pyrrha thanked him. She took hold of the Sandvich, but found she didn't quite have the strength to even lift it up to her mouth. "Oh dear..." But that's fine. Medic's got her. The kind man tore the Sandvich to pieces to feed it to her like a momma bird with her chicks. Or rather a Momma Pootisbird if you're that old a TF2 fanatic...

"Doctor?" Pyrrha asked after swallowing the first solid food she's eaten since the Fall of Beacon.

"Ja?"

"Where am I?" She asked, gladly accepting another piece of the Sandvich. "This phoesng't lrook rike Beacogn-"

"Swallow your food first." Medic ordered. "There's no rush. You have all ze time in ze world to tell me what's on your mind." He said just as the girl did the action. "Anyway, you are inside our new fortress!" Medic said proudly.

"Fortress? But, didn't you already have a staff house in Beacon?"

"Ja, we did." Medic then took a bite of his own Sandvich. "It vas destroyed in ze attack though..." At the mention of attack, a flash of memories entered Pyrrha's mind. Everything from the horror of her accidentally destroying Penny to her attempting to stop Cinder Fall instantly struck her all at once. The one part she cannot remember was what immediately happened after she watched Spy die. Though Medic already revealed that she was in a coma, she still had a lot of questions to ask.

"Is everything alright!? Did you stop Cinder!? Where did you go when that wall of fire surrounded the tower!?" More and more questions were piled onto the German, not even giving him time to answer them. After a bit, Medic shushed her and covered her mouth so that she would stop talking.

"Again, you have all ze time in ze world to ask me anything." He assured her, letting go of her mouth. "Now, please allow me to have ze time to _answer_ anything..."

* * *

 **Close by**

Taiyang, Glynda, and the Nikos were travelling down a forest path. They had been at this for about an hour already, covering the immediate area around Taiyang's home in that time. Now, they were looking out further. Taiyang didn't really have any neighbors this far out in the island, so there was no one to ask if they saw anything about mercenaries in the area. They did come across some hikers taking their kids or pets out for walks on the peaceful island of Patch, but even they say they saw nothing.

This whole time, Glynda was keeping a watchful eye on Aleka Nikos. Her husband was far more understanding then her, but Aleka herself was always a little overprotective. Well, you can't really blame her for this protective behavior. Pyrrha Nikos was their only child, and she was the world to her parents, especially her mother. For you see, Pyrrha's mother is the reason why "The Indestructible Girl" is "The Indestructible Girl". Aleka invested everything into making Pyrrha the best she can possibly be, while her husband supported her.

"I trust you've noticed Ms. Nikos' behavior..." Glynda said privately to Taiyang. The Nikos were a bit behind them so she was sure they couldn't hear them.

"Course I have..." Taiyang casually said. "I perfectly understand why though..." He trailed off, Goodwitch waiting fro him to continue. "It's not easy losing your kids. I understand..." He said, calling back to not seeing Ruby for half a year and letting Yang go just last night. "Especially when they're hanging with maniacs..."

"Tai... those men may be _off..._ but they mean well."

"Yeah, yeah... They're actually good people and all that jazz, I know. Yang convinced me last night, but it's just that they're still crazy. I mean, did you know that they can just kill each other and bring people back from the dead?"

"You don't even know the half of it..." Glynda trailed off, remembering those very instances. "Yes, they're insane. But they truly are good men at heart. They did sacrifice themselves to save their students at Beacon after all..."

"Wait, so they actually did _die_ at Beacon?" Taiyang asked. They might have really earned some respect after all.

"It's a long story..."

"Excuse me?" Aleka popped in. "I can't help but notice you two were talking about the men we're looking for. Will you be kind enough to include my husband and I?"

"Eh, wasn't anything too important." Taiyang answered somewhat truthfully. "What I'm wondering is, what are you going to do if we do find your daughter with them?" Aleka didn't say anything, a straight look on her face that gave no answer or told of her thoughts. "I mean, they _did_ leave with my daughter in that airship of theirs last night to look for my other daughter, and she's heading to Mis-"

"Did you see Pyrrha with them?" Aleka cut him off.

"Uh, no. But what I'm trying to say is that we're not going to find them anytime soon. Heck, they're probably in Mistral already..."

"And that's why we're not looking for those lunatics, we're looking for where they're place of residence is." The red-haired woman stated, still straight faced. "If my daughter's still in a coma, then clearly these maniacs must have left her somewhere to keep her alive." She reasoned.

Suddenly, several screaming men rushed the group of four. All of these men were dressed in rags, were unarmed, and had a generally dirty and unclean appearance. Their presence was completely undetected by the group as they ran out of the treeline and even from above. The huntsmen immediately readied themselves for a fight, but to their absolute confusion, the screaming men stopped just short of them and immediately ran back into the forest. Still screaming like madmen as they disappeared into the brush by the way.

"Well, that was strange..." Argus Nikos hadn't even gotten his Xiphos out when the strange men retreated.

"Should we... follow them?" Taiyang asked with an air of uncertainty, holding his combat stance.

"Maybe they know where those men live!" Aleka then ran after them, ignoring calls for her to not go after them. Seeing no other option, the huntsmen went after her before she did anything rash.

Not too far away, a cloaked Spy-Bot chuckled to itself on a job well done. The Spy-Bots had successfully lured them away from the fort. Now it's a matter of seeing how long and if they can hold them back.

* * *

 **Back in Space**

The mercenaries and Yang were still stuck in space. On one side, the beautiful planet of Remnant filled their view. They could see that night covered the far eastern half of the planet, and the glimmering lights of major towns and cities of Anima were visible from up here in space. For Yang, it felt even more surreal for her to see the planet in the vacuum of space itself instead of inside the ship. It gave her another perspective, as in it sort of felt like she was a Goddess or an angel looking over a beautiful gem of life amidst this vast blanket of stars and black darkness. She even reached out to the planet as if she was going to pick a city or a piece of the continents up, but that obviously did not happen. It was just that everything seemed so small from up here, that she wished she can pick them up and keep them in literal safe hands.

"If only I was a god or something... then maybe no one will ever get hurt again..." She sighed.

Meanwhile, the other mercenaries had already figured out how to use their jetpacks. Currently, Scout, Demoman, and Pyro were playing what was pretty much space tag. Engineer went back inside the ship after already repairing the minor damages to the exterior so that he can repressurize the ship. Spy grumpily sat outside the ship since Engineer wouldn't let him in. Reason being Engie was sure that Spy was going to fill the ship with cigarette smoke again even though he already gave his word that he wouldn't smoke if he let him in. Sniper was with him, talking about they could possibly use their ability to go into space as an advantage. Soldier and Heavy were having an argument right now about who the first men in space were (at least on Earth). While Heavy had no love for the Soviet Union, he still argued against Soldier how the first man in space was a Russian man and how Soldier was full of shit for believing it was actually Davy Crockett. Technically, the first people in space were Australians, but they never revealed that to the rest of the world.

"Yang?" Heavy called over to the girl in an attempt to get out of this brain cell killing conversation. Yang had not moved from her spot, well, she hadn't changed body position but she was still slowly drifting toward the planet. "Come back here. You might fall on planet."

"Eh, she's fine, my comrade brother! Probably doesn't even know how to use that jetpack of hers, but anyway, Davy Crockett was the-" Soldier immediately shut up when Heavy donked him in the head for being a stupid baby man.

"Do you know how to use jetpack?" Heavy called out to her while Soldier struggled to stabilize himself after Heavy's blow sent him spinning in place. Yang snapped out of her thoughts when the Russian called her, and she turned her head towards them.

"Huh?"

"Do you know how to use your jetpack?" Heavy said again.

"Oh, yeah. I think I got the hang of this now..." Yang was fiddling with the jetpack. Then, a little slip up on her part sent her flying right into Heavy and Soldier. They all slammed into the side of the ship, but Yang was fine because the guys cushioned her. "Whoops! Sorry guys!" She giggled with her eyes closed, rubbing the back of her head.

" _Unnngggh..."_ Soldier groaned. He was unfortunate to be under Heavy when they hit the ship, and he stiffly floated away from them as he needed time to feel stuff in his body again.

"Be more careful!" Heavy chided her. Yang then gave him a light punch to the gut, playfully giggling to her bear of a friend.

"Whatever you say, bud... oof!" Heavy punched her back. Yang gave him a look, and that look immediately turned to that of one eyeing up an opponent. She then smiled, a grin on her face that said she wanted some trouble. "Want a piece of me? I'll be more than happy to give the first butt kicking in space!"

"You do not want to fight with me. Russian men were first men in space in my world." Heavy said with a straight look, not taking any of Yang's playfulness.

" _America did it first..."_ Soldier claimed as the patriot slowly drifted passed between them.

"Ah man, we got a space fight on our hands!" Scout yelled with the others gathering by him to watch this space fight. He then got shot out of place by a concussive shell from Yang, smoke coming out of her gauntlets.

" _That's_ for sucking us out into space..." Yang then faced Heavy and kept pushing to fight the Russian. Looks like Goldilocks never learns to not mess with the bear...

However, before the two combatants of strength and might faced each other in an awesome space fight, Engineer got out of the ship.

"Hey boys! Ship's ready to go!" He announced.

"Ugh, finally! Let's return to Remnant now. It's freezing up here..." Spy grumbled as he floated over to a hatch with the rest of them.

"Ahhh... looks like we're not gonna get a space fight, bud." Yang groaned, flying into Heavy. Heavy grabbed her and held the lazy blonde.

"Heavy did not want fight up here anyway..." Said the Russian as he carried Yang over to the ship.

After getting everyone strapped in and making sure everything was sealed, Engineer checked all systems in preparation for atmospheric reentry.

"Time to say goodbye to space..." Engineer said from the pilot's seat.

"Mppyre Mpfasce." Pyro waved out the window like a child saying goodbye to something.

While the ship's thrusters were warming up for blastoff, Yang can't help but look back out the window. This might be the only time she'll ever be in space, and what an experience it was. One does not simply become the first person from Remnant to be in space and take it lightly. Her reaction and feelings were quite appropriate all things considered. Well, no matter how much she liked the experience, she still had a sister to bring home.

"Something is on your mind?" Heavy nudged her side. Yang and Heavy were pretty much best friends in a mentor or rival kind of way, and they both knew it well. "Thinking of sister like you always do these days?"

"Of course I am. Kinda hard not to when you haven't see her for a while..." Yang looked as if she were a little embarrassed about it even though they already knew. Actually, she was just sad, but they couldn't really tell.

"Heh, have no shame. We miss her too." Heavy assured her.

"He's right, lass." Demo added in. "We may not seem like we care that much, but we do miss those stupid looks on you kids faces when we mess with ya!"

"Oh, shut up!" Yang grinned, playfully kicking the back of Demo's seat and making him jump up with the others chuckling at his expense. "Yeah, but I get it. After all, we missed you guys too..." Yang said, unintentionally reminding them all that they were killed and putting them in a grim fucking mood.

"Yes..." Spy growled. "Well it may have been a long time for you, it felt like only a week or so for us. And thank you for reminding us of the main reason why we bothered to come back here..."

"Oh... I'm sorry..." Yang shrunk back from how serious they got. Clearly she had hit a hard spot, but she understood fully why. She's struggled enough with losing her arm, all her friends, and even her dear sister, but she can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like to be killed and facing whatever waited for you on the other side.

"No. It's fine." Spy told her.

"Yeah, no need to apologize, mate." Sniper added. "As long as we're on our merry way to get our revenge, and save your sister, then we're good. Right lads?" Sniper got a resounding **YES** and other noises of approval from the gang.

"But seriously though, I'm going to shove my bat down that bitch's throat. That'll teach her to kill me without me even given her a proper ass kicking!" Now _this_ got even more approval with even Yang joining in on it.

"I'm gonna get her back for what she did to my old hand..." Engie eyed the gloved hand which had the still unrevealed new robot hand underneath it. Waving thoughts of bloody revenge away, Engineer flipped some switches, and the ship lurched forward as the thrusters fired up.

"HERE WE GO, GANG!"

What happened next can be summed up as a lot of screaming, metal glowing red hot, and flames enveloping the ship as it rapidly reentered the planet's atmosphere. But then, something completely unexpected happened. The ship stopped. That is no bullshit running from mine mouth. It straight up just stopped with no motion in any direction whatsoever. The flames that surrounded it totally disappeared, and the glowing red metal of the ship was cooling down rapidly.

"Um... what's...happening?" That was all Yang had to say before a swirling red portal opened up in front of the ship, surprising everyone. Murmurs of wonder were going on when everyone, except Yang, suddenly froze at the sight of a figure standing on the other side of the portal.

"Um, guys? Who's that?" No one answered her. The only one who said anything was Scout, who said "Ah, crap."

"Gaben." With that single word, the ship disappeared in the portal.

* * *

 **Technically, I did go back and start editing! And another chapter written in a day again, fuck yeahs for me! Still feels as great as ever to be writing this and especially now that I'm writing stories other than this. Don't worry, this story is still the main focus. just felt like it's time to do something new. So as said already, I made a TF2 fic set in World War 2 where the team is an Special Operations Group tasked with causing as much destruction as possible behind enemy lines. I also have ideas of making a RWBY/Skullgirls crossover. What is Skullgirls? One of the best indie fighting games I've ever seen, that's what it fucking is! It's really good, I suggest you check it out for yourselves.**

 **Now I need honest opinions here, do you guys think I should follow all the way to the very end of RWBY which apparently has another 7 or so volumes, or make up an original ending? Keep in mind if I do make an original ending, I'll follow the events of Volume 4 _then_ make the ending some time after that.**

 **Forgot to say this, but Discord is actually working now! It ironically worked just today, and now communication with those willing will be so much easier!**

 **Discord Name: Sorun_c**

 **Steam Name: Sorun_c**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Lord hellfire913: Sure, but it depends if I know the series or not.**

 **MrtheratedG: I mean, even if it's Medic, I can't just say *boom, alive*... Also, Yang in space is best thing.**

 **Mpopl2: Thank you for enjoying the story and understanding, mate.**

 **Awesome Arod: I did, but I don not remember these other ideas. I did think of killing Adam, but I was thinking he deserved some more time since he only appeared a few times. I do really well today.**

 **Titanium Lucas: Ah, well that's fine. I'm just happy to hear you enjoy the story. RWBY's not something that hard anime fans will enjoy for themselves since they tend to have high standards. RWBY's production quality improves as it goes along, but it's fine if you don't want to keep going.**

 **Mr. Green37: Maybe she has, but the question is does she _fully_ understand how dangerous they are?**

 **buzzsaw935: It's all good, baby.**

 **Michamya: Thanks for sharing, but to answer your questions, I play TF2 and Gmod a lot. I will always be up for playing those depending on time. I would start a Discord channel, but the fucking thing is having trouble since I downloaded it after 2016 and there are issues with it. I could do a Skype channel I guess since it's the next best thing. I consume millions of memes every day, even at school. The universe's meaning is up for your personal beliefs, unless you're asking what I believe in the universe. It's fine to ask five questions.**

 **darkromdemon: I knoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!... also... I was monitoring reviews and you have the misfortune of being review# 666 XD.**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: Yeah... too bad you can't play TF2 anymore.**

 **Matric of Evolution: *SINGING IN ANGELIC INTENSIFIES***

 **deloreansareawesome: Why!? Do you want to have a bad time!? DO YOU!?**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: Velvet's mah spirit animal. Get fukt.**

 **TheLAGGER: The next day, you have a test at school, and when you get the scores back sometime later, you got a -300% and must go spend 8 days in detention. *DISTANT LAUGHING FROM TWO VOICES***

 **TheLAGGER V.0- We got'em!**

 **Unknown- Yes we did...**

 **Guest: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. There will be more.**

 **A fan: An army of Nora's doped up on pancakes! And I hope Gaben rekts you for not buying anything on his Steam sale.**

 **MCZ: Ayyyyyyyyyyyy.**

 **luckyluke11032002: Jawohl.**

 **Pootisol: Check later today. C:**


	49. Shooting Stars

**The Void**

The mercenaries and Yang found themselves being taken inside a gigantic PC which was way bigger than the one Gaben had earlier used as a Steam Sales store last time they encountered him. The entire scene was near identical to how the Star Wars gang got taken into the Death Star, except they were going in against their will instead of sneaking on. Counter-Strike CTs wearing the heraldry of Valve were all over the place acting as security guards, while Half-Life citizens dressed as Valve workers were running around to do the bidding of their lord.

When their ship got into the hanger (which was where you put CDs or DVDs), they were immediately surrounded by the CTs and Gabe himself stood waiting for them at the ramp with Monty standing close by. The mercenaries were hesitant, not quite sure what to do in a situation like this. Sure, they've been in pickles _similar_ to this, but how the fuck do you win against an almighty God of everything?

"...is anyone going to tell me who this guy is?" Yang asked, staring back at Gaben with the other mercenaries from the viewports.

"We don't know... All we know is that he is known as 'Gaben'." Engie answered, eyeing the said person.

"Okay... what's so bad about him?" Yang asked another question, trying to figure out what exactly was so threatening about this fat guy other than the army and big ass Void station he had with him. "He looks just like a regular guy..."

"He is way more than just a normal person, Yang." Heavy said. "A good lesson to have in mind is not everyone may be what they seem, and he is most _definitely_ not just a fat man." He said ominously, staring Gaben down just like the rest of them. It was an intense standoff that lasted like a minute or so before Gaben finally said something to break the silence.

"Welcome." His godly voice called to them. "Will you be nice enough to leave your ship? It's been th-... thr-...thre-..." He started twitching, unable to say the number three.

"Three. Three minutes." Monty said the dreaded number Gabe can't say for him.

"Thank you. It's been that long since you've been here." Gabe finished.

The mercenaries didn't say anything, still not sure what to do. Getting tired of waiting, which is ironic because he is known for delaying things, he simply used his powers to teleport them in front of him. This was a huge surprise to everyone, and the mercs and Yang nearly started fighting in a frenzy panic had Gabe not froze them in place. Everyone struggled futilely as the Lord of Gaming let them settle down a bit before letting them go. He also muted them since they instantly started insulting him because that's what they do.

"Okay... I will let you go now. Promise I won't hurt you, I just have some business with you guys." Gabe said, unfreezing them and unmuting them. He held his hands out for a few more seconds just in case they broke out into violence again, but luckily they didn't. "Awesome. Hello there. Most of you know me already. I'm Gabe Newell, but pretty much everyone calls me Gaben." The CEO of Valve politely shook everyone's hands.

"Um... hi." Yang slowly said, surprised that he had such power over them. He is the Savior of Gaming after all.

"Hello, young lady. I think you're one of Monty's creations..." He said as Gabe's not familiar with Yang, looking to the Asian guy by his side who nodded. "I also think you have a game on Steam, hmm... Guess your show's gotten quite popular."

"I...what?" Yang was confused. "He... created me?"

"Yep. Creating RWBY took some work, but I did it." Monty plainly stated, giving a thumbs up and a slight smile to Yang.

"... _huh_?" Yang did not understand at all, but Gabe decided to keep going before this drags out longer than it has to.

"Oh, nothing... Now! Let's get to the point. We got a deal I want to get over with." With the clap of Gaben's hands, he brought the people he wanted to make a deal with right to them. To their surprise, it was Merasmus and Saxton Hale.

"Hey there chaps!" Hale greeted them with that Australian cheer. "Long time, no see!"

"Hi Mr. Hale- AHH!" Soldier's greeting to Hale was cut short when Merasmus tackled him and held him against the floor with his cane pressed to Soldier's neck.

"FOOL! YOU HAVE THE UNFORTUNATE PLEASURE-no,wait... UNFORTUNATE MISFORTUNE TO HAPPEN ON THE PLACE MERASMUS-" Suddenly, now words were coming out the wizards mouth as Gabe had muted him. Shaking his head in disapproval, Gabe brought Merasmus to his side and froze him.

"W-what's he doing here!?" Scout yelled.

"Yes, and what's the meaning of even bringing us here!?" Spy demanded, gesturing to the massive, fuck-off, Death PC (It's like Death Star but a PC!) they were in.

"Made a deal with that wizard to bring me to Gabe here so I can talk to him." Hale said.

"And this?" Gabe began. "This is my new BattlePC I decided to built with the funds generated from the last Steam sale. Pretty neat, isn't it?"

"Okay... but why take us here instead of standing us out in the Void like you usually do?"

"Ah, I just wanted to show off my BattlePC." Gabe shrugged. "Could've talked with you outside, but you know, PC Master Race. Got to show off my dominance."

"...alright." No one knew what he was talking about, but they didn't feel like pushing any further because they knew this was something they'll never understand. If monsters check under their beds for Chuck Norris, then Chuck Norris checks his Steam account for Gaben. Terrible analogy, but let's continue.

"So!" Gabe clapped his hands. "Let's begin! So, Saxton Hale, you say that if I let you return to Remnant, you promise to never hack again?"

"Yes I do!... Even though I never hacked to begin with!" Hale cheered, jumping over to the mercenaries. "These fellas will vouch for me! Come on, boys! Start vouching!"

"Wait, wait, wait... you brought us here only so we can vouch for you?" Engineer said in disbelief. None of the mercs were feeling Saxton Hale's fuckery right now because this was a huge waste of time.

"Yep! And-wait... one's missing." Hale said. With the clap of Gabe's hands again, Medic appeared.

"And zat is how ve-WHAT!?" Medic frantically looked around, wondering why he was here when just a moment ago he was telling Pyrrha how they got back to life. "WHERE AM I!? Oh, hello my friends." He said once he saw he was surrounded by his fellow mercenaries.

"Great! Now start vouching lads! Please! It's my only shot of getting back to Remnant!"

Hale literally dropped down to his knees and started begging them. Seeing no other option of getting out of this situation, they did just that. Even though they weren't quite sure what exactly they were vouching for. Gabe listened to each of their testimonies to how Hale was a good guy intensely while Hale stood and prayed that Gabe would take the vouches. Even Yang got in on the action, though she hasn't really interacted with Hale that much if at all. Though the vouches were generally positive with some negative remarks on how he was a terrible employer in between, Hale still stood up and faced Gabe to see what he thought of them.

"W-well... whaddya think?" Hale asked nervously. _Nervously._ After all, this may be his actual last chance to return to Remnant. Gabe stood there, struggling to come up with a decision. Looking over to Monty, he asked him for his thoughts.

"Monty?"

"You promise not to hack again in my world?" Monty asked Hale who nodded up and down like a dog with a thumbs up for good measure.

"I promise I won't, mate! I don't even know how to hack anyway, I'm just _really_ Australian!" Hale said truthfully. Gabe and Monty looked at him, still unconvinced.

"Well then..." Gabe began. "How can I be _absolutely_ sure-"

"Hey, don't mean to bother this whole deal thing here, but can you send us back to what we were doing?" Scout interrupted the Savior of Gaming. Gabe visibly twitched at the notion of this fucking pleb interrupting his need to say what he needs to say, but before Gabe could do anything rash, Monty stepped in.

"Say no more." Snapping his fingers, Monty sent them all back to Remnant. He was eager to see what these crazy dudes will make of their quest in the world of his creation.

"Alrighty then, anyways, how can I be _absolutely_ sure that you can't hack?" Gabe resumed.

* * *

 **Remnant**

Instantly, the ship plopped in the exact spot in Remnant's atmosphere with the same flames and speed as before, and the screaming continued. It had to make a full rotation around the planet in order for it to slow down enough for a stable flight. The flaming hot ship looked just like a shooting star as Engineer guided it down, and for the citizens of Remnant, they did believe it was a shooting star.

All the way in Atlas, Weiss was training in her room when she caught sight of the ship. Even though it was daytime in Atlas, she can very clearly see the ship flash for a second far above. Believing it was a shooting star, she decided she might as well make a wish. Last time she's seen one was back in Beacon with her friends, and that is where she discovered that it's common tradition in the rest of the world to make wishes on falling stars. Even if it wasn't something she believed would actually work, she did it anyway for good times sake, and for her friends.

 _I wish to see them again, someday._

To the far east of the planet, nightfall was casting itself over Anima's easternmost side, as well as Menagerie since the island was in that hemisphere as well. In Menagerie, Blake's standing on the balcony of her parent's home, watching stars appear in the skies as the Sun set over the Faunus land. It was easy for her to catch sight of the shooting star as it stood out greatly with its bright light and speed across the growing darkness. She too made a wish.

 _Please keep my friends safe._

For Team RNJR in Anima itself though, clouds had gathered above so they could not see anything. Not like they would've noticed too since they had just discovered the unfinished ruins of Oniyuri.

However, not all who saw the star made a wish on it. At least not a good one. On the Far Western Dragon continent, Salem quite literally watched the streak of light as it flew above her palace in the Grimmscape. The foul creatures that are born here stared at it as well, feeling their Queen's contempt for those on board. Salem knew this was no mere shooting star on account of it literally circling half the planet instead of just whizzing by into the rest of space as normal one would. Cinder was currently mastering her powers on some Grimm below, and Salem did not want to bother her with them. After seeing how they're able to go to space, Salem decided it's probably best to get rid of them once they landed before they become a far bigger nuisance than they already were. Last thing Salem needed was even more adversaries to get in the way of her grand scheme.

* * *

 **Back with the Ship**

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Were the sounds made by the occupants as it turned out returning to a planet's surface was much more intense than escaping it. The trajectory of them returning to the planet began as far west as Vacuo where Engie hoped the ship would slow down enough by the time they returned to their original spot for them to land somewhere in Anima. The G-forces acting on them were so intense, that no one could say anything other than constant screaming.

It felt like an eternity, but in reality, the time was only a few minutes, maybe even 10 until Engie deemed it the right time to activate the measures to slow down the ship. With the press of a button once they had reached minimal speed for safe usage, he reversed the thrusters so that the ship would slow down as well as deploying parachutes when they got within 30km or so from the planet's surface.

Now, the ship was beginning to slow down dramatically. If Engie's systems for right, they were already over half of Anima, which means they'd reach Mistral in pretty much no time at all if the ship would keep slowing down so they wouldn't miss the kingdom. However, what Engineer was totally unprepared for was the fact that the parachutes meant to slow down the ship's descent flew right off after a second of being deployed.

"Damn robots! Knew I shouldn't have trusted them with reinstalling the parachutes..." Engie yelled to the concern of everyone. "Oh well, least we got the thrusters to keep slowing us down. Don't worry y'all. If we overshoot Mistral then we can just turn around once we slow down enough." Engie relaxed as best as he can in the pilot's seat. The ship was so much stabler now since they've slowed down dramatically, but a rocking hit the ship again. To everyone's surprise, aerial Grimm were flying directly in the path of the ship. All power went into the thrusters trying to slow them down, so the shields and turrets were offline with the exception of the forward facing guns that were always manually controlled from the pilot's seat.

These Grimm were gathered from the local area by Salem and some for called from further away for good measure, and there just happened to be a lot of them. The Grimm were ordered directly by her to use their own bodies to destroy the ship which had little effect whatsoever as the ship was that fast and tough as balls. That was fine though. Salem was no fool, she carefully evaluates and watches every threat to her, so she knew that something heavier was needed to take down the ship. Fortunately for her, the idea of using the lesser flying Grimm to cover the charging laser of the Sea Dragon that she forced to fly out onto land from Mistral's inland sea just for the occasion of shooting them down. The creature was waiting a way ahead, and patiently waited for its target to come as its charging laser grew more and more powerful with its lesser creatures keeping it hidden until the time was right.

Inside the ship, it was total chaos as everything that wasn't strapped down was bumping and crashing all over the place like goddamn ping pong balls in a tin can. The aerial Grimm were being sliced like butter with the still fast ship going through them like the hot knife, but that did not mean it was a smooth ride at all.

"ENGINEER! DO SOMETHING!" Yang cried, still bumping into everyone and everything like everybody else.

The Texan said nothing as he quickly thought of anyway he could possibly save them. Then, he remembered he carried a teleporter. The teleporter he brought with him just in case they needed to hastily abandon the ship when everything goes wrong, but Engineer decided that he was going to attempt to use it to save the ship as well. Tying himself real good at the pilot's station, he set his teleporter and tried to see if he could link it up with the ship so that it would teleport his baby along with the people inside it. The ship was running low on power as it took so much damage that it was rapidly draining, so he decided there was only one thing to do. With much effort, he got to the container of dust crystals they packed with them just in case they needed it, and went for a white dust crystal. His plan was to return to Earth, anything to get out of this mess.

However, when he got the crystal he needed out, a massive hit rocked the ship as it was struck on the side by the charging laser of the Sea Dragon that was laying in wait, and that hit was enough to knock all the crystals out from the container and onto his teleporter. As for the ship itself, the hit to the side destroyed the engines on one side of the ship and the vessel began to veer far off course, where it had the fortune of decapitating the Sea Dragon as it was not expecting it to go in that direction at all. But for the teleporter, it went absolutely crazy with a multitude of colorful and bright lights coming out from the device. In an instant, all in the ship were blinded from the intensity.

Before anyone or anything even knew it, the ship and everyone inside it disappeared.

The ship found itself crashing like literally against the border of Mann Co. HQ, where it totally surprised Pauling, Heavy's family, and Scout's family as they were there at the time. You see, the reaction of having all those different kinds of dust hit the teleporter at once had a very different effect than that of just white dust touching it. It took everyone everywhere.

* * *

Heavy, Pyro, Soldier, and Yang were fortunate enough to be taken somewhere not very far away from where the ship disappeared from. From their location, they can still see the mass of flying Grimm that caused this to happen far in the distance, and they decided to hurry the fuck out of there lest those creatures notice them. There wasn't a lot left since the ship cut through that many of them, but it was still enough to wreck their shit.

"Ow... are you guys alright?" Yang asked them as the party limped away through the forests of Anima. She was a bit bruised but her aura managed to keep her mostly intact through the bouncing everywhere on the ship, but the same cannot be said for the mercenaries. They were alive, but very hurt. In game terms, they would be at anywhere from 1 to 20 health as even with their damage resistance did that crashing fuck them up.

"Heavy is fine..." The Russian clenched his teeth in pain.

"Mphm..." Pyro softly muffled.

"Democracy doesn't feel pain! But I do..." Soldier admitted shamefully. Things had gone horribly. Everyone was divided, no one knew where they were at, nobody knew where each other were, and their main method of getting to Mistral in no time was lost.

"Guys, you have to rest..." Yang begged them, worrying for how badly hurt they were.

"Is fine... we are still strong." Heavy claimed through pained breaths. He tried his best to stop Yang from making him sit down, but the girl was much stronger than him at the moment and she easily forced them all down. They may be far older than her, but Yang's kind, caring, big sister instincts applied to everyone.

"You said you had self-healing or whatever right?" Yang recalled some info they told her when they first returned while they nodded. "Then lay here and heal up." She ordered them, glad to see that cuts and bruises on them were already beginning to slowly go away. Sighing, the girl sat down next to the wounded mercenaries and closed her eyes.

"What do we do now?" She said aloud, not sure what's going to happen from here on out.

Then, not too far away, she heard the distinctive sounds of gunfire and explosions, the sounds of a fight. Snapping her head towards that direction, she immediately came to the conclusion that this may be her only chance to get help. Sure, the worries that it may have been bandits or maybe a village under attack were all present, but on the plus side, that meant that she can just take out all the bandits and use whatever they got to get around, or save the village and also use whatever they used to get around.

"Stay put, I'll be back!" Yang got up and launched herself in the direction of the sounds.

"Wait!" Heavy yelled after her to no avail. Feeling a bit stronger already, the tough mercs got up and limped after her while their healing kept going.

* * *

Spy and Scout found themselves in the cold of Atlas. They were very familiar with the cold as that's always the first thing that greets you when you get to this world's most advanced kingdom. From what they could see, they were on top of a large and elaborate building. A mansion, it would seem.

" _Ow..._ " The father and son duo both groaned in pain from the rough ride of the ship. They can do nothing but lay down completely motionless until their self-healing got them to proper shape. That did not stop Spy from looking around, and judging by the kind of airships they had here alongside how cold it was, he knew they were in Atlas.

" _Merde_..."

* * *

Engineer found himself popping into reality close to a rural farming community. He had no idea where he was, but he was definitely sure that he scared the shit out of the kid who was tending the crops he just landed on.

" _Howdy son..."_ Engineer wheezed to Oscar the farm boy before passing out.

"AUNTIE!" Oscar yelled for his aunt, dropping down to his knees to see if Engineer was still alive. Inside his mind, another person was just as surprised as he was at Engineer's sudden appearance. Only difference was that this other person had met Engineer before.

* * *

Sniper and Demoman found themselves landing face-flat on the dirt of a crowded street on Menegerie, scaring the Faunus around them with their sudden appearance from thin air. The Sun was still setting, and the lights were already lit, yet people still walked the streets at this time until it got really late. Both men were unable to move from how much pain they were in, but that did not stop them from looking around at the Faunus around them. Immediately, the good people of Menagerie went to help them while the other, more hateful to humanity, citizens scowled at them. To them, Humans don't belong on Menagerie.

As for the people who did help them though, they were dragged to the side of the street and laid to rest against the foundation of a house where they were given water and other aid for their bad condition. A little girl that appeared to be a mouse held up a cup of water for Demoman, but the Scot politely refused.

" _Thanks lass... but I prefer if you got me some drink. If you know what I mean..._ " He gave a weak smile to her. Strangely enough, this girl seemed to understand and immediately went inside the house they were lying against since it was apparently hers anyway, and brought down her father's alcoholic drinks. Well then... Demoman had no problem with this. The lovable Scotsman ended up sharing the bottle with Sniper as their self healing fixed them up, much to the amazement of the people around them with how rapidly it was taking place. As for the father of the girl, he was perfectly okay with sharing with these strangers in need.

"Argh! Where the hell is everyone else?" Sniper said at the realization that none of their other teammates were here. His attention was then shifted on someone pushing their way through the crowd.

"Hey, what's going on-" Sun Wukong trailed off upon catching sight of the two mercenaries. "...here."

* * *

 **Patch**

"Aleka! Aleka! Wait!" Glynda called out for the huntress as the party of four chased after her. They had lost the strange men long ago, but Aleka simply would not let up even though the man disappeared as if vanishing into thin air. It would seem that even with the huntsmen's aura, they were beginning to tire out with chasing after Ms. Nikos who showed no signs of fatigue at all. "Oh, for the love of-!" Having enough of this, Glynda stopped her with her semblance. "Aleka! Stop running! We lost them..."

"She's right, dear..." Argus came panting heavily with Taiyang heaving even more heavily by him. "Let it go. We've lost them."

" _Husband's got a point you know..._ " Taiyang wheezed, falling onto one knee and resting his hand against a tree from how tired he was.

"No! They must know something! Why would they attack us like that!?" Aleka screeched.

"Well, that wasn't so much an attack as it was a random group of maniacs screaming at us..." Goodwitch said. "But the men are right, we're not going to find them." The witch of Beacon went up to her fellow woman in an attempt to calm her down.

"Please, dear. We've wasted time chasing them when we could have spent it looking for where those so called professors live." Her husband said. "You're working against yourself here!" He looked deeply into his wife's eyes and waited to see if she would calm down. With much hesitation, she did.

"Fine... I supposed chasing them halfway across the island _wasn't_ that prodcutive..." Aleka reasoned with herself. Then, she heard something. They all heard something far in the distance. The sound of music. It was very faint, faint to the point that it was barely audible, yet it echoed far into the forest. From the sound of it, it was a violin.

"You guys hear that?" Taiyang went.

"Yes... yes I do..." Aleka had already begun walking towards the general direction of the music, leaving the others behind. Shrugging, they followed her.

" _Least she's not running this time_..." Taiyang muttered out. Aleka payed him no mind as she followed the source of the music, everyone following closely behind her. Considering their strange run in with those screaming men earlier, they kept a look out for them should they come out hollering out of the bush again.

"Do you know of any people who live this far in the woods?" Argus Nikos asked Taiyang who simply shrugged.

"Not that I know of. It might just be some campers enjoying themselves out here..." He suggested, though it wasn't like Aleka was listening. Anything out here was a target for the mystery of where her daughter was to her. Nearby, a group of Spy-Bots were freaking out.

Meanwhile, at the mercenary's fort, Medic popped back into his spot next to Pyrrha. Both were very shocked at his sudden disappearance then reappearance, but Medic went ahead and finished his story to Pyrrah since what happened wasn't something he had in his hands. After doing so, he got out his violin to play some more music to soothe Pyrrha's injured soul. He smiled with content at seeing Pyrrha slowly become more of herself.

However, his music was interrupted when he got a distress call from one of the Spy-Bots sent out to keep people away from the fortress.

"Ja, what is it?"

"Le Allemand! Some people are travelling towards the fort, and we cannot stop them!" The robotic Frenchness of a Spy-Bot came through.

"Have you tried leading them away? False attack even?" Medic suggested.

"Yes! We've done all of that, but they're determined!"

With a hand on his chin, Medic ordered the Spy-Bot to turn on a live feed for him to see these incoming intruders. At first, Medic expected to see some gormless hikers coming through where he would simply give the order to have them tranquilized and taken far from here, but then he caught sight of that woman. Pyrrha managed the strength to pick herself up a bit to see, and she gasped alongside Medic at who were on the screen.

"Mother..." Pyrrha said under her breath, tears welling up in her eyes at the sight of her dear mother. She was told earlier by Medic that Aleka Nikos denied them the right to take her away for treatment, and that's where he revealed that the mercenaries _technically_ kidnapped her. Though this disturbed Pyrrha a bit, she should've expected this from the likes of her good, crazy, professors.

"Yes... zat is indeed your mother..." Medic was sweating in anxiety right now. If Aleka finds the fort and discovers Pyrrha here, then the age old saying of _Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned_ was going to be demonstrated on him. "Zis is very bad... She cannot find zis place!" Medic declared, rushing to get orders out to prepare literally EVERYTHING.

"Professor!" Pyrrha called out to him, struggling to get off of her bed because she's not quite strong enough to walk yet. A Medic-Bot came and kept her in bed since she still needed rest, but she resisted still.

"Oh! Just stay put, Ms. Nikos, while I prepare for Mrs. Nikos..." Medic muttered out in a hurry.

* * *

 **Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!**

 **Such developments have gone through. Things have certainly gotten severely complicated for the gang. Okay, so anyway, I came to the conclusion that I will make up my own ending solely because this story is not going to last the next four or so years of plot RWBY has left unless a large majority of you legitimately do want to see me take this to the ultimate finale of RWBY. Current plan is that I will follow up on Volume 4's ending and go wherever the fuck from there.**

 **Review** **Responses:**

 **Pootisol: It's out.**

 **Battle9921: :v**

 **Command8: Well let's see. I mean, he doesn't seem too excited for this meeting...**

 **delta4phoenix: Awesome. And writing an XCOM crossover with RWBY? Das ist nicht gut... for me that is since I haven't played an XCOM game.**

 **Guest: Is this Ramiz?  
**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: Okay, but you failed to mention what characters to include.**

 **A fan: Bro, get a fanfic account so we can RP whenever you want. I would respond to all of them, but I cannot read them because the ordering is so confusing that I don't know what's happening.**

 **Stryker Mikazuki J: What's weird is that Velvet's my fucking bae and you're not doing shit to stop it. *Cuddles bunny* MINE!**

 **MCZ: Gaben is far more likely. You too mate, get an account if you want to talk to me.**

 **TheLAGGER: I know... and by the way, to those two watching from the hidden camera, I'm gonna rekt u.**

 **(Unknown) OH SHIT, HOW'D HE KNOW!?**

 **(TheLAGGERv.0) I-I don't know! Wait! Maybe he's just trying to dupe us out.**

 **Then, somebody is knocking against the door of the room they are in, knocking very hard.**

 **(chief) KNOCK KNOCK, MOTHERFUCKER! JUSTICE IS HERE!**

 **Michamya: More like a Star Wars homage. I also did not here of the Valve team talking about TF2, and I already set up a Discord channel which is just my Fanfiction account name. And may Gabe bless thee too.**

 **A New Challenger: Eh, I'll work something out. And don't worry about Breadzilla...**

 **heyoboy: Done.**

 **An Peepul: Okay... but by canon ending, do you mean at the end of the series or the end of Volume 4?**


	50. The Minor Reunions part 1

**Menagerie**

After finding Sniper and Demoman out in the streets of Menagerie, Sun did the logical thing and took them to the Chieftain's home to see Blake. The monkey boy did freak the fuck out upon seeing them and asked them a whole bunch of questions, which they immediately gave them the pamphlet detailing what happened. That didn't stop Sun from asking though, so they just told them everything as they made their way through the streets, much to his wonder about their fate. In return, Sun told them where they were and how he's even here. It surprised the two to find that Blake was here as they didn't expect to actually find Blake at all throughout this quest of their's.

The Faunus inhabitants of the island were generally positive towards these human men, even if the mercenaries did get some dirty looks from a disgruntled Faunus every now and then. Dirty looks that the mercenaries repaid in kind with threatening glares back at them. The horizon grew ever darker as the sun kept setting toward the western side of the world, leaving the eastern lands for the night. Street lights were lit up just as sunlight went away for other parts of the world.

"Holy dooley, this is where that catgirl lives?" Sniper tipped his glasses down when he caught sight of Blake's home, not expecting someone like her to be from such a place.

"Yep! Blakey's got it pretty good if you ask me..." Sun said. "Her dad's the Chieftain of the island, so you know the Belladonna's are pretty rich."

"No kiddin'? Wonder is her old man's got any drinks..." Demo wondered at the thought of more alcohol. Scots love their drink. Soon, after walking down the long street leading down to the Belladonna manor, they were at the doorstep, obviously.

"Alright guys, this is it..." Sun said with a snicker to it. "Can't wait to see the look on Blake's face when she sees you two..." With that, Sun took hold of the large metal rings on the door, and knocked them three times before letting go. After a short wait of Sun standing there with a smile on his face and the two mercenaries behind him just patiently waiting, a Faunus woman of the feline type opened the door. She instantly gave a smile upon seeing Sun, but it faded a bit when she saw the mercenaries and wondered who they were.

"Hello Sun." She bowed to him in greeting.

"Sup Mrs. B." Sun nodded at her. There was a short silence as Kali watched Demo and Sniper nod at her. She was probably wondering why two humans were here, maybe thinking they were huntsmen.

"Who are these men? Friends of yours?" She asked curiously.

"Oh yeah, this is Sniper, and this is Demoman." He introduced them respectively. Kali's ears twitched a bit and her eyes widened as well when she heard those titles. During those conversations with Blake, well, more like lengthy conversations with Sun, she heard talk of these nine professors at Beacon who were mercenaries from another world.

"Richard Mundy." Sniper took his hat and held it to his chest, nodding his head in a slight bow to be polite. "Or as the kid here said, people know me as 'Sniper'".

"Tavish DeGroot, tis an honor to meet ye, ma'am." Demo introduced himself with a bow of his own, accidentally giving a hiccup from the bottle he downed earlier. "Demoman's what I typically go by though."

"Kali Belladonna. It's a pleasure to meet you two." Blake's mother bowed once more. "Pardon me for asking, but are you two professors at Beacon? Like the ones my daughter and Sun have told me about?"

"Mercenaries? Died at Beacon? Yep, that would be us." Sniper answered for her.

"Yep! This is them!" Sun got Sniper and Demo close with his arms over the both of their shoulders. "But keep it down though, I want to surprise Blake!"

"Oh..." Kali was at a loss for words as she didn't know what to feel about this. She never seen the mercenaries or even heard of them until her daughter came home, and she had no way of knowing this was actually them or not. Also, she considered the rather... "crazy" stories she has been told about them. If it really was them and they were as crazy as she heard them to be, then bringing them into her home probably wasn't a good idea.

"Well... your surprise will have to wait. Blake wants some time to herself right now, but in the meantime, please come in." The kindly mother of Blake held the door open for them against her inner thoughts. She hoped that they weren't really like what she heard them to be. "How sweet do you like your tea?"

"Tea? I'm sorry ma'am, but I prefer-" Sniper cut Demo off before he did anything stupid.

"Tea would be just fine, Mrs. Belladonna." Sniper told her as they entered Blake's nice home.

It truly was a nice home at that. It was larger, and more finely built than any of the other buildings on this island. It's architectural design reminded the mercenaries of that of Eastern Asian styles like of China or Japan. Even some of the furniture they got inside reminded them of their Asian equivalents on Earth. Hell, they were sat at a low table where they had to sit on their knees, something they only ever seen Asians do.

"Here's your tea, gentlemen." Kali served them their tea with a polite smile. Part of that smile was from seeing how silly it was for the two of them to sit in the proper way. Demoman was sitting crisscrossed after giving up from trying to get used to sitting the proper way, and Sniper kept adjusting himself before also giving in to just sitting crisscrossed. "My husband's upstairs getting some work done so I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little while to meet him.

"No problem." Sniper said.

"So this is _tea_..." Demo said the word 'tea' as if he never heard of it before, holding it daintily as he examined it.

"What's the matter, Demoman? Never heard of tea before?" Sun joked.

"Course I have, mate. Just that I never had it before..." Demo trailed off.

"Eh, don't worry about him, kid." Sniper sipped some of his own tea. "He's only ever had booze in his long, drunken, life..." That statement made Kali tense a bit, eyes giving off slight worry at hearing that this part of Demoman she heard was apparently true. "Tea's delicious." Sniper complimented her.

"Thank you. It's the best Menagerie has to offer." She smiled, happy that Sniper seems pretty normal. "So, gentlemen, is it true that you are from another world?" Said she, trying to start some conversation.

"Aye, that's right..." Demo said slowly. He just tasted the tea, and let's just say he's trying to like it. This did not go without Kali noticing though.

"Yep! Like Blake and I told you already, we been there." Sun said, using his tail to put some sugar in his own tea. "Speaking of Blake, you mind calling her down here? Kinda anxious to see her reaction to, you know..." His tail pointed the spoon at Sniper and Demo.

"I'll get her in a bit, but um..." She hesitated a bit. "In this other world, are there any Faunus like Sun and I?"

"Nope." The Australian answered with a sip of tea. "Not a single person like you exists. A Faunus, that is. Nothing but humans in our world." Kali nodded, interested to hear this information about a world with no Faunus.

"I imagine people are rather civil to each other there. You may have already noticed, but Faunus aren't exactly equals here..." She said. When she implied that people on Earth don't hate each other, the two of them began chuckling while she and Sun awkwardly sat there, not understanding why they're laughing at her statement.

"W-whatever you say, ma'am..." Demo chuckled, accidentally spilling his hot tea on himself and giving off a yelp. "Ah, cripe!" He cursed.

"Oh! Let me get you a towel!" Kali quickly got up to go get some towels before Demo called her to stop.

"No, no, it's fine..." Demo sighed, not really caring that the tea was scalding hot since he's been burned with _way_ worse than just hot tea. "Didn't really liked the tea anyway..." With that, the Scotsman got out his good ole' bottle of Scrumpy and began downing it, much to Kali's displeasure at his distasteful action. Sniper slapped Demo up the side of the head for giving off this bad impression, giving him a curse that made Kali's heart drop from how crass it was and Sun cover his mouth to stop him from laughing out.

"Terribly sorry for Demoman's behavior." Sniper apologized for the two of them.

"...yes. Of course..." She sat back down, wondering if this conversation will take a pleasant turn.

* * *

 **Atlas**

Gracefully moving around her room as if she were doing a hybrid between a dance and fencing, Weiss continued her training alone. As before, all her furniture was moved to the sides to make room for her practice. The age old saying of practice makes perfect was indeed a truth as Weiss has found. Her control of her summoning has been getting better by the day. Granted she actually hasn't summoned anything more than maybe some small Grimm she can easily control, but what matters is that she has at least more control than she did before. Her annoying little brother came in earlier, and she was a little angry about him pestering her. Still, she regained her concentration and continued on.

The Sun shone over Atlas, and it brightly lit Weiss' room as she practiced. While she was practicing, she was unaware of the two men slowly climbing down from the roof using a rope they had in their inventory. They were now at her rather large window.

"Geez, how high is this freakin' mansion?" Scout whistled as he looked at how far they had to go down. It was pretty far. "I don't think we got enough rope to go all the way down there..."

"We're not going all the way down to the ground anyway, Scout, we're going through one of these windows where I hope to God we'll be able to safely sneak out of..." Spy trailed off when he caught sight of Weiss training alone in her room. "Hmm... least we know who's mansion this is."

"You think she'll let us in? Kinda freezing out here..." Scout asked.

"Of course she'll let us-" Spy stopped mid-sentence when he saw Weiss summon a glyph on the ground in front of her, and then stuck her rapier into the floor. Then everything began shaking, and instinctively, Spy and Scout jumped to the sides of the window right when it blew open. " _Merde..._ " Spy cursed under his breath at the prospect of almost getting blown off to their deaths.

"What the hell just happened?" Scout said. Peaking back into the window, the two of them saw a short balding man who was most likely a butler had entered the room, and Weiss was standing before a tall suit of armor that she summoned.

"Klein, I need to ask you for a favor." Weiss grinned at her butler. understanding immediately, Klein gave a nod and grinned back. Then, he caught sight of the two mercenaries right outside her window.

"If it isn't too much trouble, but can we also ask you a favor, Ms. Schnee?" Weiss heard a very familiar French voice ask from behind her. Turning towards the window, she was quite surprised to see them outside.

"Yeah, it's really freaking cold out here!" Scout shivered. For a moment, Weiss said nothing, just taking a step back in surprise from seeing them again so soon. Klein cautiously entered the room and closed the door behind him, standing closer to Weiss as he didn't know who these men were.

"Ms. Schnee, do you know these men?" He asked, eyeing the two of them carefully.

"Yes... yes I do..." She finally said something. "Mr. Moreau? Mr. Charleston? What are you doing back in Atlas?"

"Honestly..." Spy sighed. "I have no clue..."

* * *

 **Patch**

"Seal everything! Activate all defenses! All robots on alert! I vant everything ready for an attack!" Medic barked out orders to the robots. The robots followed his orders with little hesitation even if they were programmed with each of the mercenaries' personalities into each of them. Robots of every type lined up against the walls, heavy sentry turrets were wrangled by Robo-Engies, robot battle tanks rolled up, and even new combat type walker robots were being moved to fighting order.

"See if ze shields are-"

"Dcotor!" Medic heard Pyrrha call from behind him. Looking back, he saw Pyrrha managed to limp her way to him in her weakened state with the help of a crutch from the medbay. "None of this is necessary! Please tell your robots to stand down." She demanded, Medic running to help her as she almost fell. He gave a worried expression, though it wasn't entirely clear if it was for his safety or for Pyrrha's condition.

"But Ms. Nikos, when your mother finds out that I'm the one who took you, she's going to tear mein arse-uh... you know what I'm trying to say!"

"You brought me out of my coma though! I'm sure my mother will forgive you since you've waken me up." Pyrrha reasoned. Medic still looked unsure as he stared at Pyrrha's green eyes, a worried look still on his face.

"...Alright. Ve will do it your way..."

...

"What in the heck?" Taiyang gasped as the group of four huntsmen laid eyes on the mercenaries fortress. They had just emerged out of the treeline to see it, the first people to happen across it that were not invited by the mercenaries. "Never seen this on the island before..." He trailed off.

"Then this must be where they live..." Aleka said under her breath, carefully observing the fortress for anything suspicious. As far as any of them could tell, there was no one here. Despite, you know, it being a fortress and designed to keep people out, there was little in the way of defense other than the walls and towers.

"Strange... why build a place that looks like _that_ and not have anything defend it?" Glynda said, remembering how silly the guys could get. All of their attentions was then shifted on Aleka, who began walking at an aggressive pace up to the front of the fort. The other huntsmen followed, keeping cautious as they weren't sure what to expect. Especially Glynda since she's seen what these guys can do. Approaching the large gate, they were glad to see that nothing has happened thus far.

*REALLY LOUD KNOCKING*

"HELLO!?" Aleka shouted, her voice echoing through the forest. A short wait, and nothing happened.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Glynda tried this time. After another wait, nothing happened again. "Well... Taiyang did say they all left with his daughter..." She sighed. Aleka wasn't having any of it. With no words at all, she made ready as if to either tear the large gate down or scale the wall to get in and see for herself if Pyrrha was in here, but then the sounds of unlocking mechanisms was heard. All attention was turned on the gate they were standing before as it creaked open. Next thing they knew, a German man peaked his head out from the crack.

"Guten tag. Was ist es die sie brauchen?" Medic asked them what they wanted in German. His heart dropped after seeing Aleka standing so close to him.

"YOU!" Aleka looked like she was about to pounce the good doctor had her husband not immediately restrained her.

"Huh, looks like they all didn't go after all." Taiyang stroked the back of his head.

"Hello Mr. Xiao Long. Hello Glynda. Hello... Mister and Misses Nikos." He said the Nikos' names warily, clearly afraid of them, or more specifically, the wife. "Hehe, hello fraulein..." He waved nervously at Mrs. Nikos who was giving him a really dirty look.

"Let me handle this..." Goodwitch said to Aleka because she was certain she was going to immediately mess everything up with pointless force. "Hello, Mr. Medic."

"Yes, yes, greetings. Very good, hehe..." He laughed nervously. She noticed he was sweating a bit.

"Pardon me asking, but when and _why_ did you build this? And how were you even able to build it to begin with?"

"...with robots." He answered hesitantly.

"Uh-huh...right." She nodded, remembering reports of robots that looked like the mercenaries fighting at Beacon alongside them. "Listen, you know me, and I know you." She decided to get straight to the point.

"Ve didn't exactly spend a lot of time with each other, but ja. I suppose we do." Medic sunk a little back behind the gate.

"I am going to be very brief here, do you have Pyrrha Nikos?" She asked. The German anxiously glanced at Pyrrha's parents and back to Glynda.

"Y-yes." He gulped. When he said that, all the huntsmen weren't surprised. Again, this was totally expected. "I suppose you vould vant to come and see here, yes?" He smiled nervously. Aleka Nikos gave a menacing glare towards him, but she did take comfort in how this psychopath feared her. If he was as scared of her as he is now, then he probably wouldn't have done anything to her precious daughter for fear of retribution, right?

As a result, he nearly jumped back when Aleka was let go and she stepped up to him. " _Bring us to her."_ She growled with the fury of a beowulf.

"Actually, I have a better suggestion. In my medical opinion, I think it is best if I actually-GACK!" Medic struggled for air as this protective mother grasped him tightly by the throat and pushed him through the gate like nothing. That gate was made of heavily reinforced steel from Mann Co., and she still pushed him through it like it was just a chain link fence. The power of an angry woman...

She was so angry, that she failed to notice that the other huntsmen with her had frozen in place upon seeing what was on the other side of the gate.

"First, you take my daughter, and now you're refusing to let me see her!?" Aleka raged, lifting him up and quickly throwing him back to the ground.

"I-I wasn't going to say I was not letting you see her!" Medic gasped in his defense, struggling for precious air as this spartan woman kept fucking with his airflow. "S-she's-"

"She's what!?" Aleka demanded, grip tightening on his neck until it looked like he was ready to die. Then, her heart dropped when she heard a voice she hadn't heard from in a over half a year.

" _MOTHER!_ " Looking up, Pyrrha Nikos was standing before her with a really concerned expression on her face for what her mother was doing to the doctor that saved her life. Her beautiful daughter, in the flesh, awake, alive, and walking about again for the first time since the Fall of Beacon. Pyrrha looked little different from when she was in the hospital as she was still fairly skinny and her pretty red hair was still a mess. Totally overjoyed, Aleka got off of Medic and ran to take her daughter in a long overdue hug.

"It's good to see you again, mother..." Pyrrha had tears ready to fall from her eyes while her mother said nothing, too happy to say anything as she resisted crying herself. Lifting her head up from her mother's shoulder which she was resting it on, Pyrrha addressed the doctor. "I think you can tell the robots to stand down now, Mr. Medic."

In her rage against Medic and joy of seeing her daughter again, Aleka completely failed to notice that the reason why the huntsmen with her froze was because there was a lot of robots, tanks, turrets, and walkers pointing their weapons at them. All of this was waiting patiently inside in case things got really violent. Pyrrha at least managed to convince Medic to hide the robots instead of making them stand down completely, and the robots sort of grumbled that they didn't get to use their stun weapons today.

"Oh... thank God..." Still on the ground and heavily breathing in air, Medic gave the signal for all the robots that had their weapons pointed at the gate to stand down.

* * *

 **Pine Farm**

At the small Pine family farm in Anima, Oscar and his aunt were tending to their guest. A guest who literally popped out of thin air. When Oscar and his aunt carried him inside their little house to see if there was anyway they can help him, they were shocked to see that this guest of their's had already healed most of his injuries up. It did not take long for him to wake up, and soon, his strange accent greeted their ears. Though it was an accent that Oscar and his aunt didn't recognize, it was one that the third, unseen person there knew.

"Thanks." Engie gladly accepted a cup of warm milk from Oscar's aunt under the light of a lamp. "Appreciated, Ms...?"

"Mary, but please. People call me Aunt Pine." The kind woman smiled politely. She was mid-aged, maybe going on to her late forties judging by her slightly graying, dark hair. Pretty much identical in appearance to her nephew all things considered.

"Aunt Pine. Name's Dell Conagher." He lifted the glass of milk up as in for a toast and drank it down. He and Aunt Pine then had a rather pleasant discussion about where he came from and how he got there as Oscar watched from the side. The boy was tuning in and out, listening to some bits of his story while listening to the voice in his head.

 _"That man. I know him, Oscar."_ The spirit of Headmaster Ozpin said to Oscar from within his own mind.

"You do?" Oscar said quietly. "Who is he?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

" _He's an acquaintance of mine back when I was still alive."_ Ozpin began. " _You see, alongside eight other men, he's not from this world."_

"What do you mean?"

 _"_ _As in, not from Remnant. They are from another world called Earth."_ Ozpin paused, remembering that first talk he had with them. " _They're mercenaries by trade, guns for hire. But all things considered, they've proven themselves to be quite...well... this is putting it lightly, but 'civil' in the time I've known them."_ Oscar said nothing, still watching the Texan man with growing interest at the information that he's from another world.

"Wait, why should I believe you? I still don't think you're real, you know."

" _Hmm..."_ Ozpin sighed. " _You will see that I am very real soon enough. That aside, I'm quite curious as to how he got here..."_ Both of them stopped talking so they could listen in on Engineer retell the events that led to him magically appearing here. They got their answer soon enough, and both Oscar and Ozpin were silent as they listened to Engie continue his tale.

...

Later on in the night, Engineer was allowed to stay in the barn as their wasn't any room in the small house that they could let him sleep at. That was perfectly fine to this seasoned cowboy though. Remember, despite being an egghead with fourteen goddamn PhD's, Engineer was still very much a Texan Cowboy at heart and he used to sleep in barns all the time as a child. Currently, the cowboy was on the raised platform in the barn that Oscar would sometimes sleep at. He was laying out all his equipment, and he was disgruntled at seeing that he no longer had the teleporter he brought with him on this trip. It disappeared with the ship after that mishap earlier.

"Mr. Conagher?" Engineer heard a voice call from behind him. From the ladder, Oscar peeked his head just enough for Engie to see him. The boy seemed to gawk at all the weapons and equipment that Engineer somehow carried with him at all times.

"Good evening, son." Engie nodded at him. "What'dya need?" He asked warmly with his Peacemaker being cleaned.

"Um... I..." Oscar hesitated, looking like he had someone telling him to do even though he and Engie were the only people in the barn. "I... someone wants to say hi..."

"Well, who would that be?" Engie set his Peacemaker down and waited for the boy to answer.

"Ozpin." He said, making Engie's eyes widen a little. The Texan wasn't wearing his goggles at the moment, and Oscar could see his blue eyes wide and clear.

"Ozpin? How do you know him?"

"Uh... well, he's... inside my, mind?" Oscar said hesitantly, nervously laughing a bit and shaking at how silly he must have been making himself look. The confused look of Engie rasing a brow at him didn't help his case.

"Pardon?" Engie said.

"Oh, it's nothing! Just crazy thoughts in my head, you know?" Oscar tried to laugh this whole thing off. "Sorry, just a big fan of that Beacon Headmaster and all that stuff. Hehehe...he." Engie was still giving him a confused look and Oscar gulped.

"Well... tell Ozpin I said howdy too, I guess." The Texan said as he reached for his guitar to play some music for the night. It'd help him take his mind off of what happened earlier until he was ready to leave by morning.

"Hehe...um... sure." Oscar sighed before going back down the ladder, feeling embarrassed for talking to this stranger because an imaginary voice in his head told him to do it. Against Ozpin's wishes, Oscar left Engineer behind in the barn. The soft sounds of Engineer playing the guitar accompanied him as he went back inside his house, heading upstairs to his room. Aunt Pine was downstairs, washing the dishes before going to bed herself.

" _Well at least he was kind enough to say hello."_ The voice in Oscar's mind echoed just as he got into bed.

"Shut up." Oscar ordered him, looking out the window toward the source of the guitar playing before resting up.

* * *

 **Oniyuri**

Things had gone horribly for Team RNJR. First they found the depressing ruins of a city that was never finished, and now they were under attack by a Scorpion Faunus madman who goes by the name of "Tyrian". This guy absolutely destroyed the four of them, easily overpowering the four novice huntsmen with little effort or trouble at all. His goal? Ruby. He wanted to take her to whoever this "Goddess" he claims ordered him to take Ruby. Making matters even more confusing, Uncle Qrow came out of fucking nowhere and was not engaging this Scorpion Faunus in battle while Team RNJR tried to help when they could.

Things took a horrible turn again when in the moment of all their hopes being raised, this legitimate psychopath managed a stab on Qrow in the middle of battle, wounding him as his aura was down. Seeing this, Ruby immediately went for his tail to sever it, but she missed and the madman kicked her off to the side.

"Hehehe... looks like you'll be seeing my goddess after all." Tyrian snickered like he was the shit around here. Well, he was since now there was no one to challenge him.

"Stay...stay the hell away from her!" Qrow grunted through clenched teeth, one hand holding his injury as he stood between him and Ruby. The rest of Team RNJR following his lead. The Faunus laughed maniacally at this act of defiance like the actual deranged lunatic he was.

"Seriously now? You still plan on stopping me like this?" While he kept mocking them, no one noticed the blonde brawler that had just reached the settlement.

Yang climbed up to the top of a fairly tall building, and it did not take her long at all to understand what was happening. Her first thought was absolute disbelief that she already found Ruby and the rest of Team JNPR as well as even her Uncle Qrow being here. Then her second thought was absolute anger and RAGE from seeing the son of a bitch who evidently fucked them up. Her friends, her family, harmed by this cackling bastard...

"Really, though, I find it absolutely endearing how you-" Tyrian stopped mid-sentence upon hearing something whistle at him, and quickly dodged a shot from Ember Celica. "What in the...?" The hit came so fast, that Tyrian was not able to dodge in time when Yang delivered a horrifyingly powerful punch to his face.

"Y-yang!?" Ruby gasped, Qrow and RNJR just as surprised as she was.

"STAY AWAY FROM THEM!" Yang roared with the fury and rage of an Ursa, much to Tyrian's interest.

"Ohoho! What's this? Another poor child come to get herself killed? Well..." He whipped his tail around and took a stance. "I'll be happy to do the-"

"SHUT UP!" Yang immediately rushed him, beginning the fight. Closeby, the mercenaries with her were still on their way, moving much faster now since they managed to heal up fully while on the run.

* * *

 **Here it do, gents and ladies. Everyone is split up, and looks like some more action is coming soon!**

 **So, progress on the edits has been going...swell...but they are indeed happening, trust me.**

 **You may have noticed there is now a cover for the story. I have no idea who made it, but it's only a working cover until I'M done making my own in SFM.**

 **As always, much thanks to all of you who support and enjoy the story and I hope you have nothing but good times as you continue to enjoy the story. Remember that feedback of any kind is appreciated. Tell me anything from questions you'd like to ask, to what you like about my story, or just about anything you want to talk to me about so long as I can understand it.**

 **The feedback is what's keeping me in this, you know. The fun of writing, besides writing of course, is hearing what your guys thoughts are. So please share if you would be so kind.**

 **By the way, by request of A New Challenger, who's willing to make a react series on Mercs in Remnant? It's up for anyone to take and there can be multiple entries.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **VivaL'Aquila: YEEEAAAAHHH!... why bird sounds?**

 **Awesome Arod: Ha! Not exactly!**

 **Frank: We'll see next chapter.**

 **darkromdemon: I think this is technically the second time.**

 **buzzsaw935: What meme? Don't remember no memes, boi.**

 **Ramiz: Yes I did. Thanks by the way. Also, would it be a good idea to include TF2 with this RWBY/Skullgirls crossover as part of this continuum I got going on?**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: We'll if it's for my own ending, than I'll see what I can do.**

 **A New Challenger: If anyone's willing.**

 **Mr. Green37: Yep!**

 **A fan: He man, I would love to RP with ya like this, but I can't follow since I can't tell what's happening with the way you order your responses.**

 **MCZ: Edgy.**

 **TheLAGGER: Ayyyyyy! Awesome stuff all around.**

 **chief- Welp, looks like they got what they deserved... *leaves the room, unaware someone in the distance was watching with his gang of thugs.***

 **anti chief- Boi... I'M gonna rekt dat ass and all him friends with... *Evil laughter alongside his cronies***

 **Guest: Think competitive TF2.**


	51. The minor Reunions part 2

**Oniyuri**

Team RNJR still couldn't believe it, neither did the dusty old crow they encountered very recently. Yang had somehow traveled all the way over from Vale and miraculously found them all the way out here in Oniyuri. They didn't understand how she did it, and they also didn't understand where she got her cybernetic arm. But what they did understand was that she was here now, and she was fighting Tyrian the Faunus psychopath by her lonesome while they gawked at her being here.

Ruby especially couldn't believe it. Her dear older sister who promised to stay with her no matter what was here. She hadn't seen Yang in nearly six months or so by now, and she deeply missed her. The girl was even tearing up at seeming Yang again, standing frozen as Yang fought for her.

For Yang and Tyrian's fight itself, it was not going well for her. Even though Tyrian faced Team RNJR and Qrow, although to be fair he destroyed Team RNJR rather easily, he still had enough in him to face Yang. It wasn't like Yang cared though. She was too concerned with how to inflict as much pain unto him as she possibly can and then some. Still, it annoyed her to infuriating degrees when Tyrian laughed like this was just a game to him.

"Hahaha! Someone's angry!" He teased, managing a tail whip against her chest. Yang tanked the hit, and then miserably missed a counter kick on him which rewarded her with his fist to her face. Too much anger was felt by her to feel the attacks, and she pressed on. Going in for a uppercut after blocking a punch from him, she narrowly missed his head when he bent backwards and kangaroo kicked her away, making her tumble across the ground before skidding to her feet. "Is that all you got?" He smiled deviously.

Yang simply clenched her teeth and growled a low growl. Hair glowing and eyes red, she was definitely pissed.

"Hehehe..." Tyrian giggled with a silly look on his face.

Then his tail automatically blocked a bullet from Ruby, who decided to snap out it and come help her dear sister out. The Red Reaper ran circles all around him, in the air, on the ground, firing rounds from her sniper scythe at him to which he just blocked with his tail. Closing in to get a hit on him, Ruby swung her massive scythe horizontally, but Tyrian expertly rolled under the swing and gave a punishing combo of a punch to the face, a strike to the belly, and an uppercut that sent Ruby airborne.

"RUBY!" Yang screamed with enough fury to shatter buildings.

She practically flew at Tyrian with flames trailing behind her, unknowingly falling for his trap. Turning at her, Tyrian let off volleys of rapid machinegun fire from his wrist guns which slightly slowed her down. When she got close enough to the point where Tyrian could make out the red anger in her eyes clear as daylight, he simply stepped to the side to dodge a punch from her and tripped her with his tail. It came as quite a surprise when Yang grabbed onto his tail and swung him around to hit him with a knee to his belly. Yang's attack hit, making Tyrian grunt from surprise that he actually got hit and genuine pain.

Feeling enraged himself, Tyrian slipped another punch from Yang before letting loose on her with a flurry of kicks and punches. He was way too fast for Yang, and the girl struggled as her semblance was of little use if she can't hit back.

While all of this was going on, Ruby was laying nearby, trying to gather the strength to get up and fight The rest of RNJR stood by the injured Qrow and kept him protected should Tyrian randomly decide to break off from fighting Yang and finish him off. Based on what they've seen of this guy, he is totally unpredictable and that could totally happen. Ruby cursed it all. First this depressing, unfinished city. Then this guy comes in and pretty much destroys them. Then Qrow coming in and getting injured by him which made her angry. And now Yang was here as well, but she was also getting destroyed.

Amidst all her thoughts, Ruby still had the sense to hear an explosion in the distance, and something whistling as it descended down from the skies. Looking up just in time, everyone saw someone they thought long gone fall to the ground with smoke trailing behind him and a shovel in his hand. Everyone except Tyrian and Yang who were still busy going at it.

 _Especially_ Tyrian. He did not notice the entrance of the American patriot until he heard these words...

"SCREAMING EAGLES!" With those words, Tyrian turned around and had one tenth of a second before he felt the cold metal of the Market Garnder be applied to his face at painful speed and force. The Scorpion stumbled backwards and actually tripped from the impact. Covering the side of his face he was hit by, he looked up to see a man wearing a red coat, grenades, and a helmet had striked him with a mere shovel.

Back with Ruby, it was safe to say that she and everyone else were at far more than just at a loss for words. They were stunned beyond all their beliefs. Soldier, one of the nine mercenaries they thought dead at the Fall of Beacon was here, but not as a ghost, but as a living man. A tapping on her shoulder was felt, and after a moment of hesitation due to her shocked state, she looked behind her to get even more shocked.

"Zdrastsvuyte." Heavy greeted with a big smile on his face, massive hand held out for her to take.

"Mphmlllo!" Pyro waved as it stood by Heavy with its flamethrower ready for a fight. Shakily and slowly giving Heavy her hand, she stood up, giving them blank stares and her jaw hanging.

"Please do not faint." Heavy warned her. "Is no time to faint." He then pulled out his Minigun. "Is time to fight..." He said as he turned his gaze on Tyrian. Pyro doing the same.

"More fools come to face me?" Tyrian giggled, holding the side of his face. "Well, isn't this just wonderful? Tell me, who exactly do I have the pleasure of-ARGH!" It came so fast, that Tyrian took a rocket directly to him as he was talking because Soldier didn't care about his crap. It didn't help when the Patriotic maniac that was Soldier locked his Market Gardner with Tyrian's blade wrists which he had crossed, struggling to hold Soldier back.

"YOU DARE TO HURT MY MAGGOTS!?" Soldier screamed right in his face. "PREPARE TO FACE THE RIGHTEOUS FURY OF THE UNITED STATES, COMMIE!"

Grunting as he forced Soldier off of him, Tyrian braced himself to parry some Shovel swinngs from Soldiers as well as Soldier's Sabre as he pulled that out and began dual wielding it. Hearing the distinctive sound of a gun whirring up, Tyrian rolled backwards and jumped over to a building for cover as Heavy sprayed him down with his Minigun. Seeing this, Soldier rocket jumped after him and Pyro followed from the ground. Heavy stayed behind to help Yang up, Ruby still standing there in severe shock.

"What took you guys so long?" Yang grunted, feeling hurt from Tyrian's punishment and her rage induced semblance lowering itself. Heavy only gave her a smirk, and a Sandvich before running over to help his friends fight Tyrian. Yang watched him leave, grinning herself before taking a bite out of the Sandvich, already aware of its amazing properties after talks with Heavy. In a few bites, she already felt great. "Man, these things are awesome!" Yang was about to run off herself to help them fight, but that's when she froze upon remembering a crucial thing.

Slowly turning around, she addressed her baby sister for the first time in almost half a year. "Ruby." She gave a a slight, warm smile to her sister, a sisterly look forming on her face as well.

"Y-yang." Ruby squeaked with hints of tears, staying still as Yang took her in for a long overdue hug between sisters. She gladly returned the hug, still holding back her tears as the familiar hold of her loving sister took her. Hearing the noises of battle happen up again nearby, Yang slowly let go of Ruby, looked back at what was happening, and gave her sister the rest of the Sandvich.

"We'll talk later. I got a fight to finish..." She said as she looked back at the mercenaries fighting Tyrian. "Eat up. This sandwich will make you feel better in no time!" Yang claimed with a big smile before running over to help the mercs out. Still in a state of extreme disbelief with Team RNJR and Qrow coming up by her, she took a bite out of the Sandvich with a blank look.

Back to the fight, Tyrian was finding these newcomers to be rather troublesome to deal with. Which is a total understatement as this was more of a gangbang than a fight. Seriously though, the Faunus madman was facing a Russian giant with the strength of multiple men, a Pyromaniac, and a Soldier who could be considered even more insane than he is, all at once with no signs of letting up. Admittedly, he was already weakened from fighting with Qrow and a tiny bit from fighting the teens, but this was too much.

Tyrian looked up to see Soldier rocket jump into the air and rain rockets down at him. He swiftly dodged the splash of explosions from the rockets and attempted to get a slam kick down on Pyro, but was not expecting to get airblasted up into the air and over to Heavy, who dropped his Minigun just to deliver his own fury filled uppercut on Tyrian's body, making him fly higher. All for Soldier to land feet first on him and slam him back down to the ground with his Mantreads placed firmly on him.

Pulling the trusty old shotgun out, Soldier jammed it against Tyrian's face and was about to let a shell off had the Faunus not whipped him off with his tail and jumped to his feet, feeling the _real_ pain now. His eyes darted back and forth between the three mercenaries in front of him, slowly backing him up as they encroached upon him.

"We have you surrounded, at least from this side!" Soldier yelled, switching his shotgun out for the Direct Hit.

"Surrender and we will only destroy most of you." Heavy said, whirring up the Minigun.

"Mphm!" Pyro added.

Against all expectations, Tyrian stood straight, and held his hands up. "Alright then. I surrender." He said with a slight little smile for good measure. Welp, the mercs done this too many times before. He's obviously not surrendering.

" _..._ we will kill you now." Heavy said.

A big smile forming on his face, he revealed to the surprise of the three of them his wristguns. It was such a shock, that the mercs were sprayed down with enough bullets to make them stumble back and even drop some of their weapons from the knockback of so many. Laughing as he saw that his chance had finally arrived, Tyrian rushed forward and used both legs to kick Heavy off on his back before spinning around and managing to smack Pyro aside with his tail and managing a kick to Soldier's head. His laughter only grew more intense and more maniacal as he saw that he really had them, so much so that he failed to notice Yang coming up behind him.

"Hahaha! Three vs. one isn't very fair-Ah!" Yang let a shotgun hook connect with Tyrian's face.

"Make that _four_ vs. one!" Yang proclaimed, ejecting a shell from Ember Celica.

Growling at this girl's insistence on fucking with him, Tyrian rushed her and grabbed her by the neck at such a speed that she had no time to react. He made sure Yang could see the hate in his eyes before he threw her into a rocket fired from Soldier which in turn caused her to fly into Pyro who had just gotten up. Seeing Soldier coming, he ducked underneath a rocket and slashed at Soldier's head to which Soldier blocked with the Direct Hit. The durable rocket launcher was undamaged, and Soldier proceeded to slam the weapon like a baseball bat into Tyrian as he was not expecting him to use it in such a manner. Before Soldier could mount it back on his shoulder to fire again, Tyrian took hold of it and threw it aside which awarded him with a helmeted headsmash from Soldier. The patriot gave Tyrian a fist to the face and then another to his body before Tyrian swung a kick around that knocked Soldier back. He rolled to his feet and quickly got his shotgun out to fire two shells on Tyrian, one hitting, and the other blocked by his wrist blades. Turning his machine guns on Soldier, he hosed him with some more bullets before he was interrupted by the Pyro.

The Pyromaniac blew flames at Tyrian, and the scorpion Faunus retreated back, firing his machine guns at the Pyromaniac. Pyro airblasted some of the bullets back at him, but some did hit the Flamethrower which knocked it out of its hands. No problem though, Pyro pulled it's Detonator and Scorch Shot out and fired both at once. Both missed at Tyrian dodged them, but what didn't miss was Heavy landing a powerful punch on Tyrian before giving him a POW for good measure. The force was so great that Tyrian felt his aura drop, yet he still found the strength to swing under incoming flames from Pyro and trip it with his tail before knocking it up into the air and filling it with some more lead. However, as Pyro fell back down, it had it's Lolichop out and successfully smashed it on Tyrian's head which made him fall to the ground. Dodging a stomp from Heavy and then whipping Pyro away with his tail, Tyrian got to his feet to face the giant Russian in combat.

Seeing that Tyrian had wrist blades, Heavy equipped the Steel Gauntlets so he can block when he needed to. Using his speed, Tyrian managed to keep Heavy on his toes, leaving him little room to counter attack as he also sometimes shot at him. It then annoyed Tyrian to no end that Yang still came to fight him, managing a kick on his back as he was busy with Heavy. Worse yet, Soldier came back in and managed to get a gash on Tyrian's chest with his sabre, making him cry out in pain. A cry that was then silenced when Heavy brained the back of his head with his Steel fist and Yang returned the favor with a shotgun punch from her robot arm onto Tyrian's face. He was tiring out, which wasn't any good for him as he was getting ganged on in close combat. Worse for him still, Pyro healed up and gave Tyrian a literal fist of fire to his chest, setting his clothes on fire and forcing him to roll to put it out. This roll left him open for everyone to get at him, especially Yang since she will not let up on her attacks on him as payback for earlier.

He had just enough of these guys' fuckery, with getting ganged up on and stuff to the point where he was nearly beat. So much so, that he settled on using some of the poison left in his tail to even the odds. As they closed up on him, his eyes changed purple, and he managed good cuts on them all with his stinger. All except Yang, which Heavy had enough reaction to pull her behind him, taking the hit for her. The mercenaries doubled over as their self healing fought against the poison, which was so potent that it actually seemed to dramatically slow the healing process. Happy to see that it actually worked, Tyrian held his arms out and shot them up with his machinegun wrists. The laughing did not stop even when Yang stopped his machine gun fire by rushing him. The madman simply changed his eye color back to purple, and was about to get his stinger to strike Yang, laughing all the while...

*SHING*

...until his stinger got cut off. In a blur, Ruby zoomed over and slashed it off in only a second, making Tyrian scream out in pain from the injury.

"ARGHH! YOU BITCH!" Tyrian screamed at her in rage. His aura was dangerously low, practically empty, and he still had these two to face. Even worse, his eyes caught sight of the mercenaries miraculously healing themselves automatically. Angrily glaring at Ruby as she stood by her sister, purple poison on a section of Crescent Rose's blade, he then ran off in defeat. He also ran off in a hurry as the down mercenaries started shooting at him with their shotguns. The shotguns had no effect as he was far out of range already.

"Get back here! Heavy is not finished destroying you!" The Russian screamed as all three of them fired at him with their shotguns, albeit with some trouble because they were weakened.

"America will have its way with you, terrorist!" Soldier screamed after him, managing to get out his Rocket Launcher and firing a single rocket that missed miserably.

"Okay guys, I think you can stop shooting now..." Yang trailed off, helping each of the mercenaries stand. Luckily, their self healing quite literally forced the poison out of their system as you can very clearly see the purple substance flow _out_ of their stab wounds before it healed up completely in a few minutes. "You guys okay?"

"Of course we're not okay! That terrorist got away!" Soldier raved, almost rocket jumping after him had Yang not stopped him because big sister mentality applied to everyone. Heavy helped her hold him down.

"We will get him next time..." Heavy promised his brother in law. Pyro muffling in agreement.

With the battle over, Team RNJR brought Qrow along so that a proper reunion can be held with these long lost friends. Ruby especially, even after severing Tyrian's tail as the Sandvich revived her strength, still had trouble understanding that the mercenaries actually were here. It was so bad, that Ruby literally walked up to Pyro in silence and touched its mask to make sure it was real, making Pyro giggle. She did the same action with Soldier's helmet, and Heavy's bald head which he was slightly annoyed by.

"Yes, we are not dead..." Heavy sighed as he looked back at the faces of still shock Team RNJR was making. Eventually, it him them that they they were indeed real, and relief and joy at this news was soon felt in their hearts. Ruby especially since her dream a couple nights ago made sense all of a sudden! The dream was a foreshadowing, fate telling her of their return!

However, she had no time to keep thinking about this as her big sister gave her a gentle smack on her little head.

"You are in so much trouble..." Yang said seriously, arms crossed.

* * *

 **Menagerie**

Blake was sitting in her room, spending some time to herself. As usual, she was thinking about her friends and worrying about what she was going to do with herself these days. It wasn't anything new, but it was something she seriously had to deal it, especially her issue with not wanting her friends getting hurt with Sun being here...

Anyway, for quite a bit now her cat ears picked up two voices down below that weren't that of her parents or Sun though she did hear her mother and Sun down there with them. It also didn't sound like those Albain brothers of the White Fang either, but it did sound eerily familiar. Like two of the mercenary professors back at Beacon, Sniper and Demoman. She waved those thoughts away as that was impossible, dismissing it as just in her head and the fact that she just missed them, but then again, Blake missed everybody.

"Blake?" The voice of her mother was heard from the other side of her door along some light knocking. "We have two guests that want to see you."

"Who are they?" Blake asked. She got no answer. "Mom?" Nothing again. Sighing, Blake assumed her mom already went back down to whoever these guests were. The catgirl didn't really feel like seeing anyone now, but she ultimately settled on going downstairs to see who exactly wanted to see her. She hoped sincerely that it wasn't even more of her old friends, whoever it might be. Knowing Sun's here was bad enough, but Ruby? Ren? Velvet? Even Yang? It would break her heart.

She thought of this as she walked down, the voices becoming clearer and clearer as she descended. It was at this point that the eerie thought of Sniper and Demo's voices lingering around in her head sounded more like them lingering around downstairs, and it made her feel uneasy. Maybe she was losing her mind was the thought she first came to, but then she saw them.

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room had their gazes trained on Blake. The girl's eyes were as wide as plates, and she stood frozen on the steps.

 _"How much you want to bet she faints?"_ Sniper joked as he whispered to Demoman and Sun.

" _Fifty." Demo_ quietly chuckled.

" _Thirty._ " Sun joined in.

" _One hundred."_ Kali surprisingly joined in. Turned out she did warm up to the mercenaries, just had to take some time to get used to them and their ways. Just like everyone else they met here, really. Though it did bother here that Demoman drank in her home, to which she politely asked him to stop and he sadly agreed to. Other than this, she ended up taking a liking to the mercs for their intensely interesting stories. It was like Sun's deal, except she also liked him because she found him funny... and cute. "Blake! Come and sit with your old professors! They're just as interesting as Sun and you said they were..."

Blake still stood there in shock, everyone still eyeing her from below. The shock was so intense, that it almost seemed to be of fear too as her exposed cat ears folded down. Maybe she was afraid she was legitimately losing her mind and these hallucinations of two dead guys was her final stop into crazytown.

"I think she actually is going to faint..." Sun said. However, she didn't, and she very slowly continued walking down the steps.

"Sniper? Demoman?" She said rather quietly.

"Aye." Demo saluted her in a casual way.

"G'evening." Sniper nodded at her. He took off his hat for respect of Kali's home. "It's nice to see you again, Blake." Sniper lightly smiled at her as the catgirl reached the bottom of the steps. Kali moved over to make room for her daughter, who still looked like ghosts had recently crossed paths with her. In a way, they did since the ghosts are right here.

"Welp, looks like we got a lot to tell her..." Demo sighed.

"What... how... why are you here?" She struggled to even form questions as she had so many flying around her mind right now. Well being exposed to two dead guys will do that to you, especially if you knew they died and they don't look very dead at the moment. You can very clearly see it on her face of utter shock that she had so many questions that needed answers, stat.

"Like a lot of things..." Sniper began. "It's a long story..."

"Love the cat ears by the way." Demo added in. Cat's are cute. Cute indeed.

* * *

 **Schnee Manor**

The shattered window in Weiss' room cannot be avoided, and as repairs were being done to it so she can sleep in her room by tonight, Weiss in her father's office. Her father was giving her a talk on how her rebellious nature is reaching barbaric levels. But what _had_ to be avoided was the fact that Scout and Spy were here in Schnee Manor. She would be in deep trouble if her father found out, not to mention what could possibly happen to Spy and Scout if they were caught. Beforehand, Weiss told them to go to the grand library where she promised to meet them later. It wasn't much trouble for them since they ended up sharing Invis watches, Spy using the Cloak and Dagger and Scout using the regular Invis Watch. Klein went with them to make sure they found out, trying his best to make it look like he wasn't leading two invisible guys through the largely empty halls that sometimes had staff in them. Once he made sure they were secure in the library, he went to do other tasks he was required to do.

"Huh... this place's got a lot of books..." Scout whistled at all the books in this library. This might have been the second time in his life he was ever in a library. The library itself was very ornate with rows of books lined up neatly in shelves all around the large room.

"Yes, books that you can't read." Spy said.

"Now what the hell is that supposed to mean? I can read just as well as any other dope on this planet!" Scout claimed. To prove his point, he grabbed a book and tried to read the cover. He strained his eyes as if that would help him read the words. The Boston Kid had only one year of grade school, so his reading's pretty shit. "T-the... hiz-histrye... off...Artluz... The Histrye off Artluz!" Scout claimed as if he read the title correctly.

Walking over to his son's side and taking hold of the book, Spy read it for himself, and sighed at Scout's lack of education. "That say's _The History of Atlas."_

"I knew that!" Scout claimed. "Just wanted to make sure _you_ knew how to read too!" He claimed, trying to save face.

"Yes, yes, whatever your ego wants you to believe..." Spy waved him away. "What I don't understand is how we got here in the first place..." Spy wondered, hand on his chin. "We were flying through a horde of flying Grimm then Engineer did something which obviously teleported us here, but if that's the case, where is everyone else? It seems like you and I are the only ones here." Spy was so stressed at this situation, that he actually took his mask off.

"Hey... you're right! Where the Hell is everybody?" Scout added nothing useful.

"Excuse me, gentlemen?" A female voice that neither of them recognized called from above on the second floor. Sitting in a cushioned chair and leaning her body slightly over the railing, a woman with a rather large amount of wine for a woman of class like her to be drinking showed herself. "Please keep it down... I am trying to sleep here..." She took a sip of wine.

"Who's that?" Scout asked no one in particular.

"I do believe that is Weiss' mother..." Spy trailed off, remembering the Schnee family portrait they walked by on their way over here. "Huh... Schnee woman tend to look alike I suppose." It was true. In all honestly, Winter, Weiss, and their mother are pretty similar in appearance if you disregard hairstyle.

"Well what are we going to do, are we gonna knock her lights out?" Scout asked, a somewhat valid suggestion since no one's supposed to know they're here.

"No... I think she'll do that herself..." Spy sighed, looking at the drinks she was consuming. Speaking of looking, Weiss' mother happened a glance back down at Spy where she got a look of his handsome, maskless, features.

"Oooh~ I don't believe I've seen you around here before... and to who do I owe the pleasure of meeting, Mr...?~" She cooed drunkenly.

"Ugh..." Spy sighed, immediately knowing where this is going. "Jacques Moreau... and this is my son, William Charleston."

"Jacques?" Weiss' mother said with a hint of disgust, not liking her husband of the same name much at all. "Well, at least you seem to be far more interesting than my no good husband. And a strange accent too... _hmmm_... _exotic_...~"

"I uh... I think I'll go stand over there..." Scout said, getting real uncomfortable that a married woman was currently hitting on Spy. Sure, Scout hit on married women before, but it was just really awkward here because this was Weiss' goddamn drunken mother, and Weiss was a friend to him.

"Tell me, Mr. Moreau, where do you come from?" She inquired.

"Oh dear..." Spy covered his face, hoping Weiss will come soon and get him out of this situation.

* * *

 **Mercs' Fort**

"Mr. Medic, I cannot thank you enough for what you did for my daughter!" Aleka Nikos has had a complete change of heart in her opinion of Medic. The spartan woman was currently crushing Medic against her with all of her powerful upper body strength as she was overjoyed that he actually _did_ wake Pyrrha up. Pyrrha stood close by, happy that her mother indeed forgave him, but also slightly worried that she would kill him in her joy.

" _Y-yes!_ " Medic wheezed. Earlier, he wheezed because he was getting strangled. Now, he wheezed for air because he was being hugged to death. _"Please let me go! I think my lungs are going to collapse!_ " She actually complied, and gave him a warm smile as the German dropped to the ground and breathed in fresh air. Argus picked him up to his feet and gave him a manly slap to the back as a sign of thanks, but it ended up sending him back down to the floor.

"Geez, this place is actually pretty well defended..." Taiyang said, looking at all the robots and stuff with Glynda by his side.

"Medic, you've been hiding all of this here in your fort?" Glynda asked.

"Ja..." Medic kept wheezing. "Why do you ask?"

"Why? We can use your machines to turn the tide at Beacon!" Glynda said excitedly. "We can reclaim Beacon once and for all!" At these words, the Nikos and Taiyang lit up at the thought. Even the robots themselves seemed to like the idea of doing something instead of standing around all day. "Do you have any more?" Goodwitch asked. "I distinctly remember that you had several times this number back at the Battle of Beacon all those months ago."

"Ja, we do. But zat's going to take some work..." Medic answered. Before Glynda could press on any further. The portal to Earth opened up, surprising the people of Remnant. Out came Ms. Pauling, and she seemed rather worried.

"Medic!" Pauling ran to the German, paying no mind to the native people of this world. "A ship with your guys' markings crashed just outside of Mann Co.! Is everything alright?"

"Dust... other worlds do exist..." The Nikos parents gasped, Taiyang doing the same.

"What!?" Medic shouted. "Do you have a picture?" Pauling nodded and fished out a picture she took shortly before coming here. Taking the picture, Medic's face went wide to see it was the smoking ruin of the ship the other eight mercenaries took to go look for Ruby with Yang. "Was there anyone on board?"

"No." Pauling answered. "The robots couldn't find anyone or any body parts in it."

"Oh, zis is very bad..." Medic said, appropriately worried.

"Mr. Medic? What's going on?" Glynda inquired, sizing up Ms. Pauling while she was at it. "Who is this woman?" Medic did not answer her as he immediately rushed to the teleporter room in the fort. Upon reaching the teleporter room, a grim look was had on his face when he saw the teleporter marking that of the airship was still unactive and none of his friends were there.

"Where are you, mein freunde?"

* * *

 **Another chapter out on relative short notice! So a lot of things are happening, and it feels good to be writing it because it's just as exciting to me as it is to you guys! As always, thanks for stopping by to read the story and enjoy it. Please leave a review or any other method you have of sharing your thoughts as it's always a pleasure to read them no matter what they say, as I will always answer.**

 **A New Challenger asked if I put something up for someone to make a react series to this story, where the characters in it will react to what happens accordingly like those RWBY react to Death Battle series. Anyone can take it as long as I can see it as well since this is my story you're reacting to here.**

 **Still in the process of making the official cover for this story. The current one is a placeholder taken from the internet. Edits are also still being made with successful edits done to the first six chapters completed.**

 **Review** **Responses:**

 **Ramiz: Okay then, looks like I'm having a multi-crossover then! Sort of already thing since the gang has traveled through several Valve worlds already...**

 **Awesome Arod: Demo's got some manners, though he's not really used to this kind of setting, and Sniper's actually fairly polite. We'll get to Engineer next chapter, and we think alike...**

 **Mpopl2: Next chapter! And Sniper's fairly polite as that's one of his beliefs, and Demoman was chosen of Soldier because... just because.**

 **darkromdemon: Well, Tyrian got fucked.**

 **A fan: I have no Xbox.**

 **Mr. Green37: More like the YANG AND MERCENARY pain train!**

 **deloreansareawesome: Soon...**

 **Ghostshark24: Cover for the story. Like cover art.**

 **Guest: She's been awake since like two chapters ago.**

 **Jack905: Well he got rekt.**

 **Michamya: ...damn. That's amazing.**

 **TheLAGGER: Ayyyyyyy, just something I'm good at, I guess. We'll get to see more of Ruby's reaction next chapter though.**

 ***You wake up in a dark room lit with only a candle placed inside a lamp because they couldn't afford light bulbs***

 **TheLAGGER-...ugh...where am I?**

 ***Anti-Chief is sitting right in front of you.***

 **Anti-Chief- waszup, fagt?**

 **TheLAGGER: Chief!? What's going on!?**

 ***He slaps you***

 **Anti-Chief- Quiet, newb! Me aske teh kwestions hea!  
**

 **TheLAGGER: Why are you talking like that!?**

 ***Slap you again.***

 **Anti-Chief- N u alreofy broke mah ruhle! nywoy, u am here becuz me habe evil plan to rekt Chief!**

 ***Ominously flicks on actual light, and its revealed the dark room is actually a massive prison filled with people chief knows. Anti-Chief laughs evilly like the cheeky skrub he is.***


	52. A Very Needed Talk

***Chapter title's is completely original, I swear.***

 **Just Outside of Oniyuri**

It was now dark over the Far Eastern side of the world of Remnant, and our heroes have made camp just outside of the ruins of the unfinished city of Oniyuri. Team RNJR's initial shock of finding out that the mercenaries were still alive was still present, but they were forced to hold their questions in until they got comfy for the night. While Team RNJR except for Ruby got their sleeping rolls out and ready for later, Qrow getting patched up, and the three mercenaries getting the wood for Pyro to happily ignite, Yang was giving her baby sister a serious talk close to the campfire.

"How could you just literally travel to the other side of Remnant by yourself like that without telling me or dad!?" Yang yelled at Ruby, to which she shrank back. Ruby was trying to hide herself under her hood as Yang was letting into her with no signs of mercy. "You could have died! All of you could've! Speaking of which, how come you guys didn't stop her!?" The dragon girl turned her attention on the rest of Team RNJR who were also spooked.

"Uh, we wanted to go!" Jaune squeaked.

"It was in our mutual interest to come with your sister, Yang." Ren said.

"That's right!" Nora chimed in.

Yang still gave them angry looks. They were her friends and she felt deeply for them after Beacon. She knew why they were doing this, that is to say going to Mistral by themselves in one of the most turbulent times in Remnant's history post-Great War, but her baby sister was still at risk here, and big sister instincts were in full gear. Still, she was glad that they were at least still alive after all the time that has passed since she's last seen them. That, and her Uncle Qrow was here.

"And you!" Qrow looked up at her. "You just let your own niece go on this crazy adventure and traveled with her this whole time without even trying to stop her!?"

"Yep." Qrow said all casually like the cool guy he is, taking a sip from his flask while he was at it. Yang groaned when her uncle gave her his signature smirk. Oh, lovable Uncle Qrow...

"We didn't know he was following us until today..." Ruby shyly admitted, digging the tip of her boots into the ground looking all guilty like. This did not make Yang calm down at all. "But hey! Look at the bright side, we get to travel together-ahh!" Yang grabbed her sister by the ear and started pulling on it with the fury of someone who loves you. "Ow, ow, ow! Let go! I was just going to say you can come with us to Mistral! Ahahaha... ;-;"

"To Mistral? Nonono, we're going home as soon as it hits morning!" Yang yelled.

The dragon girl kept complaining and ranting to her sister and company about how this was an awful idea while the mercs sat rather silently, watching this go down. Except for Pyro who was roasting marshmallows over the fire and giggling happily. Nora saw this and waved it over for a marshmallow to which Pyro gladly tossed one over to her mouth, earning itself a thumbs up from the redhead.

"But Yang! We have to do this! Who else is going to stop Cinder?" Ruby said in her defense.

"Uh, anyone but else, duh!" Yang shot back. "This isn't your fight, Ruby. It isn't any of ours either!"

"Heavy and friends beg to differ." The Russian raised a hand to which Yang gave him a glare.

"Ugh... _except their's..."_ Yang sighed because she knew this most definitely was the mercenaries fight. Anyway, she continued. "Look, point is that I'm taking you all back to Vale, and that's final!"

"Hey, doesn't your dear old uncle get a say in any of this?" Qrow said with that charm of his, also getting a glare from Yang, but he could tell that this glarge was especially angry towards him."...guess not..." He then took a swig from his flask.

"But-" Ruby tried to continue before Yang hushed her.

"But nothing! Starting tomorrow morning, we're all going back home!" Yang's eyes flashed red and her hair glowed a bit, scaring Team RNJR.

Ruby was taken back by this, and sat solemnly down on a log by the campfire. Her sister sat next to her, still calming down. There was then an awkward silence as no one said anything, just gathered around the campfire. Qrow sat by himself on one side while Team RNJR except Ruby sat to his left, Yang and Ruby sitting across from them, and the mercenaries sitting across from Qrow.

"So..." Qrow broke the silence, gaining everyone's attention as he gazed at the lot of them. "Suppose I got some explaining as to why I've been following you kiddies around all this time..."

"Well, yeah!" Jaune said. "Like why have you been following us, and who was that Scorpion guy earlier?" The other teens shook their heads as these were very relevant fucking questions.

"Alright, I'll tell you why... but first, I'm more interested in what _they_ have to say." He pointed at the mercenaries as well as Yang. "While you were going on and on about how we were crazy for going on this adventure, you seemed to forget that you had your own crazy adventure coming here yourself, Yang..." He pointed out, making Yang feel a bit guilty, but otherwise fine. "Not to mention you came here with three guys who we're all pretty sure died at Beacon. And you said we were crazy..."

At being reminded of this, Team RNJR immediately snapped their attentions back on the living ghosts, looks of wonder and awe on their faces as they got ready to bombard Yang and them with their own questions. Heavy reached into his bottomless pockets to get the pamphlet, but he settled on just telling them what's up since it seemed obvious by the looks on their faces that they were in no state to read something.

"I must go, America is calling! If you know what I mean..." Soldier ran out into the night to find somewhere to piss, leaving Heavy and Pyro behind. It was probably for the best since he didn't like talking a lot anyway, that and he probably would've blurred the truth with "freedom".

"...ask away." Heavy sighed. Immediatley, all of Team RNJR asked all their questions at once, completely overwhelming Yang and the mercenaries. "STOP!" Heavy roared, his shout echoing through the surrounding nightscape. "One question at a time! Ruby, you go first..."

"W-here did you guys go after Beacon?" She asked warily. "We thought you died... I mean, you guys disappeared after that huge wall of fire went away around Beacon Tower... where did you guys go?" She looked like she was about to cry from a combination of happiness that they were here now, but also from the possibility that they did indeed ran and left the school behind that fateful night.

"Yeah, and where's the rest of your team?" Jaune added in.

"Where's Demmy?" Nora asked for her best bomb friend.

"Answer is simple. We died." Heavy said plainly, making the eyes of Team RNJR go wide while Qrow continued to listen in. Shocked expressions were on all of their faces, but they were even more so this time around because they knew the truth now. Ruby especially looked like she was going to cry for real this time, tears very visibly appearing on her face at the realization that she did lose nine more friends that night. That look on her young face in particular got to Heavy's seasoned heart, and the Russian looked at Yang who solemnly nodded at him to keep going.

"That woman, Cinder Fall killed us..." The looks on Team RNJR got more serious. Another sure reason to go after Cinder. "When we died, we went through our own Hell. Heavy and all his friends..."

"L-Like what?" Nora asked nervously.

"We..." Heavy stopped, getting a flashback to the death of his father. "...lived through moments in our lives..." The Russian surprised them with how sad he sounded. Although it wasn't much, that amount of visual sorrow on the normally stoic Russian was enough to tell them this was very serious. "Though sometimes it is not bad, for Heavy it was bad. You see... when we die, we do not go to Hell or Heaven. No, both places hate us..." This threw them off a bit as they couldn't possibly imagine the mercs being so crazy as to where even beings of pure good and hatred would kick them out of thier domains. "Usually when we die, there is no time to live through it because we are always brought back to life, though sometimes this is not always the case though..."

"Mprhmm..." Pyro shivered, fearing the return of Demon Pyro in Pyroland. Seeing Pyro shiver sealed the deal that this fucked the mercenaries up real good to Team RNJR. To them, Pyro was either the scariest thing they've seen or the silliest thing on account of its somewhat childish behavior, but it was never known to fear anything. The fact that it legitimately shivered dared their imaginations to think about how fucked some of the mercenaries' pasts were if this was their hell.

"It is actually more like purgatory, but that is besides point." Heavy continued. "We were brought back to life with magic, and first thing we did was come back here." The mention of magic got the interests of Team RNJR alright, but it especially piqued Qrow's interest.

"That's when they found me..." Yang added. "Turns out they ended up teleprting really close to our house in Patch."

"Really?" Ruby said in awe. "Did they meet dad?"

"Oh, you have no idea..." Yang sighed about the mercs' interactions with dragon dad.

"So, to make long story not so long, we found Roman Torchwick and buy white dust so our portal home will work..."

"I'm sorry, what?" Ruby said in a hiccup of time, not expecting to hear mercenaries interacting with that Torchwick villain. None of them did, even Yang who sort of glossed over it when she first heard it, but Heavy kept going with his story.

"We bring robots in to build fortress not too far from your home, Engineer builds spaceship for us to travel fast, we see Weiss in Atlas..." Ruby was surprised again, but Heavy still kept going. "Medic kidnapped Pyrrha and is now trying to wake her up..." This most definitely got unavoidable gasps from Team RNJR, especially Jaune. "We convince dragon father to let us bring Yang..."

"Don't forget dad got me this robot arm sent from Atlas." Yang added, deciding to throw that in now just because.

"Da, and we take off in ship, get attacked by Grimm where we go into space..."

"First girl in space, right here!" Yang proudly pointed her thumb to herself, Pyro clapping its hands while Team RNJR were still at a loss of words with all this information being dumped on them.

"Get sucked into Void with fatman, return to Remnant, get attacked by Grimm again, but this time Engineer did something stupid and we are now here." Heavy finally finished. Well, this was quite the info dump for Team RNJR. All four of them quietly sat there and processed all this info that we already know but have to see again because they don't know it. Qrow still sat silently, also processing the info but not as visibly confused as Team RNJR.

"Well... that's quite a story, Professor Heavy..." Ren began.

"Please young man, Heavy is no longer professor. You can call me, Heavy, Mr. Cherinkov, or Misha. Is short for Mikhael."

"Mr. Cherinkov... you still didn't answer where is the rest of your team?"

"Yeah, where are the others?" Ruby asked, a look on her face that obviously said she missed them too. Least she was sure that dream she had was indeed a foreshadowing of their return, but where were the rest of them.

"We don't know..." Yang answered truthfully. Pyro got up and randomly went off to who knows where for whatever reason. Not sure if Pyro necessarily has to use the bathroom or not... "When Engie did that thing he did on the ship, it just sort of popped just us hear. We don't know where everyone else went." Team RNJR looked down sadly, afraid that the others might be dead again or just sad that they weren't here now.

"Earlier, you said you kidnapped Pyrrha..." Jaune began, a wary tone to his voice. "Mr. Medic took her, is...is he going to help her?"

"Of course he will." Heavy answered with a slight smile. "Doctor is best there is. He will not fail."

"Did you guys wake her up?" Jaune asked eagerly, hope glimmering in his eyes.

"Heavy does not know. We left Doctor behind to treat her while we all go with Yang to find you..." At hearing this, Jaune took a moment to think it over before settling back down. Nodding his head, he sincerely hoped Pyrrha will wake up. All of RNJR did.

"Any more questions for these crazies here?" Qrow spoke for the first time since Heavy began. There were no further questions. "Good, now it's my turn to lay some facts on all of you... settle down. This could take a while."

* * *

 **Atlas, Schnee Manor**

Scout sat alone in a chair by a corner in the library, trying his damnest to read as Weiss' mom wouldn't leave Spy alone. It wasn't working. For Scout, that is. Well, Spy didn't exactly enjoy the attention this woman was giving him as much as he normally would either, so I suppose it wasn't going swell for him either.

 _When is Weiss coming back?_ Spy thought as he kept acting polite for her. For a woman of high class, she certainly wasn't behaving that classy as she kept flirting with him. Might just be because of all the wine she's been taking in.

"Oh, Mr. Moreau, care for some of the finest wine in Atlas?" She asked, daintily twirling her glass of wine around.

"No. I am afraid that I must refuse your kind offer, Madame Schnee."

"Oooh~ Madame Schnee? Hmm... it has a rather pleasant ring to it, don't you think?"

"..." Was Spy's response. His face can be summed up by this representation here (:\\). He tried to make it clear that he was not interested at all without losing his manners, but it clearly wasn't working. "...sure."

"Tell me, you say you were a gentleman from a prestigious family in your homeland of France, correct?" She was too drunk to realize France wasn't a place in Remnant.

"Yes, that is exactly what I told you a few minutes ago." Spy answered, being reminded of his lavish youth before the Nazi's came and fucked everything up. "My family owned a large estate and if I remember correctly, we were one of the richest families in France."

"Is that so?" Said she. It almost looked like she wasn't paying attention as her eyes were busy getting losses in Spy's handsomeness. "Humph, well I suppose you're quite a man of class judging by your manner and wealth." Initially, Spy did not answer her. He got lost in fond memories of his rich childhood for a moment. Days where all he had to do was live the life of luxury with his loving family. "Well? Would that be a yes, Mr. Moreau?"

"Yes...that would indeed be the truth if I do say so myself." Spy answered. Subconsciously, he pulled out a picture of his family's chateau and showed it to her as proof. She's one of the few people to see this picture. He would have shown it to his coworkers, but there really was no ocassions for it and they probably wouldn't have cared. "Here is a picture if you are interested." The picture showed a large mansion built in an ornate French Gothic architectural style which looked something like a mix between what Note Dame and Versailles would look like if they were combined. Large grounds and gardens surrounded the lavish estate, and it was clear that it matched Schnee Manor in size.

"Oh my..." Weiss' mother gasped upon seeing the beautiful chateau.

There was something about it that pleased the eye rather finely. Schnee Manor itself was quite beautiful with its Winter theme and white and blue color scheme, but Chateau de Moreau was something else. It was as if the surrounding gardens and the architectural design of the chateau complimented each other more than they did contrast with each other. The color scheme of the Gothic building was typical looking for that of French buildings in the time it was built, grayish-blue roof and white washed walls. The surrounding landscape was lush fields and vineyards where grapes were grown by farmers the family hired. They also made big money on being sellers of fine wine on top of already be in high in French bureaucracy. All in all, it had a somewhat archaic look that gave it a romantic feel, perfectly appropriate since this was France. The picture was taken from the front of the home, and the entire Moreau family with a young Spy in front stood together for the picture.

"Yes, my home's quite beautiful." Spy said. "Built nearly three hundred years ago, this mansion has served as my family's home throughout all that time... well, most of that time."

"My, a home that's just as handsome as the man who dwells within, hehehe~" Mrs. Schnee drunkenly giggled. "Care to have me as your guest sometime and, hehe, give me a _grand_ tour?" Alright, Spy was done putting up with her behavior. It was time to end this like the manner full gentleman he is.

"Madame Schnee..." This got a giggle from the woman.

"Please, call me Blanc..." Great, she has the French word for snow as her name...

"...are you not a married woman? I do believe you have at least three children, and I have already met two of them." Spy said, gaining her attention. "I have met both of your girls, and I happen to be Weiss' former professor at Beacon."

"Is this so?" She was genuinely surprised. It wasn't because she heard of them and their reputation before, but it was because she was not expecting this to come from a man like him. High class man in a teaching profession, how absurd! "If I'm not mistaken, you said you lived in a lavish estate earlier."

" _Lived._ I haven't been there in years, but that's beside the point. What I'm trying to say is I musty respectfully ask you to cease your advances on me for you are a married woman with children and I am currently not interested in a wife at the moment."

" _Advances?_ What can you possibly mean by that? I am merely having polite conversation with a fine gentleman, Mr. Moreau." Mrs. Schnee said in her defense, though Spy wasn't believing any of it. "The nerve of you! A woman of my prestige would never-" She was interrupted when Weiss came into the library.

"Mr. Moreau? Mr. Charleston?" She asked quietly as to not attract attention to herself from any staff that could be nearby. Understandably, she was quite surprised to see a maskless Spy speaking with her mother. "Oh, hello dear daughter of mine."

"Mother." Weiss curtsied, slowly looking back up at Spy and her mother. It was obvious that she was drinking again, but Weiss did not expect her to be in the library where she told Spy and Scout to hide until she can get back to them. "I see you have become acquainted with my professors." Weiss asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice because no one was supposed to know they were here.

"Oh, so you really are my daughter's professors..." Her mother said.

"Mother, excuse me asking, but can you please allow me some time alone with my professors?"

"Why? I find him to be quite sociable~" She winked at Spy, making him internally cringe.

"Uh-I,um..." Weiss was horribly confused. Was her mother seriously attracted to Mr. Spy? "Just, please? It's a very important matter. And please do not tell anyone they're here."

"Humph! Very well." Her mother shakily stood up, wobbling a bit to the point where Spy almost felt like he had to jump up to stop her from falling. "I'll be off to the garden." She drunkenly tried to walk as straight and proper as she could out the library. "Care to join me when you're done, Mr. Moreau?~"

"No thank you, Madame." Spy answered, Weiss slowly getting more and more to the realization that her mother was falling for the Frenchman that was her professor. The lady gave a huff, and another playful wink before leaving completely. "Merde, I thought she would never stop..." Spy sighed.

"Was... was my mother..."

"Yes." Spy answered before Weiss could finish. This made Weiss cringe at the thought, going so far as to think of what would happen if her mother magically married Spy and he became her stepfather. This mad gentleman, her stepfather. "Now, onto business, Weiss..." Scout came over after completely giving up on reading, and he caught sight of the picture of Spy's chateau.

"What the hell, crouton!?" Scout shouted, getting hushed by Spy and Weiss for being too loud. "You mean I could've lived here in this big ole mansion instead of my ma's house in Boston?" He held the picture up for Weiss and him to see. Weiss seemed quite surprised that the chateau was Spy's home. She thought he was just an assassin who behaved like a gentlemen instead of actually being raised a gentlemen.

"I already lost the home years before you were born." Spy snatched the picture out of Scout's hand. Before he put it away, Weiss caught sight of the young Jacques Moreau standing with who was obviously his mother and father, confirming the fact that Spy was indeed a person of high class like her. "That is one of the reasons I came to the United States to begin with."

"Excuse me?" Weiss budged in. "Can we get back to how you two are back here in Atlas now? And where is everyone else?"

"Honestly, we have no freakin' clue." Scout shrugged. "Engineer did some crap with his teleporter when we were getting attack be Grimm and POOF, we're here! Just me and this bastard though." He gestured to Spy.

"...and?" Weiss pushed for more.

"That's it." Spy replied. "We were flying to Mistral one moment, and we ended up here the next."

"I refuse to believe that's all there was to it." She crossed her arms.

"Neither do we, but that's exactly what happened."

"Okay..." She trailed off. It then donned on her that the issue of where exactly the two of them are going to stay still needs to be resolved. Knowing what they did on the night of the banquet and her father's general unkindly demeanor, they most definitely cannot stay here in Schnee Manor.

"Hey, snowflake, we going to stay here in your place or what?" Scout asked.

"What!? No! My father will never allow it. Oh, but I can't be seen with you two here..." She worried about what further restrictions her father will put on her if he finds that she somehow brought in two strangers into the manor without his knowledge of it.

"Ugh...suppose this means we have to stay with the General then..." Spy sighed. He was okay with the General, but he didn't really enjoy his company that much.

"Ah, dammit!" Scout cursed, not liking the general that much either.

"Suppose we're not going to stay long, though. Only until we can acquire transport to Mistral..." Spy sighed.

"Wait, you still intend on going to Mistral?" Weiss' eyes lit up. This was her chance. Her chance to leave this prison of a home and be with her sister in Mistral, away from her father's control.

"Course we are! We still got a bitch to kill after all..." Scout replied. "Oh, and also finding Ruby and those other kids whose names I don't remember." Scout shrugged.

"Oh, this is perfect! Maybe we can work something out together!" Weiss began pacing back and forth, excited look on her face while the mercenary father and son duo looked at each other, wondering what she was getting at. "With you two here, you can easily sneak me out of Atlas and to my sister in Mistral!"

"Um, why though? Don't you like it here? You know, big mansion, nice food, clean everything?" Scout went, his father listening closely.

"I... well, yeah, I do. But..." She trailed off, looking down rather sadly. "It's just that... I'm so, so... lonely here." The mercenaries didn't say anything, waiting for her to keep going. "There's hardly anyone to talk to, and the ones who do care for me here are always busy with their own problems. That, and my father is a tyrant." She soured up, getting angry with her father. "He took away my privilege to leave the manor without his consent, and he made my brother the heir to the company..."

"Your brother?" Spy asked.

"Yes, my brother..." Weiss groaned at the thought of her brother who she also didn't like that much.

"Hmm... would that be him coming now by any chance?" In a panic, Weiss turned a full 180 degrees to see Whitley walking at a deliberately slow and casual pace to the library. He wasn't looking toward her direction, merely looking out the great windows of the hall as if he actually cared to see what was out there.

"Oh no! Quick hi-oh..." Weiss trailed off upon seeing Spy and Scout already went invisible. Snapping back to attention, she quickly grabbed a book and pretended to read.

" _We'll see you later."_ An invisble French voice whispered to her.

"Whitley." Weiss greeted her brother.

"Sister." Whitley greeted back with no enthusiasm. "I never knew you were fond of reading. You hardly ever come to the library."

"I just found an interest in this novel here. That's all." She claimed. "And what are you doing here?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to check on my dear older sister. After all, it's my duty as heir to the company to ensure all in my family is happy and well." He gave a smirk, a smirk that she really, _really_ , hated.

"Sure it is..." Weiss said with some malice in it. While she continued talking with her brother, the invisible mercenaries were slowly walking past them so that they wouldn't make any footstep sounds to alert Whitley to their presence. As they were doing so, they got a good idea of what Weiss' little brother was like. A huge dick. Still, the two of them had to get out of the mansion now as that is their number one priority for the moment.

* * *

 **Menagerie**

Blake was standing alone on the balcony outside her father's office. Just earlier, Sniper and Demoman told her everything alongside Sun and her mother, and they had a lot of information to take in. Kali not so much, she doesn't really know them that well and she found a lot of things they said to be doubtful, but it was discomforting for her daughter to hear that they actually _did_ die at Beacon only to be brought back to life a month later in their own world. Then, they return to Remnant and claim they're going to Mistral to save Ruby and the remainder of Team JNPR with Yang in a ship that can go to space where upon reentry, they're scattered everywhere in a teleporter accident. It actually did scare Blake to death with the possibility that Yang could be hear in Mistral, but that was calmed down when it was revealed that it was just Sniper and Demoman here.

Anyways, after this interesting and confusing talk, her mother asked her to go up to her father's office and call him down to meet the guests, thinking it was about time he got out of his chieftain work for the moment. So Blake went up as asked, but she hasn't come down since. She just hesitated to go in, afraid of talking to her father and stuff. Eventually, she managed the courage to go in, sliding open the door to get in.

"Who is it?" Her father asked as he read some documents with his reading glasses on. "Blake!" He exclaimed on catching sight of his daughter, standing up. "What brings you here?"

"Hey dad..." Blake nervously walked over to him. "Um... mom sent me here because you still haven't come to see our guests." Shyly said she.

"Guests? Why, who are they? And how long have been waiting?"

"They're... _friends_ of mine..." She said. "And they've been waiting for half an hour, I think..."

"Friends?" Ghira Belladonna questioned.

He doesn't know much about his daughter's friends, but he sincerely hoped they were not like Sun. He doesn't like Sun. It was here that he noticed that hiss daughter was behaving really nervously and rather shy. Blake's usually the quiet type anyway, but this was different. His father senses felt like there was something his daughter had on her mind, and he's felt this since she came home. Yet she tends to avoid him ever since her arrival, hardly saying much other than small talk.

"Blake, is something wrong?" Ghira asked his dear daughter, a fatherly look to him.

"No, everything's fine." She claimed quickly. "I just came here so you can see our guests. Mom and Sun's down with them right now."

"I see..." Ghira nodded his head. "Blake, if there's something wrong, then you can tell me. I'm your father."

"What? No! Dad, please, just come down and-"

"The guests can wait..." Ghira sighed as he sat on one of the couches in his office for when special visitors come. "If they can wait that long for me, then I'm sure they'll understand if I take a little more time just for my daughter. You said they were your friends after all."

"Well, yeah, but..." She rubbed her arm nervously, unsure how he'll react when she reveals that her friends were two grown men who're also mercenaries from another world.

"Come, sit. Let's talk." Her father urged her. Sighing in defeat, she went and sat next to her father where she began to get everything off of her chest. She was going to do this anyway, but she kept putting it off because she was too afraid of what her parents think of her. Now that her father's got her cornered, she might as well say her feelings now.

* * *

 **Patch**

The mercenaries' fort was full of action as robots ran around getting stuff done. The ruined airship had been brought in through the portal, and Medic immediately ordered the Robo-Engie's to get to work on it and hopefully not fuck it up. On that note, he even approved the construction of flying robotic transport gunships that he wasn't supposed to touch but did it anyway because he wanted everything that can be possibly be active, active.

He was working in conjunction with Ms. Pauling who worried about the well being of the other mercs just as much as Medic, and in all of this action, they seemed to have completely forgotten about the people of Remnant inside their fort. For them, they watched the robots run around with wonder. Although the robots and machines were fairly crude looking compared to Remnant's standards of technology, the fact that they looked like the mercenaries and behaved somewhat liked them slightly disturbed them, but what they also found intriguing was that the robots were surprisingly advanced in what they could do. Previous robots they seen like Atlesian combat androids were not capable of emotion or any of the other articulate actions that these robots could do. The robots were pretty life-like despite their appearance is what I'm trying to say.

Other than that, they had no business being here anymore. Their mission of finding Pyrrha was done and Medic was clearly in no position for any further talk, and they were leaving out the gate when Pyrrha decided to run back to Medic. The German man was standing in the middle of the fort exterior yelling out orders to all the robots when the Invincible Girl got to him.

"Mr. Medic! Is there anything I can do!?" She asked with all haste, seriously worried about the other mercenaries just as Medic was. He told her that they went out to bring Ruby, Nora, Ren, and her dear Jaune back to Vale, but the sight of the wrecked ship made her heart drop, and all she could think of was them.

"Help?" Medic looked back at the girl. "Dear girl, you're still weak and frail from ze coma! All you can do now is rest and gather your energy up while I deal with zis." He said before yelling out some more orders.

"But I want to help!" Pyrrha yelled, Medic not paying her anymore attention. She was going to yell again when her mother suddenly pulled her back.

"Pyrrha." Her mother said to her. Pyrrha couldn't stop worrying and she glanced back at Medic. "He's right. You must rest."

"Listen to your mother, Pyrrha." Argus Nikos said. "Leave him to his troubles. This isn't your problem."

"But it is! My friends are out there somewhere and they could be in danger!"

"That maybe so, young lady, but you are still in no condition to travel anywhere. Even if you could, where would you go? Where would you start your search?" Her mother reasoned. "Your mind must still be reeling from that coma..."

"Let's go home." Her father said to her sincerely.

With much hesitation, her parents took her out of there. Pyrrha looked back at Medic one last time before the robots closed the gate behind them. Right before they closed, she caught a glimpse of the German looking back at her with the same worried look she had. The Nikos walked together with the huntsmen back to Taiyang's place, Pyrrha worrying all the while. That's not to say she's the only one worrying though. While her parents were relatively indifferent with the situation as they just now started liking the mercenaries (at least Medic), Taiyang and Glynda had grave looks on their faces. For Taiyang, it was for his daughter. For Glynda, it was because she genuinely feared they died again, and she wasn't sure if they were coming back this time.

Back in the fort, Scout's entire family as well as Heavy's came through to see what was up.

"What's going on here!?" One of Scout's brothers shouted.

"The hell is lil' willy at?!" Jeremiah, the oldest of the brothers, demanded.

"Where is my baby?" Heavy's mother cried out.

"Where is my maggot bear?" Zhanna cried out along her mother.

None of them were getting answers as too much was happening. If anything, they coming through the portal simply complicated things even more as they got bunched up with all of the robots running around and causing disturbances. Just more stress and things to handle for poor Medic. The doctor himself was getting a headache as there was so much to do and worry about. What if they were still alive but the ship wouldn't be ready in time? Where will he even look? Alongside so many other questions, it was driving him mad (as if he wasn't already). He needed help, but help from who? Just another question that annoyed him with no answer...

* * *

 **Menagerie**

Blake actually felt nice inside for the first time since the Fall of Beacon. She's always had issues she kept to herself, but the few times she did let them be known such as the reveal of her Faunus heritage and previous association with the White Fang to Team RWBY, and now with her confessions to her father, it felt so good to get all that weight off of her chest.

Her father was giving her a well deserved and desperately needed hug, one that she very gladly accepted, when all of a sudden, the sliding door to his office fell open with Kali, Demoman, Sniper, and Sun piled on top of each other. Apparently, they were all listening in on her private conversation for quite some time. Might have come up here when they noticed Blake hasn't come back down with her father.

First off, both Ghira and Blake were surprised. For Ghira, it was more because he wasn't expecting Sniper and Demoman to be Blake's friends. For Blake, it was because she was feeling quite embarrassed that they were all listening to what was supposed to be a private moment between her and her father.

In the present time, she was chastising Sun, even slapping him for his eavesdropping. She even gave Sniper and Demoman slaps too, but they were fine with it. Speaking of the two mercenaries, they were getting properly introduced to Blake's father while the kitty herself kept shouting at the monkey outside.

"So... you two are my daughter's friends?" Ghira sized the two men up with Kali standing by him.

"More like her former professors, sir." Sniper nodded at him while Demo copied his action. "Name's Richard Mundy, people call me Sniper though. Introduce yourself, Tavish." He said to Demoman, who also introduced himself by his real name first then mercenary title.

"These were the professors Blake and Sun told us about." Kali said to her husband, who was still rather suspicious of them. "I know they don't seem like much, but they make good company once you get to know them."

"Huh, is that so?" Ghira raised a brow as he looked down at the two men. Then, he gave them a grand, friendly smile, extending his hand out to the both of them for a firm, manly handshake. "It's good to meet you both!"

"And a pleasure it is to meet you too, mate!" Demo returned his smile.

...

Not long after that, Ghira and Kali decided to have their guests over for dinner to which the two mercenaries were perfectly fine with. It was there that Sniper and Demo revealed that they were in need of transportation to Mistral to the chieftain. Ghira was more than happy to have arrangements for a ship to come and take them to Mistral. He would have an airship take them, but all the airships the Faunus of Menagerie had in their disposal were needed here. Other than that, Blake's father actually gotten along quite well with Sniper and Demoman, and he allowed them to stay in their home for as long as they need to. Especially after hearing of their story, no matter how insane and ludicrous it sounded.

For Blake, she was back standing on the balcony outside her father's office, looking up into the night sky. He was inside it continuing to have friendly interaction with the two mercenaries alongside his wife, laughing with them as if they were friends. They were Blake's professors after all, alongside some of the stories where they were said to save his daughter as well as several students on their adventures in Beacon.

As she was observing the stars in the sky, thinking about how she felt about what the mercenaries were going to do in Mistral according to what Sniper and Demo told her, Sun bounded over the railing and surprised her. He went out to the streets again for whatever reason, probably to buy bananas or something, but it was strange that he jumped up here instead of coming through the front like normal.

"Blake! You'll never believe what I just saw in the market!" He said in a rush, holding bags full of bananas.

"What is it?" She asked, still a little angry at him from earlier. Dropping his bags of bananas, he got out his scroll and showed her a picture. A picture that scared her. "The White Fang do wear masks in Menagerie!" Blake didn't know what to say about this at first. She already knew the White Fang had a presence here because of those creepy Albain brothers, but seeing the masks again reminded her of the Fall of Beacon and all the tragedy that followed. "What are we going to do about it?" The monkey boy asked.

"I-I... nothing."

"What? Why?"

"Sun, I'm not here to fight the White Fang. I already told you I'm here to rest, think, and see my family." She stated rather calmly, looking over her shoulder to her father who was still with Sniper and Demoman. Speaking of which, Demoman was coming over.

"Hey there, kitten! Having fun with the monkey lad here?" Demo joked, to which Blake and Sun blushed. "Funny, I don't normally see you talking much, lass. Guess this monkey kid's got a way of words, am I right?" He threw his shoulders around Blake and Sun, who were blushing even more intensely.

"Best not to keep pushing if you know what's good for you!" Ghira yelled from back inside his office, giving a fake smile as he didn't want to seem rude to his guest while still severely hating the idea of his daughter with that annoying monkey together.

"Right! Right, whatever you say chieftain!" Demo laughed.

"Uh... Mr. DeGroot? Can you please let go of us?" Blake asked her professor, still flustered.

"What's the matter, Blakey? Don't like hugs?" Sun joked, making Demo laugh out loud the way he normally does. As Sun was laughing at Blake's adorable embarassed face, the kitty looked off out to the city so that she wouldn't have to see them, but that's when she caught sight of someone watching from a nearby tree.

"Guys..." Blake said slowly. "Guys! Look!" She got their attentions, and the three of them looked over to see this little spy. Then, the mysterious spy instantly jumped away from its position and ran along the rooftops when it became clear that its cover was blown. "A spy!" Blake screamed, immediately jumping after the spy and leaving Demo and Sun behind.

"What happened!?" Ghira demanded as he, his wife, and Sniper ran out from the office.

"White Fang's evil! I totally called it! Your daughter's going after a spy, and I'm going after your daughter!" Sun yelled before jumping out himself to go after them. Ghira and Kali looked completely shocked and worried about what just transpired, and Kali subconsciously hugged her husband.

"Huh... should we go after them too?" Demo looked to Sniper.

"Don't see why we shouldn't, mate." Sniper smiled at his friend. With a smile of his own, Demo got out his sticky jumper and fired some stickies down in the courtyard. Sniper himself bounded over the railing and started running along the rooftops himself, though not quite as fast as the two teens he was running after. Neither men said anything to the Belladonnas as they left, Ghira and Kali getting quite a surprise when Demo jumped down and literally blew himself up over to where he needed to be.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Demo yelled as he performed a successful sticky jump and was now soaring through the night sky. Scanning the rooftops, he quickly found Blake and Sun had already intercepted the spy and were now facing said spy. Grinning wildly, Demoman got Eyelander out.

" _Hey Tavish, what's the- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_ The ghost sword screamed when it was totally unprepared to be out flying already.

When the whistling of Demoman coming in was heard, the spy immediately looked up and dodged the Scotsman before he slammed down right on top of her. This was where her skin changed to a rather bright green, revealing she was a female chameleon Faunus.

"Oh... wasn't expecting that." Demo said as he stepped next to Blake, Eyelander still held for a fight. Sun also stepping closer.

 _"Wonder if her bloods a different color too..."_ Eyelander said. Blake said nothing, just eyeing the chameleon girl with a glare.

"Ilia..." Blake said with some venom to her voice. This got Demo to raise a brow while Sun's jaw dropped.

"Wait, you know her!?" The monkey boy went, no one answering him.

"You shouldn't have come back, Blake." Ilia said as she turned a bright red, though she had a look that was a mix of malice and worry. Sun was still losing his shit while Demo still stood there, not sure what to do. Specifically, he wasn't sure if this chameleon girl was just another Fang to drop that Blake happens to know, or if she was someone Blake knew by heart and would probably get pissed at him for attacking her. Then, a big red dot shone on Ilia's head, and Sniper can be heard no too far away.

"G'evening!" Sniper waved from his spot, the rifle still trained on Ilia. The chameleon girl's face soured up as she returned to her normal skin color.

"Who is she, Blake!? Someone-AHHH!" Sun screamed out when Ilia had enough of his loudness and struck him with her electrical whip. The whip bounded off and nearly hit Demo had he not ducked under it. Then, she struck a nearby pipe where smoke began to cover the whole area. Sniper instinctively took the shot, but by the time the smoke cleared, there was no sign of her.

"Sun!" Blake dropped down to her knees and looked him over with Demoman stepping backwards toward her, still alert in case Ilia came back. Sun had an injury on his left shoulder, a stab wound.

"Someone help!" Blake cried out into the night, covering Sun's wound up to prevent further blood loss.

* * *

 **Here's another chapter for you guys. So this one follows pretty canon events closely, but I couldn't really avoid them so I had to include them. Next chapter, something awesome happens. Edits are still being done, and the cover is still a work in progress by the way.**

 **Love you guys for staying thus far. So good to see new people are coming in and people consistently come back to enjoy my story, it's an excellent feeling when people love what you make.**

 **Awesome Arod has accepted the characters react to _Mercs in Remnant_ request. Though, it is still open. Anyone can make this react series even if they're are multiple of them. Go ahead and take it if you will, you have my full permission and I will hold no restrictions.**

 **So I have settled on making the next story a RWBY X Skullgirls crossover, but there's a catch. You see, I'm a fan of multiple dimensions, so what's going to happen is that this Skullgirls X RWBY crossover is going to be part of this story's continuum. As in, I'm going to have a series of crossovers all related to each other where it begins here with the TF2 gang meeting RWBY, and then both series having adventures as the teleporter (And Gaben) keeps fucking with them by way of dimension hopping. It's going to be great, I promise. Skullgirls was chosen next not only because it was a request, but also because I wanted to do a RWBY X Skullgirls crossover anyway. Then I decided to just have it be included with Team Fortress just because I already have it set here. TF2 gang got a teleporter that can go through the multiverse and they already went through Half-Life and Left 4 Dead as well as Red Vs. Blue.**

 **Leave a review on whatever you feel like, as well as ask me anything so long as it does not have to do with the story because I will not answer that for two things: I don't know myself, and I don't want to tell you even if I did know. So go ahead and ask questions or post a review, I'll respond to all.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Awesome Arod: HE TOOK IT! HE TOOK IT! And you will see, mi amigo. Donald Trump is waiting outside your door by the way.**

 **Mpopl2: Yeah... but you'll get your Blake talk soon.**

 **VivaL'Aquila: Qrow sort of knows what to expect already... and Scout meeting Whitley would end with Scout strangling Whitley for being annoying.**

 **Bumbo: Why, thank you m8! And yes, it is all just me for this story.**

 **darkromdemon: We'll see what Salem and Cinder got for them.**

 **Neramo: GET THE FUCK-ugh... don't say it or u ofend the chinks! I mean! Japanese!**

 **buzzsaw935: Here it do.**

 **TheLAGGER:**

 ***chief is casually boxing with his giant fighting roosters when he gets a notification on his PC***

 **chief: The fuck is that? *goes to PC and check* Huh... "CHIEF! PLEASE HELP PLZHALP PLEASE HELP. LAGGER GOT KIDNAP, PLZ REPLY. Also awesome chapter." *chief read from the PC, lying back in his seat, chief thought about it* Kidnapped? Kidnapped by who?**

 **Then Jr and Zero break into my fortress.**

 **Jr: CHIEF! TheLAGGER GOT KIDNA-ARGHuggh- *Chief grabs both of them by the throat***

 **Chief: THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN MINE CASTLE!?**

 **Zero: We-we-we-**

 **Chief: SHUT UP! *since Chief is still mad at them from earlier and pissed now for breaking into his fortress, he throws zero to the giant fighting chicken cage where the chickens start pecking him***

 **Jr: Wait! Wait! Please! My bro got kidnapped!**

 **Chief: By who?**

 **Jr: ANTI-YOU! *drops Jr.* Ow...**

 **Chief: *is frozen in place* My Gaben... it begins...**

* * *

 **Mannlich**

Well, it's been quite a while since we were last here. The frontier town of Mannlich has done pretty well these past months all things considered. Though communications were down and there was only a single hard link to Vale, the harvests were still bountiful, the brave villagers are happy, and Grimm attacks were surprisingly scarce and few in between in these uncertain times. Personally, the villagers don't care much about the outside world. They're more than content with life here.

Oh yeah, let's not forget they also found a giant bread monster that was now the town mascot. Breadzilla found this place after a month of travelling the woods by itself, and it found the people here to be quite accepting of it. So yeah, life's pretty good, and the town now has a giant bread monster as a mascot and for defense. Not sure how they got Breadzilla under control though, but just go with it.

When the villagers thought all was nice and right in the world, a portal opened up in the middle of town. Now, these villagers were not bitchmade if it wasn't apparent before. They immediately grabbed all their weapons, got Breadzilla on standby, and surrounded the portal to meet/kill whatever was on the other side. Safe to say, what came out was a surprise as gasps were had.

"Saxton Hale..." A little boy went, remembering the legendary manly man who saved their village half a year ago.


	53. Journeys, Promises, and Confessions

**Pine Family Farm**

The sound of a rooster crowing greeted the arrival of the Sun, as the great ball of fire returns as it always does to bring its bright light to these lands. At the sounding of this signal, the people within the farm began to stir so that they can do their daily work. Well, usually there was only two people living here, being Oscar and his aunt, but this time they had a third member as a guest. As you know, this is the Engineer, Dell Conagher.

The Texan was used to waking up at sunrise this early. Though living on a ranch wasn't quite the same as living on a farm, he did remember how he would have to be riled up early to help his dad, uncle, or other ranch-hands with the animals and whatever else they might've needed him for. Such nostalgia was had by the Texan as he looked out the barn window and watched Oscar go out and do his daily farm duties, whether it be tilling the soil, fertilizing the crops for future harvest, and moving hay out with a pitchfork. Again, ranch life was a little different than that of a farm since a ranch is pretty much an animal farm where a farm is for crops n shit. Still, Engie remembered when his life used to be just like this, though Texas was far hotter and the land much drier.

Well, he wasn't here to reminisce on old times at the family ranch. Actually, he wasn't here for any reason at all other than a teleporter accident, but that's beside the point. Point is, Engie's going to leave this very morning in search of his friends. Getting all his equipment sorted out and good, the Texan replaced his usual hard hat for a White Stetson hat. Team Fortress players would recognize this hat as the Texas Ten Gallon in game, and he was wearing a holster for his Peacemaker so he could get it out in an instant if he got into trouble. Auntie Pine was kind enough to give Engineer some bread, cheese, and some apple cider for this trip of his.

"Do you need anything else, Mr. Conagher?" The kind woman asked as the Texan was magically putting it all away in his pockets. She still didn't quite understand how he could do that, or the story of how he even got here for that matter, but she was just glad he was a nice and kind man at least. "Maybe some more food for the journey or some blankets?"

"Nope. That'll do it, Aunt Pine." The Texan responded, putting the last of the food away. Oscar and his aunt walked Engie out to the end of their farm where they would see him off on his quest. "Can't thank y'all enough for letting me stay." He said to them.

"Oh, it was nothing." Aunt Pine smiled at the Texan.

As for Oscar, he was listening to what Ozpin was telling him right now, saying nothing as he went so as to not make himself look crazy. Ozpin The former headmaster of Beacon was urging Oscar to go with Engineer. If Oscar's bound to do as Ozpin asked and go to Mistral, then he might as well do it with Engineer since he's here now. His chance was slipping fast though as they just reached the very edge of the farm before a dirt road that went through the rest of the spread out farming community they were a part of.

"Mr. Conagher?" Oscar spoke up hastily, making the Texan look back at him right as he was only a few feet away from them.

"Yeah?" Engie began. "What's on your mind, son?"

"I-I..." Oscar hesitated, still trying to resist Ozpin's constant urging for him to leave. He was having a short internal argument with Ozpin as his aunt and Engineer waited. "I...I just wanted to know, are you still going to Mistral after all that happened to you?" The Texan man took a second to think about it.

"Yeah... but first I'm going back down South." He answered, surprising everyone, including Ozpin who's not even physically there.

"But Mistral's east, though." Aunt Pine said. "Why would you want to go down South?" She inquired.

"Simple ma'am, if the map you got's any good and my memory ain't foolin' with me, then my friends and I disappeared in that direction." He answered. "Remember we flew by a place called Higanbana, and the map says it's to the South. So, I'm going South to find my pals. At least see if they're even still there..."

"But, that area's full of bandits though." Aunt Pine said warily. "I heard stories and even refugees come by here, telling of bandits raiding villages there." She continued on in that worried tone, Oscar looking like he's really conflicted with what to do now.

Ozpin himself wasn't so sure if Engineer was needed at all. None of the mercenaries were part of his inner circle, and he hired them only so that his enemies won't have them. This worked fairly well enough, and it looks like they now have a common enemy. But if Engineer wishes to go in search of his friends, then so be it. Ozpin's number one priority at the moment was to get Oscar to Mistral where he hoped to speak with the headmaster there, and Engineer doesn't need to be there for that to happen as the way to Mistral from here was safe and secure.

"Are you sure you want to go back there?" Aunt Pine kept worrying. "It's not safe to travel through places with bandits hiding in who knows where, especially for a lone traveller like yourself!"

"Alone? Me? Bandits?" Engie began to softly chuckle at Aunt Pine's silliness. "With all due respect, Aunt Pine, I ain't alone." He simply patted his revolver, and then his head. "Got these boys with me. They're all I need to deal with some low life bandits." He gave an assuring smile. "Trust me, I'm an Engineer. If I meet those bandits, _they're_ the ones who're ggonna be afraid. Not me."

Though she still worried for his safety, there wasn't a lot she could do to stop him. Engineer was clearly one of those men where when he wants to do sokething, he'll do it. That's pretty much all the mercenaries though, but you get it. Wishing the Texan a safe and good journey, they waved him goodbye as he started down the road leading South as he said where he was going.

The good man of Texas whistled a tune as he walked, sometime waving to some of the other people who lived in this community. Whereas villages further away from the Kingdom keep their buildings and space close, places closer to the Kingdom can safely have spaced out and bigger farm communities for higher crop yields to feed the cities. The villages further out only had to feed themselves, so they lived closer together for protection. All this lush farmland still got at Engie's nostalgia nerve. As said before, he was raised on a ranch and not on a farm, but there were farmlands closeby that his ranch would by feed for the livestock whenever they needed it. He even reached for a piece of straw and placed it in his mouth, just like when he was a kid.

Then Engineer had the realization that walking all the way to the South was going to take forever. He didn't necessarily that he had to walk thefe, it was more like he was in a rush to see if any of his friends were there or not. So, he did the logical thing and "acquired" a horse. Don't worry, he left more than enough lien to pay for the horse, saddle, everything. It took a bit to get used to being back in the saddle again. It's been quite some time since he was last on a horse, but he quickly got the feel for it after the horse got used to him.

Riding hard as the owner of the horse just realized what Engie did and tried to chase him to no avail, Engie was back in the saddle.

* * *

 **Outside of Oniyuri**

It was morning, as it was for the rest of the eastern half of Remnant.

Last night saw quite a bit of info sharing between Team RNJR, Qrow, and the mercenaries with Yang. Though what Qrow said ended up being far more informative on what this current quest of their's was actually leading them all into a grand conflict that none of them could possibly imagine. Apparently, if Qrow was to be believed, they were all getting involved in a several centuries old conflict between Salem and her forces of evil against Ozpin's inner circle to protect the peace. The current attention of this in the present day conflict is on the mythical seasonal maidens which turned out to be real.

 _Very real_ , as Qrow revealed Cinder Fall is now one of them. At hearing this, Team RNJR and Yang seriously wasn't sure what to say about this. They never expected to face anything like this, they just thought they were going up against some thugs who wanted power. As for the mercenaries, they immediately hardened up in anger because they 100% knew now that Cinder Fall fucking cheated in that horribly one-sided battle between the nine of them and her. Just even more reason to go after her and make her pay. Despite all that's been said though, Team RNJR looked like they still had the resolve to go after Cinder even though Yang was especially bent on bringing them home after hearing what Qrow said.

After Qrow was finished speaking, they all retired for the night. Before they did though, Team RNJR expressed their glad feelings of joy to the mercenaries in subtle but meaningful ways. The two girls being Nora and Ruby, who hugged the each of them, even Soldier while the boys gave them handshakes that true men share with each other to show their gratitude.

Anyways, it's morning now, and everyone was waking up for another day. Yang herself woke up with a long yawn.

"Wake up sis, it's time to go home..." The sleepy dragon rubbed her eyes. Her barely open eyes set on her baby sister by her side before scanning the rest of the campsite for everyone else. The rest of RNJR was stirring and the mercenaries were awake already. Pyro was poking the embers of the campfire and Heavy was already up to his feet as well as Soldier. Heavy had apparently stopped him from getting a bugle out and playing Reveille to wake everyone up. Looking back down at her adorable baby sister, she saw Ruby also open her eyes. "Good morning, lil' sis."

"Morning..." Ruby yawned. Yang smiled at how cute she was. Didn't matter how old Ruby was, she will always be Yang's baby sis.

"Morning guys." Yang greeted the mercenaries to which they greeted her back. Same for the rest of Team RNJR. "Alright, get up Ruby." She patted her sister's forehead as she stood up and started stretching. All the while she watched everyone else do their morning routines, when she noticed her Uncle wasn't up. "Hey, anyone's seen my uncle?"

Then, she heard a cough and saw her dusty old uncle slumped against the tree she last saw him at. At first she smiled because she thought he was just coughing from some alcohol he took in like he would sometimes, but that smile went away when the coughing got worse.

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked worriedly. When Qrow responded with nothing else but more coughing, she got up and ran to her uncle to see if he was okay, Yang following closely.

Despite the rather pristine and beautiful morning with birds tweeting to the rising Sun, tragedy still highlighted the morn. Qrow's injury had turned from red blood staining his bandages, to a poisonous shade of purple. The poison from Tyrian's stinger was beginning to work its wicked effects on the dusty old crow. These effects were made very clear where instead of plain red blood, Qrow coughed up a dark purple substance that was his poisoned blood. Needless to say, Qrow was not okay.

As he watched his nieces and then the rest of their party come to him with very concerned looks on their faces, Qrow sighed.

"Well that's unfortunate..." Qrow said rather calmly, looking to his poor worried nieces.

This was bad. Very bad. Team RNJR had no way to treat this, and the mercenaries didn't have anything either as giving him Sandviches and some of the few instant health kits they brought with them didn't work. Seems like the mercs were lucky they had the self healing then, but Qrow didn't and now he was weakening from it. Ren and Jaune constructed a stretcher to carry the Qrow in as he was now at that point where he couldn't walk without serious assistance. As the two sisters watched Qrow be lain on the stretcher, Ruby had tears forming slightly as she was in thought.

"Yang?" Ruby asked her sister without looking away from Qrow.

"What?"

"Looks like we're still going to Mistral after all." Ruby said with absolute conviction to it, wiping the barely formed tears before she started crying for real. The way she said it surprised Yang. She never thought she would hear her sister sound so decisive, sound so leader-like even if she was the leader of Team RWBY. Looking to Team RNJR, she saw they were with her sister.

"It's the only way we can find some help for him in time." Ruby reasoned, finally looking at her sister straight in the eyes.

"She's right." Ren supported her as he and Jaune lifted the stretcher up, ready to move. Looking at the each of them again, Yang looked at the each of them again, seeing the serious resolve and worry in all of them before looking at the mercenaries she came here with.

"We were heading there anyway!" Soldier grinned, his friends immediately agreeing. All of them were trained on Yang as she exchanged looks with them, waiting for what she was going to say. With a sigh, Yang saw there was clearly only one option here. An option she had no trouble with taking whatsoever.

"Looks like we're not going home just yet, sis..." She said to Ruby. After all, going to Mistral may have been the fastest way home anyway provided they find transportation.

With little hesitation, the party packed their belongings and set off for Mistral or anywhere that could provide medical aid for Qrow. They just hoped they can make it in time.

* * *

 **Menagerie**

After what happened last night, Ghira immediately ordered an intensification of security on the island for any sign of White Fang activity. Previously, the Chieftain had his doubts about the Fang after what Sun and his daughter told her, but after he witnessed Demoman and Sniper drag a wounded Sun inside his home with Blake worrying herself to death over him, he immediately settled on his final decision of the White Fang.

Currently, the Sun rose over the island, and the monkey boy had not woken up yet. The monkey boy in question was placed in Ghira's office where he has not waken up since last night, and Blake also did not leave his side for that matter. Throughout the rest of the night, it was like that. Blake sitting alone in her father's office, waiting for Sun to wake up while everyone else waited outside on the balcony.

Everyone except Ghira had fallen asleep. The chieftain spent the whole night looking through the scroll Blake brought back with a grave look throughout the night as Kali slept against his shoulder and Demoman and Sniper sat across from them. Then, Ghira's Faunus hearing detected the sounds of speech in his office. Slowly and quietly, he woke everyone up. He held two fingers to his lips to signify that no one make a sound as he listened on what his daughter was saying to Sun who had woken up as well judging by the fact that his voice was present.

Blake's mother, being the ever curious type, held her ears against the door so she can very clear what was being said. Demo and Sniper stood back as though their hearing wasn't quite as good as the average Faunus, it was superb from years of fighting. They waited a bit, letting Blake say what she wanted to say to Sun. From what they were hearing, it was quite serious stuff indeed. Blake's parents heard the truth of why she ran away from all her friends back in Vale as well as Demo and Sniper who felt bad for her. They all did, learning how she felt that her very presence was what caused everything in Beacon to go down and her guilt for it, but she also terribly missed her friends. For Demo and Sniper, it did touch them how Blake admitted that she miss them as they did miss her too, even if they didn't expect to find her at all when they came back to Remnant, but still, it's the thought that counts.

As they were listening in on Blake and Sun's heartfelt discussion on how Sun won't let her do this fight alone, Kali pushed herself up against the already loose door too hard and fell right through it, earning facepalms from the men with her.

"Oh! Oooh dear! Would you look at that? He's awake! Thank goodness!" Kali made like this was an accident, still earning facepalms from the men with her as Blake and Sun looked at them all with surprise.

"Kali, please..." Her husband said as Demo and Sniper peeked over them like two cats peeping out a corner. Kinda ironic considering two of the people here actually are cats...

"MOM!" Blake shouted as she got up. "What are you doing!?" She demanded as she approached them.

"Well, sweetheart, your father needed to speak with the two of you." Kali went. Blake wasn't really expecting this, and her reply was a "huh?" until her father walked in his office and threw down the scroll he was looking through earlier right down on the coffee table he sits guests at. Sniper and Demo stood by with Kali on the side, as this was something Ghira needed to do with utmost importance.

"I am afraid you were right to be suspicious..." Ghira began ominously as the two teens looked at the scroll he placed before them.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked, wanting to know her father knew.

"This 'splinter faction' of the White Fang Adam Taurus led is to overthrow the leader of the White Fang, and staging a full scale assault on Haven Academy. It will be the Fall of Beacon all over again..." He said ominously, the two teens' faces growing grim.

"Not if we destroy the White Fang..." Sun said rather seriously. This got nods of approval from Sniper and Demoman who were totally okay with this idea as they hated those guys, but then Blake went and surprised them with her take on this.

"No." She said abruptly, also abruptly standing up. "We're not going to destroy the White Fang..." Said she, looking at everyone in the room. "We're going to take it back." This statement surprised everybody with how serious she sounded. Ghira looked down at his daughter, straight to her eyes, and immediately understood what she intended on doing. Kali wasn't sure about this, still standing by Sniper and Demo who were wondering how exactly this catgirl intended on taking back an entire terrorist organization. Blake looked to everyone and took them aback with her determination on this matter. Slowly but surely, Sun, Ghira, and Kali nodded their heads at Blake, approving of her decision. With a sigh, Sniper and Demoman looked to each other and decided 'why not?'

"Ahem..." Sniper cleared his throat as he and Demo stepped forward. "Looks like you got two extra guns to help with that." He said with a reassuring grin, earning a smile from Blake.

"That's right lass, even if how we're going to do this is beyond me." Demo gave her a toothy grin and a thumbs up.

With the approval of everyone she cared about here, Blake immediately made ready to leave for Mistral as did Sun. The ship Ghira ordered to be ready for taking Sniper and Demo to Mistral is supposed to arrive today, and the three men agreed that Blake shall go along with them. Ghira couldn't leave Menagerie as his duties as chieftain didn't allow it, but he was at least assured that Sniper, Demoman, and Sun will keep his daughter safe.

"No worries mate." Sniper shook Ghira's hand in a firm, manly handshake. "Your daughter'll be safe as long as we're kicking."

"Aye, ye have our words." Demo assured him.

"I trust you will, friends." Ghira nodded as he gave them firm handshakes of trust. Kali couldn't have been more thankful that Demo and Sniper agreed on protecting her daughter, and she couldn't help but give the two a hug and a kiss on the cheek for good luck.

As soon as Blake and Sun were ready, everyone made their way to the docks. Guards lined their path in case an attempt be made on the chieftain's life, but all was calm as the residents of Menagerie gathered to watch them proceed. The ship had arrived just a few moments before and was now restocking on supplies before it set off on the voyage for Atlas. In this time, Blake hugged and kissed her parents goodbye before she began this quest of hers. Soon, the ship was ready and its important passengers boarded it before it set sail.

The four of them, Blake, Sun, Demo, and Sniper, stood at the rear, waving their final goodbye to Menagerie and Blake's parents as they watched their daughter sail away from home, unsure if they'll see her again as she's taking this noble quest of hers. Even after the ship's sailed far enough from Menagerie that the island disappeared in the distance and her friends dispersed through the ship, Blake kept staring back where the island was.

"Don't worry, lass, you'll see yer mum and dad again..." Demo said to Blake who saw she hadn't moved a bit

"I know..." She said after a moment of silence. "Demoman?"

"Yes? What is it, lass?"

"Thank you for coming with me." She said sincerely, Demo seeing it in her face and how her cat ears moved.

"Ah, it's nothing lass. Really, nothing at all!" Demo threw an arm around her shoulder, surprising her a bit. "We were heading to Mistral anyway. We don't mind taking a little kitten like ya with us, you know. So long as you don't get in the way of what we're after that is..."

"Of course." Blake answered with a smile.

Chuckling jollily, Demo patted her on the back and led her away from the rear of the ship to rejoin the others. For Blake, she really did feel grateful that her three friends agreed to come with her on this determined quest of her's to regain control of the White Fang, but she still had her doubts and fears. She still was afraid that they'll get hurt because of her, and even with her determination to do this, she didn't know where to start.

Whatever happens, Blake was sure of only one thing. She's going to stop the White Fang from attacking Haven.

* * *

 **Vale**

When word got out that Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl, had awoken from her half a year long coma by at the moment unknown circumstances, the VNN immediately broadcasted this news as a celebrity was walking once more. This was very welcomed by the weary citizens as they were happy that at least something positive's happening in these troubling times. In fact, when Pyrrha's friends and a lot of students from Beacon heard she was awake, they went out of their way to find her family's home here in Vale and see her. From there, Pyrrha's parents thought it was a good idea to hold a grand celebration in honor of their daughter being awoken, and everyone was invited. Just another way to spread good faith and general positiveness to the people as Pyrrha's parents knew this was a way to ward the Grimm off, and they genuinely were that happy their daughter was awake. Speaking of the Grimm, the huntsmen and VDF are still holding them back at Beacon, but they were back at the original position they held from before the mercenaries went in and attacked since the Grimm pushed them back that far.

Back to the Nikos' residence, people from all over dropped by to see her, even if they only stayed for a few minutes. Important people ranging from veteran huntsmen, celebrities, even councilmen came to see Pyrrha alongside the masses. The rather large and lavish home was filled with guests come for this happy occasion, but under all of this joy, Pyrrha was still sorrowful looking. If you've been following along and paying attention, you would know why. It was because she worried deeply for her friends away in who knows where. While she still kept a generally positive demeanor in the face of the public, she had massive trouble resisting the urge to go back to Medic in Patch to help in anyway she can. However, it didn't matter how much she tried to hide it, her friends noticed it, and they worried for her as well

"Pyrrha, do you have a moment to talk?" Velvet asked with her little sister by her side while Pyrrha was speaking to a Vale councilman. "Go back to mom and dad, Rui." She ordered her little bunny sister, to which she happily ran over to her parents.

"Huh? Oh, yes. Of course." Pyrrha replied a bit hesitantly. "Excuse me, councilman." She bowed to the councilman who politely excused her to go.

Pyrrha followed Velvet over to where some former Beacon students were gathered which was away from all the other guests where only the moon in the sky accompanied them all. The former students all got together as this was one of the few times after Beacon's Fall where they have gotten back together. They were all more or less her friends, as some of them were just students she met at Beacon while others just knew her because of her reputation. Some she knew closely like Team CFVY and what may surprise you as Team CRDL was even there. Nobody really liked Team CRDL that much in the first few months of school as they had a reputation for being bullies, but they have gotten better relations with everyone ever since Cardin changed his ways after Jaune saved him from getting mauledd by an Ursa. Even in the mercenary era they had gained respect with their fellow students, just not quite enough for them to be forgiven for the past. Of course, that all changed when the Battle of Beacon and then the Fall shortly after happened. All feelings of resentment, racism, malice between the students were thrown aside as they all became equally put into the same situation of poor fellows who lost their home and school. It was something they all shared.

Velvet still led her past the Beacon students with the rest of CFVY following. The students said their proper greetings and condolences to Pyrrha as she passed them, even Cardin's boys.

"What's wrong?" The Invincible Girl asked as when she saw they had rather serious looks to them.

"You." Coco said.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. What's wrong with you? Why so sad?" Coco asked. Pyrrha took a moment to look at each of their faces, the lot of them waiting for an answer.

"Just still tired and weak from being woken up." Pyrrha said which was technically also the truth. "That's all." She could tell by the looks on their faces that they didn't believe that all there was to it.

"Pyrrha, we're your friends. You can trust us. Heck, we even helped Mr. Medic kidnap you." Coco said.

"Yes, he told me..." Pyrrha sighed. "Thank you for kidnapping me by the way, no matter how strange that sounds..."

"Your welcome." Fox and Yatsuhashi said.

"No problem, now tell us, what's wrong? Why so sad?" Velvet asked this time. Pyrrha hesitated again, looking down to the ground. She supposed they didn't know about Ruby and the rest of Team JNPR going to Mistral by their lonesome. With a sigh, she decided to tell them everything since they were her closest friends here.

* * *

 **Atlas**

Long after making a rather difficult stealthy escape from Schnee Manor which they somehow managed to pull off rather successfully, the father-son duo of Spy and Scout finally reached Atlas as the Sun fell over to the other side of the world. It was getting colder now that the Sun was setting in Atlas, but it did not take long for them to find where Atlas academy where they intended on seeing General Ironwood. After all, the academy took up a rather considerable portion of the kingdom's skyline.

On the way to the academy itself, little happened other than Spy and Scout observing the advanced technological state that the kingdom and its inhabitants lived in. It was drastically different from that of the people in Vale, the only city the mercenaries had actually been at in Remnant, where the people lived their lives in a way more familiar to how the mercenaries knew life on Earth even with the technology difference. Here in Atlas, it was like the people were on a whole other level of tech than in Vale, but that's probably because they were...

Upon reaching the large reception center, they simply stated why they were here and what business they intended to do. Initially, the staff at the reception were skeptical as they weren't sure what common huntsmen would want to do with the General, but after a quick check of the mercenaries rather... rough record, they scheduled an appointment up with the General immediately where they were ordered right up to his office. Spy had to keep his son in line whenever the Boston kid saw a pretty woman working here. No worries, they were either soldiers or specialists.

When the General finally met with them, they were received warmly as the General welcomed him to his academy/military/governing center. That is literally Atlas. The Huntsman school, ruling council, and military center was all focused in one place and merged into a single entity under Ironwood's leadership. Back to what we're talking about, though Ironwood didn't understand how Spy and Scout got to Atlas (then again, neither of them quite really understood either), he was more than happy to allow them residence here at his academy.

Both of the mercs did not like the serious military feel of this place and they didn't trust a lot of people here, but they took comfort that they wouldn't be staying here long. Ironwood made reservations for an airship returning from Mistral to take them to said kingdom when it arrives in tomorrow. At least the issue of how they were going to reach Mistral from here was resolved, but the two of them still had Weiss to worry about. They could leave Weiss here in Atlas since she wasn't a priority, but they did feel bad for her. Spy personally never had to deal with situations like this even if he was raised in a similar background to Weiss, but he did see her very problems play out in some of the other rich children of close family friends of his. Even though it might be more of a burden to bring her along, Spy figured that once they got Weiss to Mistral where her sister will take her it will be easily out of their hands.

Besides, she was a friend.

* * *

 **Here it do. Another chapter for the gents and lads out there who read this here story.**

 **Again, sticking to canon events of Volume 4 relatively closely until we reach the end of the Volume and I go out to do whatever I want from there. Anyways, edits and the official cover are still underway. Besides that, reviews and questions are always welcome, but keep in mind I reserve the right to not answer some questions because I either have no answer or I refuse to for whatever reason.**

 **So "A fan" has requested for someone to make a Shovel Knight X RWBY fic where you can include the mercenaries in it. I don't actually know what else he's asking because I can't read his request very well, but if you want to see it it's in my reviews and you can try and make sense of what he says for yourself.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Neramo: WE GET TO SEE MORE OF HIM NEXT CHAPTER!**

 **Mr. Green37: I'm surprised I did.**

 **Awesome Arod: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Congrats, you killed the robot Trump!**

 **buzzsaw935: YEP!**

 **A fan: I not doing this RP unless you get an account, but I'll spread the word for you I guess. Also, PUT PERIODS IN YOUR SENTENCES. I know you type on a phone but fuck is it hard to read when there is no place to stop.**

 **VivaL'Aquila: Nice, you fixed the spelling of your name into French, but "Viva" is supposed to be "Vive". And... sure.**

 **MCZ: Oh, hey, he is.**

 **Lord Hellfire 913: I typically do this with TheLAGGER but he was too late for this, but I'm doing this with you in PM right now. Anyone can do this.**

 **Mpopl2: It's going to be another story entry set in a continuum where the mercs' world hopping began with RWBY and then goes into Skullgirls with the friends they made along the way. Also, do not worry your Australian face, the spelling mistakes is because I type faster than how I remember to spell words correctly.**

 **ATTF: MADNESS.**

 **A Shattered Piece of Crap: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.**

 **Madlice in Pyroland: Fuck yeah! Finally!**

 **Jack905: Oh...well, you'll see. You'll all see.**

 **Michamya: Das fine. Skullgirls does and I feel like it'll go swell. Also, I did not forget about the lore series. I just got caught up with how much I like typing regular chapters.**

 **Dandaman5: I HAVE MADE GOOD ON THY REQUEST WITH UTMOST HASTE.**


	54. The Ranger

**Anima**

Almost a full day, Engineer and his mount had ridden hard for the south, leaving behind the farmlands and defenses of the secure parts of the Kingdom for the dangerous Grimm infested and bandit filled lands of the frontier. It was very evident from how more untamed and rough the path looked that they were indeed heading through areas the Kingdom had less control over, until he could just tell from the fresh scent of the wild and the landscape that he was in wild territory.

Travelling along the worn road, the sounds of someone playing a guitar can be heard over the chirping of birds and the slow copping of horse hooves. Engineer softly played his guitar, picking each string to the songs he heard when he was younger. He stopped for a moment and looked at the wilderness. Dense forests and some clearings can be seen from up the cliff the road was currently snaking on. He took a deep breath and sighed.

He always dreamed of being a cowboy out in the Wild West when he was a kid, having adventures of braving Mother Nature's tests and fighting off bandits like the gunslingers of old. Though the forests of the Wild West was not quite like the forests here in Mistral, it was still quite a nice scene for a lone cowboy to be riding against the backdrop of the Sun setting. It's a shame then that he was born a century too late then, but this was the closest he'll get to being one of the lawmen of the West. Maybe even the legendary Texan Rangers...

Then, Engie encountered a man and woman running along the road with a baby strapped to her back a log with her belongings, and kids who were obviously their children. They seemed panicked, even afraid a bit when they saw him. In fact, the man pointed his hunting rifle at him.

"Easy, easy there..." He raised his hands up to calm them down. "What's got y'all spooked?"

"Bandits!" The man yelled, then the family immediately continued to run when they saw he wasn't a danger to them, not letting him ask any more questions.

"Bandits?" Engie said to himself. Looking in the direction they came from, he saw smoke rising into the sky. At first he frowned, but then he had a grin on his face. "Looks like a get to kill me some bandits! Hya!" He snapped the reigns on the horse and galloped forward towards the direction of the smoke.

* * *

People screamed and panicked as bandits ran through their village, torching houses and looting anything they can carry. The village militia did their best to fight back, but without a huntsman the bandits far outclassed them and they were easily dealt with. Still, some tried to pick up their weapons and even farming tools to fight back, but even then it was hopeless. Once the last of those who dared were killed, the remaining villagers were rounded up and forced to throw all their belongings and valuables into a pile before the victorious bandits while some of said bandits ransacked the houses for stuff still inside them.

"Is this all you have!?" A bandit shouted in the face of the village elder for the relatively small pile of valuables the people scrounge up.

"Sir, please! This is all we have-"

"Shut up!" He slapped the elder to the ground, spitting on him afterwards. Annoyed with these people, he gave them and their shitty pile a glare that made them cower in fear.

"Hey, let's hurry this up. Before the Grimm show up." One of the other bqndits said. "You know how Raven gets when we lose people to-"

"Yeah, I know... Take some of the kids and women for the slave market, and kill the rest." He ordered the bandits with him.

Parents and children began crying out as they were being forcefully separated from each other, begging to the gods that someone, something, will stop this madness. The people already knew that they were most likely not going to survive this, but the fact that these bandits wanted to sell their kids to the underground Mistral slave market was far too much for them to deal with. The village elder jumped on the lead bandit when he took hold of his granddaughter, getting him a punch to the face.

"Old fool..." The bandit shook his head, raising his sword to decapitate him.

Suddenly, a crack was heard and a bullet found itself trough his sword hand, making everyone stop to see what just happened. He was so shocked, that the bandit did not start screaming until his mind fully registered what just happened and the pain of the shot reaching his brain. Even then he screamed for only a second when another bullet went through his throat this time, making him fall to the floor as air went out the new hole instead of the hole to his lungs.

Immediately, the bandits looked around to see who was responsible for this, when they saw a lone figure on a horse at the ege of the village. Smoke still came out of the barrel as he put two more rounds in.

"Sorry partner." He chuckled, spinning his gun in hand and blowing the smoke away from the barrel. "Now listen here, y'all should hear me out and best take your sorry behinds ot of this here village, or else I'm gonna have to lay down the law..." He said, lowering his gun and pulling the hammer down with his thumb.

"Is that a huntsman?" A bandit asked with his dagger raised.

"Not sure, but at least we know he's a damn idiot! How's he gonna face all of us alone?" The bandits all started laughing at Engineer, but the Texan kept his composure as he calmly got off his horse and led it to the side.

"Heh, he doesn't look like a huntsman that much anyway. Hey dumbass! You're gonna pay for-" This particular bandit found a bullet in his eye. The shot came so fast and so unexpectedly that the bandit was still smiling as his head snapped back from the impact before falling face first to the ground. Not like the other bandits got time to react to their comrade's sudden demise as the other five bullets went their way, all direct hits. Seemed like their auras weren't a match for the gunpowder based .45 bullets as they dropped instantly with the large holes in their bodies.

The villagers immediately scrambled for safety as the bandits began shooting or charging at him with their melee weapons. Engie was so glad he modified the Peacemaker to accept moon clips as it made reloading so much faster and easier. Quickly reloading the revolver, he fanned the hammer to quickly shot off all rounds at the bandits shooting at him before ducking behind a low stone wall for cover. The bandits he shot dropped while Engie loaded another moon clip, ready for the melee to begin.

As expected, a deal bandit vaulted over the wall and stabbed at Engie with a spear, but Engie caught the shaft, broke it with his glove-covered robot hand, and jammed the metal point into her neck. Swinging the dying woman around to use her as a human shield, Engie counter rushed the bandits and ran into two bandits trying to get at him with their swords. They stumbled back when their female Comrade was shoved against him, tripping to the ground as they couldn't keep up with the force. Both of them grunted when the body and themselves landed on top of each other before Engie through the body aside and jammed the barrel of the revolver into the mouth of the bandit on top, blasting through both of their heads.

The Texan then rolled away to narrowly avoid getting shot at before getting up to his feet and immediately dropping his attacker with a bullet. Engineer got a slash to the back from a sword, but his damage resistance minimized the effect and he rolled around to knock the man senseless with a pistol whip before whipping his wrench out to finish him off. It was at this moment that Engie got out a tool box and placed down a Mini-Sentry. The combat turret deployed rapidly and began surprising the surprised bandits with its rate of fire while Engie got his shotgun out. Pumping the shotgun once, he blew a going hole through a bandit's chest and blew another's arm off. Another one came in and knocked the shotgun out of his hands, earning this bandit a wrench to the head and then a stomp to the face.

While the Mini-Sentry finished up the melee bandits, Engie oddefed it to stop and slowly advanced on the other bandits while getting the Widomaker out and pumping it one handed.

"Too late to surrender now..." Engie said. There weren't that may bandits here to begin with, but it was more than enough to overrun this small village and it's defenders, yet not for this one stranger? The few remaining bandits stepped back, weapons still raised for a fight even if they were slowly retreating.

A cawing noise was then heard, and the bandits looked up into the sky, smiles forming on their faces.

"You're screwed now..." One of the bandits said like a cheeky bastard. He was then shot.

"Sure I am..." Engie sighed as he got ready to blast these remaining guys down.

Then, screaming from every difection wws heard as the villagers ran out of their hiding spots and rushed the bandits with wooden planks, anything they can get their hands on to get their revenge on these guys. Seeing this, Engie decided to whip his standard pistol out and shoot all of the weapons out of the surviving bandits hands, leaving them at the villagers mercy as they villagers descended on them with a righteous vengeance. He put his weapons away and put his hands on his hips for a job well done, watching the villagers tear the screaming bandits apart.

"Thank you, kind sir!" The village elder said once the bad it's were definitely past dead.

"Hell, that was easy." Engie shook his hand. "They weren't much trouble to deal with at all."

"BANDITS!" Someone yelled. Sure enough, the rest of the bandit tribe had arrived, surrounding the entire village. While the villagers huddled around Engineer with the weapons they picked up from the dead bandits, Engie calmly observed the bandits watching them from the roofs and on the ground, dozens of bandits looking back at him ad the villagers.

"Shoulda known that I wasn't done yet. Ain't nothing comes easy..." Engineer said, readying up for a fight again. Then, some bandits parted aside and a woman with black hair stepped forward. Her appearance struk Dell as she looked just like Yang but if she had red eyes and black hair, and she was older.

"I take it that you're the leader of these hear bandits." Engie said. The woman said nothing, just eyeing him up and looking like she didn't think he was much of a threat. Her face only hardened a bit when she saw her dead bandits.

"Take everyone and leave..." She said over her shoulder to her second in command. Last thing she needed now was her tribe getting wiped out by the Grimm who were no doubt on their way from all the negative emotion centered here.

"Yes, Raven." The bandit bowed before giving the signal for everyone tto retreat into the forest.

"Raven..." Engie said after hearing her name. "Well then, Raven, sorry to tell you this but it looks like I got to clip all your wings short for what you did to this village..." Raven hated that, that joke on her name being what it is, "Hmm...more like I'm going to have to put you and your whole tribe down like a bunch of coyotes, but I think you know what I mean."

Raven said nothing, only turning around to leave herself. The woman was sure this man and these villagers would get torn apart by the Grimm when they get here. Her sense immediately let her step to the side to dodge a bullet from Engineer's Peacemaker, and quickly blocked two more with her sword. Engie was impressed, but he should've seen this coming as he's seen skilled people do this before, and she definitely looked like she was skilled. The woman stood straight and extended her sword to its full length, making Engie gawk a bit from how long it was.

Not wanting to waste time on this man, Raven flew forward and blocker more bulet's from Engie as she went fo a stab attack. She missed, but she kept rapidly slashing and stabbing at the man, keeping him back with how long her sword was. Engie was unable to reload his Peacemaker so he holstered it and took out his Widowmaker. The spread of the shotgun ensured tat she can't block all the pellets, but then she swiftly dodged them and coed the distance between her and him. The Texan dropped his weapon after being forced to dodge a slash from her, and Raven kicked it away.

"Better leave now..." He said to the villagers still behind him. Without hesitation, the people hurried out the village with whatever they can bring. Raven let them leave as they weren't a threat. Getting out his standard pistol, Engineer shot all 12 rounds. It did nothing as Raven easily blocked them all, standing them in place like the badass she is.

Seeing that guns weren't going to work well on her and that she was way faster than him, Engie out his pistol away and cracked his knuckles.

"You're joking..." Raven said, eyes completely unimpressed by Engineer's stupidity.

"Let's do this Texas style!" Engie yelled as he ran towardsher. Sighing, Raven held her sword one handed to finish this pointless fight. "FIRE!" He suddenly screamed. Raven raised a still unimpressed brow at hi, but then her eyes widened up when she heard a beep. Quickly turning around to block bullets coming from the Mini-Sentry, Engineer took his chance and rushed her. Raven tried to swing around and slash him in half, but Engie dodged underneath the blade and tackled her to the ground. He landed two punches on her face before she kicked him off and jumped high into the air while putting her sword back in its sheathe for a moment.

Switching her blade's dust setting to fire dust, she sent a slash of flame toward the Mini-Setry that destroyed it instantly. Landing back down, she held her sword to send fire towards Engie's way when she saw he had a strange shotgun that was glowing red with red electricity.

"You're about to have a bad day!" Engie smirked. It was no matter to Raven though, she was sure she can still crush this man like the minor pest he was. As she believed that the strong survive, she was sure this man was a weakling as she dashed at him at speeds too fast to-

*BAM*

Seemed like he was ready this time as Raven missed her attack and got the butt of the Frontier Justice right to her face when Engie stepped to the side. Growling, she elbowed him in the face and covered him with fire. Watching him disappear in the flames, Raven sheathed her sword and rubbed the place on her head where he hit her. There was no mark as her aura kept her good, but it still hurt a bit. Just a bit though, Raven was too strong to feel most blows like that. Shaking her head in disappointment and disdain, she turned to leave.

What she was not ready for was when the sounded of a shotgun pumping was heard, and she quickly faced back towards the flame when a mighty blast of CRITS sent her flying backwards with a pain filled chest. It was so unexpected and damaging that Raven lay there gasping for breath. Her aura held, but that hurt way more than it should have. Painfully raising her head off the ground and getting to her feet, she saw the impossible. Engineer rushed at her with a scream that was a mix of a battle cry and seversevere pain, still on fire, and kept blasting her with the remaining CRITS he had. Raven was legitimately frightened a little bit with this as he looked like a demon from hell, but she still dodged the shells as they came to her, though one more shot was a direct hit.

It was a good thing Raven didn't understand Engie had fire resistance and CRITS on his side as well as his self healing negating the fire damage just long enough for him to run toward the village well. Having enough and thinking it was time to go, Raven got her sword out and slashed a red portal for her to escape, sensing and heading Grimm get closer to their location. Before she can step in the portal though, Engineer lassoed her foot up with some rope and pulled her towards him.

"I ain't finished with ya yet!" Engie yelled.

Growling at him, Raven sheathed her sword and switched it to ice dust mode where she then stabbed the ground and made ice spikes cover the surrounding area. She got up and held her sword as she looked around for him among the large chunks of ice. Slowly walking whilst full alert, she caught a glimpse of him and slashed a chunk of ice in half. It got her nothing though as she merely saw his reflection. Raven did this two ore times before she cursed herself. Why was she acting this cautious and nervous? That man couldn't possibly be stronger than her! In anger, she slashed the rope holding her foot down off.

Her senses snapped her out of it though when she automatically turned around to face a... toolbox. She was confused at what the toolbox was, but then it rapidly formed into a Level 3 Sentry gun and fired upon her. This turret shot way too fast for her t block all the bullets, and she found herself on the retreat as he felt a lot of these bullets hit her. Ducking behind a very solid block of ice, she slashed another portal for her to leave when Engineer very unexpectedly jumped down from above the very piece of ice she was standing on and got her with a very hard punch to the face with his gloved-robot hand. A hit so hard, Raven fell down and actually needed a second to get her head straight before remembering to get her sword. She got up and ducked underneath a shot from Engineer's stock pistol and slashed at him again, hoping this time that he couldn't dodge this close up and with her speed. She hoped right, but Engineer caught her sword hand instead of dodging and Judo flipped her, making her lose her sword.

"Got a sword that can make portals?" Engie said aloud as he picked her sword up. "Damn, that's mighty useful! You know, you sort of look like a friend of mine..." Engie said, pulling his Peacemaker out and pointing it at her.

"And who would that be?" Raven said, standing up with a face of hate.

"Not like you'd know her, but the girl's name is Yang. She's a nice ole girl, I tell you what..." Engie noticed that some surprise was shown on the woman's face. "What's with that look?" He asked, gun still pointed at her. "You know her?"

"Yes...she's my daughter."

...

"... _What_..." Engie said after a moment of silence. This woman was Yang's mom? What? The fuck? How? When?

Engie was so taken aback by the extremely slim chance that he just landed of meeting Yang's mom, fighting her no less, that it took the roaring of Grimm to get him back to reality. An entire pack of Beowolves had come to see what death and chaos they can bring, finding these two humans here. Beowolves quickly surrounded them and the field of ice they were in. Raven cursed it all as it seemed like this man just signed her death without even killing her himself, but then something totally unexpected happened.

"Take your damn sword back." Engie said without looking at her, throwing the blade over while getting ready to fight these monsters. "Help me out of this and I'll promise to tell your daughter you said hi..." He knew there was an extremely high chance that this woman was going to either kill him or run away, but he hoped that his relation with her daughter was just enough to get her to care.

And then it wasn't because she instantly made herself a new portal and left him.

"Damn..." Engie cursed. "Oh well, least I got a Sentry built." Whistling to his Sentry gun, the Level 3 immediately began firing again and the Beowolves died in droves. Engie set up his Rancho Relaxo and merely relaxed until the Sentry was done with business.

Though he didn't look like it at the moment, Remnant's first Texas Ranger had just been born with what he done today.

* * *

 **Mercs' Fortress**

A shouting match between at least ten people was the best way to describe what was happening in the main control room of the mercenaries fort. Heavy's family, Scout's family, Medic, Ms. Pauling, were all debating and arguing over what they should do. First off, it was overwhelmingly agreed that they should go looking for them, but the problem was that no one knew where to start and they kept shooting each other's ideas down. This went on for most of the night.

Heavy and Scout's families wanted to go out in the world, but Medic and Ms. Pauling kept trying to tell them that doing so will take forever and there was no guarantee that they were even still on Remnant on account of the airship crashing on Earth. Though they Medic did say going to Mistral first was there best bet instead of searching the whole world, it didn't matter how much they tried to tell them though, they wouldn't listen and suggested sending the entire robot army to search the whole goddamn planet for their lost fellows. This was not something you can simply do, as even Medic understood that Remnant was at an unstable period right now and any signs of possible hostility could ignite a war that no one is ready for. This goes to even the mercenaries as their main goal here was to skullfuck some bitch who thinks she can kill them and get away with it.

Eventually, Medic and Ms. Pauling left the room to take a break and calm their nerves away from the families.

"Jesus Christ, those people..." Ms. Pauling sighed as she took her glasses off, closing her eyes and tilting her head back. "No one except you guys even know this world that well. How the Hell do they expect to go running around a completely new world to find our guys?"

"I do not know..." Medic answered. He and Ms. Pauling were sitting in the lounge room where some robots were watching TV as there wasn't anything of high priority to do at the moment. I mean, earlier today, they did everything they could and now there wasn't a lot more preparation to do. "But what I know is zat-wait..." Medic stopped himself when he heard something from the TV that caught his ear.

"What is it?" Pauling asked, but Medic said nothing and walked up to the robots watching TV.

"Turn ze volume up, please." He calmly ordered the robots.

 _"Large crowds of people are still coming to the banquet being held at the Nikos residence in honor of Pyrrha Nikos miraculously being awoken from her half a year long coma through unknown means at the moment. The banquet is said to continue until 6:00AM after it began at 10:00PM last night..."_

From the TV, Lisa Lavender was reporting live from the scene at the Nikos' house where several people of high standing were at. In the background, Glynda Goodwitch can be seen conversing with the Nikos husband and wife alongside some other people of importance. Getting an idea to ask Glynda for help in his head, Medic smiled to which Ms. Pauling got a little confused as she didn't understand what Medic's getting at.

"Medic?" She said after the man as he went to get changed.

* * *

 **Nikos' Residence, An Hour Later**

Team CFVY was shaken to say the least at what Pyrrha just told them. It was hard to believe it, but if Pyrrha's coma didn't make her go insane, then it sounded like eight out of the nine mercenaries were dead already, alongside Yang. While Pyrrha did tell them literally everything from how she was woken up and how her parents came to their fort, the information about the mercenaries' ship crashing and how they were missing was understandably the most shocking.

"S-so only Mr. Medic's okay?" Velvet asked, a little teary eyed since she saw them all just a few days ago.

"Yes. He stayed behind to treat me." Pyrrha said. Safe to say that everyone was quite depressed at the moment.

"Poor professors..." Coco sighed, moving in to comfort Velvet. "What's Mr. Medic doing about this?" She asked, before a grappling hook suddenly got thrown over and hooked itself against a pillar. The Nikos' residence was a rented place built on top of a short cliff in the more elevated region of the city so that the fairly large property can have a scenic overlook of Vale. The parents came here when they heard their daughter had been in a coma had come to Vale from Mistral to be at her side. Confused and a little alarmed, the five teens peeked over the edge and saw a nicely dressed woman climb up the rope.

"Oh! Hey there! Mind giving me a hand?" The woman asked. This was when the teens recognized her.

"Wait, aren't you Ms. Pauling from Earth?" Coco asked the woman as she reached out a hand to help her up. With Coco's strength, she easily pulled Pauling up with little trouble at all.

"Woah! You weird kids are really strong!." The woman said. "And yeah, that's me." Then another person came up the rope. It was Medic, and he was dressed in the same red hued suit that he wore to the banquet at Schnee Manor.

"Mind helping me as well?" The German asked as he climbed the rope, Fox and Yatsuhashi moving to help him. "Danke, mein freunde." He shook their hands upon reaching the top.

"Mr. Medic? What are you doing here?" Pyrrha asked with a look of surprise still on her. "I thought you were in the middle of finding a way to get your friends back!"

"Which is exactly why I'm here! Now please stand aside, I must have a word with Professor Goodwitch." He said as he walked past the still surprised teens. Pyrrha followed him as she wanted to know what he had in mind for his task.

"Wait! Why did you come up the cliff instead of walking through the front entrance like everyone else!?" Coco shouted, seriously doubting this man's common sense. A pat on her shoulder was felt, and she turned to see it was Ms. Pauling. "What?" The woman then pointed at the front entrance to the Nikos' property, and it had _very_ long lines of people waiting to come in and see if The Invincible Girl was really awake. Damn, Pyrrha's got a lot of fans...

"Do you think a a guy like Medic is willing to wait through all of that?" Pauling said to the teens' immediate understanding.

"I-I see..." Coco trailed off. "But wait, what are you doing here in Remnant?"

"Ah, just needed a break from all the chaos at the fort." Pauling answered. "That and I guess I sorta wanted to get to know this world better. Anyways, see you kids. I'm going over to Medic now." Ms. Pauling and the German man had a somewhat rough time maneuvering through the crowds of people meeting with the Nikos and Glynda, but they got to them soon enough.

"Mr. Medic? What a pleasant surprise!" Argus Nikos gladly took Medic's hand and shook it in the manly way men do.

"It's an honor to see you again so soon." Aleka bowed as Medic kissed her hand in a custom that people on Remnant don't do. "Oh! Um, thank you?"

"Ja, ja, you're welcome. Professor Goodwitch? May I have a word with you?"

"What is it?" The witch asked.

"Just the matter of my friends disappearing..."

* * *

 **Atlas, Schnee Manor**

" _Hmm..._ " Spy hummed as he carefully observed the mansion with a pair of binoculars. What he was looking for were any points of entry he can access without too much trouble, potential escape routes in case he was caught, and any security detail as well as anything else that might compromise him. The General himself had come to tell him and Scout that the airship coming from Mistral was delayed. How and why it was delayed did not matter to Spy and Scout as they were fucking pissed that they had to wait here in Atlas for who knows how long that airship was coming.

Seeing that approaching through the roof may be the easiest and surest way to get in, Spy cloaked himself and began this stealth mission. He walked past the guards stationed around the mansion at night with no trouble at all, confident his stealth skill are too good to let these simpletons catch him. In fact, he was confident that this will go very smoothly as he's rarely failed a high stealth mission like this, except that one time in the past where he got caught by the Nazis...

Anyway, tragedies aside, Scout was waiting back at their room in Atlas Academy as I think it's pretty obvious that he can't stealth for shit.

" _On my way, Weiss."_ He quietly said to himself as he began invisibly scaling the mansion with parkour, the French art of climbing shit and running away, waiting at some points for his Cloak and Dagger invis watch to recharge.

* * *

 **Ah... it took over a little over a week for a new chapter to come out. Sorry, just procrastinated with video games and not doing a lot of the stuff I promised you I would be doing.**

 **So TheFrankcisco asked for me to spread the word of a Minecraft based comic he and his friend is making. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure it's something good. That's all I got to say other than TheFrankcisco is the writer of a nice Godzilla X RWBY crossover that I suggest you go and take a look if you like the King of monsters! El rey de los monstruos!**

 **His twitter name:** ChristopherJoe_

 **His Profile:** Kam1👌

 **Okay, other news is that next time there's a pause between chapters, it's because I am actually working on stuff relating to this instead of just video games and not working at all. I think Awesome Arod is still writing that RWBY reacts to this story, but I haven't heard from his Mexican ass since. Better do it before I build a wall, my dude. I think Michamya is also making the Shovel Knight X RWBY crossover someone asked me to do, but I'm not completely sure. MrTheratedG asked for an X-Men crossover, and I'm not sure about that one since I don't know a lot about the X-Men.**

 **Um... that's all the news I got at the moment and off the top of my head, but we'll see what I got else to talk about.**

 **But right here, honest opinions on what I should do. Should I wait for Volume 5 to come out and continue the story based on its events or do my own thing when I reach the end of Volume 4? Still very undecided now that people are telling me.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **A fan: I can't laugh if I can't read what's happening.**

 **Fellowman: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Nice to hear, bro.**

 **Madlice in Pyroland: I knew this already, but I'm not sure about the Administrator and Olivia.**

 **Ramiz: Thanks for thinking so! Also, don't know when the Skullgirls is coming.**

 **buzzsaw935: YEE-HAAAW!**

 **Neramo: AUSTRALIA!**

 **TheEpicGuyisEpic1: *casually walks to Sniper Van and pull him out***

 **Mr. Green37: It coming...**

 **Michamya: That's because that is what Volume 4 is. Everyone is separated and they jumped from like five different places. Following Volume 4 events until we reach the end of it.**

 **Zistonian Battle Sign: Guess it would be cool, huh? Not sure about that hiatus part...**

 **Awesome Arod: Yey.**

 **Mpopl2: Yeah. Just how I be, you know?**

 **Frank: Um, they're heading to Haven academy, not Atlas.**

 **gladeo25: FUCK YEAH. And I'm not doing LOL and TF2 because I don't play LOL.**

 **CapitalClassShip: Oh Hell yeah!**

 **darkromdemon: Indeed they are, mi amigo. I don't speak Spanish much porque es muy dificil. No me gusta espanol en el internet because I can't type the special accent marks on computer.**

 **Doctor Homicide 157: Because that is the actual lore behind the universe.**

 **EOCD: Huh, alright then. Not sure if I'll ever get the time to read it, but I'll see if I do.**

 **Jack905: You know it!**

 **Raikaguken: Answered in le Pm already.**


	55. Feelings

**Atlas, Schnee Manor**

The unbroken side of Remnant's moon shone a dim yellowish-white over the western half of the planet. It would only be a few more hours until sunlight will shine over from the east, but that was more than enough time for Weiss. She had woken up this late in the night to pack her clothes and belongings into a single suitcase and kept Myretenaster close. Why was she doing this? Travel, for tonight was the night she will make her escape from this prison that was her family mansion.

She didn't really pack much since it was just an easy to carry suitcase, but it was good enough. It wasn't like she was going to walk to Mistral, unlike some other teens we know...

As for how she was going to get to Mistral definitely sounded more appealing than walking there, it wasn't a surefire thing that she could achieve it. Basic plan was to find a ship, preferably one without a lot of people on it who would recognize her, and bribe the pilot to smuggle her to Mistral. Sounds easy enough, but there was a very high possibility that the pilot or anyone else who saw her would rat her out and send her right back to her father, where she dreaded what he'll do to her for her attempt at escape from his control. So much so that she almost unpacked her stuff and wanted to call this whole thing off, but she ultimately decided to push through with it. This may be her only chance to leave and get away from all this.

While she finished packing her things, she took a moment to look out her window and over to Atlas Academy where Spy and Scout should be. It was a shame that she was going to Mistral without her, but the two of them have yet to come back to her as promised and she did not want to wait any longer. In any case, she was sure she will meet up with them in Mistral since the General would most likely provide them transportation.

She gave out a sigh, looking out the window took her back to yesterday where they suddenly appeared at this very window. In fact, it seemed like Spy was looking through the window right now. Then he began knocking the glass gently. At first Weiss kept staring out the window as if this was still a flashback, but then he started knocking a bit harder, and then he started whispering something she had no hope of hearing through the glass. Eventually realizing that this was no flashback at all, Weiss' eyes widened and she went to the window to open it. It took some effort since the window is fairly large but she managed it and Spy hoped in.

"You came back!" Weiss exclaimed with a smile, just glad to see people who technically care for her again.

"I said I would, didn't I?" Spy smiled back, dusting his suit off a bit.

"Where's Mr. Charleston?" She asked after seeing Scout was not here.

"Waiting for us." Spy answered. "He's not exactly adept at the art of sneaking..." He said. Weiss nodded because she also kinda figured Scout can't stealth for shit. "Now, I take it that you've already packed your belongings for your own attempt at escape..." He said, gesturing at the suitcase.

"Yeah... and I take it that you're here to help since you snuck in here, and it doesn't look like you want to stop me..."

"Of course." He answered. Then, a knocking was heard from her door and Spy was about to turn invisible had Weiss not stopped him. She didn't say anything as to why she stopped him, but Spy still stood cautiously as the girl went to answer the door. A moment of waiting, and then she opened the door fully to reveal her butler, Klein Sieben, standing there. He seemed surprised to see Spy there.

"Don't worry. He's here to help." Weiss said to Spy though that statement went both ways. "Here's what's going to happen, Klein is going to take us to the library where we'll take a secret passage out of the mansion. He already made sure none of the other servants are out in the halls, and then we'll make our way to the hangars where I'll bribe a ship to take us to Atlas." Spy looked at her and Klein blankly. "Is...there something wrong?"

"...that's it?" Spy said after a moment of blank staring.

"Yes, why?"

"...nothing, nothing." Spy sighed, choosing to not think about the mansion's awful security and the relative simplicity of her plan. To be fair though, Spy's plan might've been even simpler since it was more or less the same thing except that it involved him taking her and walking right out of there under the cover of invisibility. "Just give me a moment to tell Scout..." He said, pulling out a blocky Earth phone to tell Scout what's up.

Not too long after, the three of them were now quickly walking through the empty hallways of the mansion. They kept silent as to not risk the chance of someone still being out here and hearing their voices through the wide halls. It was unlikely though as they didn't hear any of the echoes of people, but they still did not want to risk people hearing their own echoes in these halls. Fortunately, it seemed like there really was no one out in the halls since Spy couldn't hear anything, though he was slightly annoyed how Weiss chose to wear heels where she was supposed to be quiet.

Then, Klein got a buzz on his scroll, making them stop for him to answer it.

"Master Whitley, I-" He stopped there for a second, obviously interrupted by Whitley on the other side. "Um, yes, of course! I'll be just a moment..." Klein then hung up and put his scroll away, looking to Weiss. "Head to the first floor library. I'll meet you there." He and Weiss nodded at each other before the good butler turned back the way they came to do whatever Whitley asked him to do.

"Ladies first..." Spy said, allowing her to lead him to the library.

The former heiress nodded, and they continued on ahead. On the way over, they passed by the portrait of the Schnee family. Weiss only gave it a glance, one that was mostly toward her sister that she intended on meeting in Mistral, and Spy's attention was on her mother which made him grown a bit. Don't get it wrong, she was a beautiful woman, it was just that she annoyed and sort of disturbed Spy with how much attention she was giving him when they first met. Sure, she was drunk, but Spy had a suspicion that she would try it even if she wasn't.

It was here that they came upon the office of Jacques Schnee, and inside it, the voices of the head of the SDC and General Ironwood can be heard inside, and they appeared to be having a rather heated argument. For whatever reason, Weiss ducked to the side of the door to listen in on what exactly they were arguing about. Spy did so as well, mostly because it was sort of his thing to eavesdrop on like everyone whenever he had the chance. What they heard between the two men was quite something indeed. Apparently, Ironwood is going to completely close Atlas off to the rest of the world starting tomorrow with the only people able to come in and out being military or with his approval alone. Though Mr. Schnee argued against it, Ironwood shut him down by saying that Winter has reported back and says that there are alarming build ups of weapons and ordnance in Mistral, meaning that the possibility of a war was now extremely high. Didn't matter if profits on dust sales for the SDC would go down any further, Ironwood's pretty much in absolute power in Atlas, and he's already made his decision.

Spy and Weiss looked at each other with wide eyes. Looks like it was a good thing they decided to leave tonight of all times. Then, they heard Ironwood approaching the door as he was done with talking to the head Schnee, and Weiss immediately summoned up a glyph to hold the door so that Ironwood can't get out and see them. Wasting no time as they heard the General soon start banging against the door, the two of them scurried off to the library where they awaited Klein.

Unfortunately, there was someone other than Klein in the library. Somehow, they did not notice her until it was too late.

"Mr. Moreau?" The voice of Weiss' mother called from the unlit fireplace. The woman was sitting in a great chair that obscured her to the point where she cannot be seen from behind, which might be why they did not detect her until she revealed herself. It shocked the both of them so badly, that Spy and Weiss actually jumped. "My, what a pleasant surprise..." She giggled, standing up and approaching them with a girlish smile.

"What!? Mother? What are you doing here this late at night?" Weiss asked of her mother, trying not to sweat as that is not ladylike but she was real nervous that her attempt at escape could end right here.

"Just catching up on some reading, dear..." She said daintily, a glass of wine held just as loftily in her hand. Well, she obviously came here for some late night drinking... "*hiccup* What I want to know is what you are doing here, and with such a handsome guest as well..." She said in a sultry manner that made Spy cringe.

"Madame Schnee." Spy bowed his head down in greeting.

"What was that? I can't seem to hear you very well with that mask. Would you be so kind as to take it off for me?" She giggled, wanting to get a look at his face again.

"Oh dear..." Spy visibly cringed, as they did Weiss because she seriously did not approve of her mother's feelings toward her friend here. He supposed this is what girls feel like when Scout tries to hit on them. "Good evening, Blanc."

"Oh! I see we're dropping the formalities now!" She giggled. "Well then, a good evening to you as well, Jacques. Though I must get used to saying that name without wanting to roll my eyes..." She sighed, still regretting her marriage with Jacques né Gelé, otherwise known as Jacques Schnee these days. "Wait, what are you doing in my home at this late hour? And why are you here with him, young lady?"

"I...well..." Weiss looked at Spy, trying to come up with an excuse to cover up her whole attempt at escape here. "I.. Mr. Moreau here... I'm giving him a personal tour of the mansion." She stated, trying to look sincere.

"That is a terrible excuse..." Spy said, which made Weiss look at him with some contempt.

"Hey!" The former heiress exclaimed.

"Hmm... but I thought your father had him and your other professors banned from the estate after causing a disturbance at the banquet not too long ago, if I'm not mistaken..." She said. "Now I don't mind having such fine company here with me, hehe, but why would your father allow him back inside? He's not exactly one to get over things easily..."

"Well, he had a change of-" Weiss began, before Spy stopped her.

"Your daughter and I are leaving." Spy simply said, Weiss looking at him as if he betrayed her.

"What are you doing!? Do you want to get sent to prison!?" Weiss nearly shouted at him but Spy didn't really care that much.

"Leave? With Weiss? But why?" Weiss' mother suddenly went from sultry to worried at hearing what her daughter was here to do. "Why would you want to possibly leave the family home?" She demanded. Weiss hesitated to answer, but Spy put a hand on her shoulder and nodded at her. It was here that the former heiress knew that it was probably best to come clean. Sighing, she took a moment to collect her thoughts.

"Mother, please understand that I cannot stay here." Weiss began. She stopped for a moment when Spy got a call on his Earth phone and had to step aside to take it. "I refuse to stay here and let father control me, and I can't stand being in a place where no one cares for me!"

"Where no one cares for you? But surely there are people here who do! Among them being me!"

"Yeah, but it's only really you and Klein who do. But Klein is always busy with his duties as butler and you're always getting drunk off your mind!" Weiss said. This made her mother look at the glass of wine she was holding, and set it down quickly. "I'm always so alone here... the servants never speak with me, Winter's always out with the military, and whenever father and Whitley talk to me, it's always something that will either put me down or do something "noble" for the family name."

"Oh Weiss..." Her mother went, no idea that her daughter felt this way about life here. Seemingly, she stopped being drunk.

"...and that is why I am leaving tonight." Weiss said, making her mother's eyes go wide with what Spy said being really true. "I am going to Mistral where I will stay with Winter." It was here that her mother went to her and hugged her. The first hug Weiss' had from her in practically forever.

"I understand how you feel, Weiss. I feel much the same as you do here as well..." She said truthfully, her daughter looking a bit surprised. "All this drinking I do is supposed to help me cope with it, but it seems like I forgot what matters most..." She smiled at her. "However, I can't let you go..."

"What? Why?"

"It's far too dangerous for a person of such high standing like you to travel across the other side of Remnant. Especially in these troublesome times..." She sighed. Klein came in as she was speaking, and was surprised to see that the lady of the house was here in the library when he already made sure no one would be here. Still, he simply stood to the side with Spy who was done talking to Scout over the phone and were now patiently waiting for the mother and daughter to finish. "Please, stay here in the mansion where you'll be safe. I promise I'll make things more bearable here for you..." She said lovingly, still holding her daughter close. Then, Weiss broke away from the hug.

"I'm sorry mother, but I have already made up my mind..."

"Well..." Weiss' mother gulped. "It appears that I have no choice then..." The woman got her scroll out and began typing a number up.

"What are you doing!?"

"I am calling your father. I suggest Mr. Moreau leaves before they come and arrest him..." Her mother said. Weiss stood there completely powerless, not sure what to do with her mother. "Hello? Jacques? I-" She did not get to finish what she was saying to her husband though when the other Jacques suddenly swept her off her feet, making her drop her scroll and yelping. Weiss and Klein looked on with wide eyes, especially Weiss, as Spy held her mother as if she were his bride. Worse part was that he removed his mask and her mother was blushing at how close his face was to her's.

"There's no need for that..." The lady-killer said. "Beautiful..."

"W-what?" Weiss' mother went, trying to not blush.

"My apologies, madame, it's just that I got lost in your eyes..." He said, gently moving some of her white hair off her flustered face.

"O-oh... Mr. Moreau, may I ask you to please put me-"

"Shhhh..." He put a finger on her lips.

Then, the unthinkable happened. Spy passionately placed his lips on her's in a kiss. Weiss felt like screaming while Klein sort of scoffed at the scene. As for how Weiss' mother felt about this, she resisted at first, but then she gave in and actually pulled him closer. Weiss cannot stand looking at Spy do this to her mother and almost went to pull them apart had Klein not held her back, forcing her to continue suffering at this horrible sight. After what felt like eight whole goddamn centuries of this cruel inhumane torture, Weiss breathed a sigh of relief when Spy finally took his face off of her mother's. It further disgusted her when she saw her mother actually try to get her lips back on him like a hungry animal that had just had a taste of the most delicious prey ever.

"Calm yourself, Madame." Spy struggled to stop her from making out with him even further. It disturbed him how, to put it in modern terms, how "thirsty" she was for him, but he hoped this would shut her up.

"Blanc? Blanc? Are you there?" The voice of Jacques Schnee can be faintly heard from her scroll.

"Believe me when I say your daughter is in good hands. I will look after her with utmost care as if she were my own..." He said, putting a hand on her soft cheek, staring deep into her blue eyes which you can just tell by her facial expression that she was now _very_ deeply in love with him if she wasn't attracted to him enough already. His attention was turned to the other Jacques' voice continuing to be heard faintly from her scroll. "Who knows, maybe faint will have it so that I will be Jacques Schnee instead, if you undesrtand what I am saying..." He grinned at her.

" _Oh, I would love that..._ " She purred, yes, actually _purred_. Nearby, Weiss felt like throwing up and had the sudden urge to rip Spy's face off for what he was doing right now, while Klein softly chuckled at the whole thing.

"Excellent. Just what I wanted to hear from your angelic voice." He said, kissing her one more time before letting her go, trying to not mind how she tried to furiously make out with him again because that quick kiss was not enough for her. While the woman tried her damnest to control herself, getting her hair in order and trying to slow her furiously beating heart down, Spy went up to Weiss and put an arm around her. The former heiress growled at him and looked like she wanted to bite him, but he ignored her. "Now, I kindly ask for you to allow us to leave. Also do not tell anyone how we escaped or where we're going."

"Promise you will see me again?" She asked, looking like she wanted nothing more than for him to hold her again.

"...yes." Spy said after a bit of hesitation, still ignoring how angrier and embarrassed Weiss was getting. Blanc Schnee then picked her scroll up, looking at Spy with quite a happy face as she did so.

"Hello?" She said.

"Blanc? What do you want, woman?" The annoyed voice of Jacques Schnee came over the scroll.

"Oh, nothing... just wanted to see if you can have the help send me some more wine..." She giggled, acting like she was drunk, as in _really_ drunk. "Could you sent Klein over?" She drunked, giving Klein who actually was in a room a grin. The butler sighed and simply went to the secret door disguised as a bookcase so that it was ready for them to leave through. "Oh? Husband? Are you there? Huh..." She went after her husband hung up on her and for her drunken shenanigans. "Well, that deals with him I suppose..."

Then she went to her daughter and hugged her one last time. "Stay safe out there." She said tenderly.

"I will, mother..." Weiss said with the same sincerity.

"I still have my doubts, but I am sure your good professor here will protect you with all his being..." She winked at Spy who smiled back to be polite.

" _That is if he doesn't find a rapier in his back_..." Weiss growled under her breath, angrily looking at Spy.

"And you..." She turned to Spy. Before Spy had any time to react, she quickly hugged him and kissed him firmly again with the speed of lightning. " _I expect you to keep your promise..._ " She said very sultrily, making Spy afraid that she was going to lick his face because he was sure she was that feral for him. He didn't say anything, but she let go of him anyway.

Giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead before she left, Spy and Weiss finally left through the secret door to make their leave. Klein had to stay here as his duties as butler demanded it, and he also said his own goodbyes as he shut the bookcase with them all waving each other goodbye.

"Seems like you have quite an attraction to Mr. Moreau..." Klein said to Mrs. Schnee.

"Oh, I know..." She said softly, closing her eyes and putting her fingers on her lips, savoring the memory of him kissing her.

"Indeed. I'll be just a moment with the wine, ma'am." Klein said before leaving.

Thirty minutes later of super easy stealthing because invisibility is awesome, Weiss and Spy met up with Scout and went to the nearest hanger. The whole time Scout was complaining about what was taking them so long, but Spy shut him up whenever he brought it up. What Spy could not shut up was Weiss quietly, but FURIOUSLY, complaining about what he did to her mother. Spy's excuse was that it was absolutely necessary, and though that may have been the case, it didn't stop Weiss from being mad at him and Scout teasing him for it.

Anyways, they found a single supply airship belonging to the military in the hangar. Luckily, the pilot agreed to take them to Mistral with a generous bribe from Weiss. Spy and Scout were really glad that they ended up doing this instead of hijacking an airship as they didn't know how to fly any of the airships in Remnant, and they were soon on their way to Mistral just as the Sun began sending its light over the horizon.

* * *

 **Vale**

Medic and Pauling were disappointed. The two of them were still at the Nikos' rented home in Vale as people still came for the banquet in celebration of Pyrrha waking up, and their attempt at seeing if Glynda could be of any help was put down when she said there wasn't a thing she could do that she can do about the problem of locating their missing friends, even saying that the council would be of little help since there was too much for them to worry about in Vale to help find nine missing people who could be anywhere on the planet. It was early morning now, and the Sun was barely showing itself over from the east.

"What do we do now?" Pauling asked no one in particular as the two of them sat alone at a table, with Pyrrha and Team CFVY who still wanted to help any way they could.

"Ze only other person I know who can probably help us is Roman Torchwick..." Medic groaned as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Wait, what?" Pyrrha went as she and Team CFVY looked at him with confused expressions. The fact that the mercenaries and Torchwick were somewhat friends still wasn't known to everyone.

"...but even then I am not sure what exactly that man can do for us..." Medic continued, ignoring Pyrrha. " That and I don't even know where to look for him! ARGH!" Medic lashed out in rage, completely flipping the table over in a surprising feat of strength that he shouldn't normally be able to do. He then stopped and quickly glanced back and forth at all the people staring at him for the scene he just caused. "Uh...ahem, apologies! I will be leaving now..."

Medic and Pauling went back to the cliff where they climbed over to the banquet, and Pyrrha and Team CFVY followed. They were going back here because the front of the house was still packed with people coming in, and they were both afraid that Medic was going to knock some bystanders out in rage if he were forced to huddle through a sea of people.

"Well, it was nice seeing you kids again..." Medic said without looking at them, holding the rope as he got ready to climb down.

"Are you sure there's nothing we can do to help?" Velvet asked as the two Earth people began climbing down.

"Sorry kids, but I don't see how you guys can possibly help us. No offense." Pauling said before going down first. While Medic slowly climbed down, he can't help but look back at the sad teens on top. He can see that they really meant it when they said they wanted to help, especially Pyrrha, but there really was nothing they can do to help out. The sad look of Pyrrha's green eyes killed him on the inside. His latest patient was heartbroken over this.

As the teens turned away from the cliff, Medic can't help but say this one sentence to make them feel better. "Come to our fortress later today if you wish so badly to help." Without waiting for them to say anything back, he climbed all the way back down the cliff where Pauling was waiting for him at the Bread Van.

"Who exactly is Roman Torchwick anyway?" Pauling asked as she was the one driving.

"Just a criminal we managed to befriend here. The man's got connections across the kingdom, but I doubt he's got anything to help us find our friends..." Medic sighed.

"I can try looking for him if you want. I mean, I'm still not sure how a lot of things in this world works, but I think I can manage." Pauling suggested since she specialized in being a hitman, manipulator, and tracker. Kinda wonder why she wasn't made the tenth class...

"No, it's fine. Like I said I highly doubt he can help us even if we did find him."

They stayed quiet for the rest of the drive back to Vale Harbor. Little was different about the city since Medic was last here. Police presence was still high, but the military did seem to disappear from the streets. Sometimes they would pass by graffiti that was very anti-Faunus, racial slurs and the like that called for the race of animal people to be kicked out of the kingdom for being terrorists and monsters. No anti-Faunus protests were out since the police dispersed them, but the hostile sentiments remained.

Getting to Patch wasn't much trouble either. Just a simple ferry ride over to the nearby island and then a drive to the fort and they were back home. Heavy and Scout's families went back across the portal to do whatever, except for Zhanna who waited for Medic to return. She asked if they got anything, but she got a no. Only good thing that happened was that the fort was completely ready for any attack and robotic forces were prepped for deployment anywhere. Also, the Robo-Engie's got significant work done on the wrecked ship after hauling ass the whole time between receiving it to now. However, the ship still needed a couple more days as practically everything needed to be replaced and components from Mann Co. facilities had to get there for it to be ready for flight again.

* * *

 **Anima**

Nigh had fallen over East Remnant, and after a full day of nonstop travel from leaving Oniyuri behind, Team RNJR, Yang, and the mercenaries with them decided now was about time to rest. Qrow's condition hasn't gotten any better, and it seemed like the clouds were darkening again. The mercenaries set the fire this time while the rest set up their sleeping rolls and tucked Qrow tightly in blankets and placed him near the fire for him to keep warm. Ruby and Yang stayed by him, still worried to death for their dear uncle while everyone else can only leave them be and watch them solemnly.

"Those maggots are really worried about that guy, huh?" Soldier said. The American was eating some ration bars he kept with him.

"Yeah..." Jaune said softly.

"Do you know how much longer we have to go?" Heavy asked the teens while Pyro sat by him, doing nothing.

"I don't know..." The blonde sighed. "That Oniyuri place isn't on the map so I don't know where we are and how far we are from Mistral now."

"Things aren't looking good..." Nora went, staying close to Ren who wasn't saying anything. "What if we don't make it to Mistral in time?" She asked worriedly.

"We will make it in time." Heavy stated plainly and seriously. "We must. We do not let our friends die."

"Amen to that..." Soldier agreed, Pyro muffling in agreement too. The teens could tell that the mercenaries really meant it. It was so good to know that they weren't alone anymore, but things still looked rather grim. Ruby and Yang had finally came over to sit next to them after their uncle fell asleep. For a moment, everyone stayed quiet.

"Hey guys?" Jaune began, getting the mercenaries attention. "I just wanted to say thanks for helping us..." He said sincerely.

"What for, maggot?" Soldier asked.

"Just... for everything. For being our professors, fighting for us at Beacon, helping Pyrrha... and even coming back to life to help us." He gave them a friendly smile that's just as sincere as his tone. As did Nora and Ren.

"Though your teaching methods are quite bizarre, I can't deny that you professors are our friends." Ren stated the pure, simple truth.

"You guys are a ton of fun." Nora chimed in, giving a big smile toward them. Ruby and Yang didn't say anything, but they also wore warm smiles toward them.

The mercenaries didn't know what to feel about this. They knew that they were friends already, but it just felt so strange for people to come out and say their feelings toward them, especially positive ones. Eventually, they warmed up to these kids. They were the ones they bonded most with at Beacon after all. While the whole of Beacon's student body had generally positive views toward the nine unusual professors, it was Team RWBY, JNPR, and some of their other friends that they've gotten close with.

"Heavy wants you to know that we thank you too." The Russian said warmly.

"What for?" Ruby asked.

"For being our first friends here." He answered. "It makes me glad that I am still here with the same two girls who came to meet us all those months ago."

"Mphm!" Pyro gave a happy thumbs up.

"Soldier's are supposed to be the hardest and toughest sons of bitches in the world, but I will be lying if I said I do not care for you kids! Because lying is for communists and Russians!" Soldier said proudly. "Except for Michael and his family, they're great!" He threw an arm around his brother in law, making the teens chuckle a bit.

"My name is Mikhael." Heavy corrected him, but Soldier is technically right because 'Mikhail' is just the Slavic form of the English name 'Michael'.

"Aww... you guys are just a bunch of teddy bears, aren't ya?" Yang playfully teased with the other teens smiling at them.

"Heh, teddy bears who can rip your face off, sister!" Soldier shot at her.

"Sure you can..." Ruby teased as well. Everyone took a moment to laugh together as now was a short time of camaraderie that was desperately needed to raise hopes in this dark time.

"Ruby, Yang, I promise you that your uncle will not die." Heavy said after they were done, putting both of his massive hands on their shoulders. "Whatever happens, we will be with you, and that goes for all of you because you are our friends."

"And soldiers do not leave their friends behind!" Soldier added.

"Mphmhpm mphfm!" Pyro added as well. The young huntsmen and huntresses can only keep their genuinely warm and friendly looks at them, if not even a bit more emotional. It was here where it was a sure thing, something clear and obvious to everyone here. Team RNJR, Yang, the mercenaries, they were all in this together. One big team who will see this adventure through to the end.

"Thank you guys..." Ruby said, almost crying since that dream of her's about the mercenaries was becoming more and more true by the second. They came back, and along with her friends and their help, they were going to do this thing together.

* * *

 **Sorry about not posting this on my birthday, got preoccupied with doing birthday things because I like my birthday. Also randomly decided to write a short story out of nowhere about Ren and Nora for no reason whatsoever. It's called simply "Nora Wants Pancakes"**

 **Anyways, can't wait to see what you guys feel about this chapter and the "controversial" thing that happens.**

 **So much thanks to you all for coming in and reading this and enjoying it. It makes me feel mixed about being the actual top story here, but as long as you guys are enjoying it and are happy then I am more than happy to stay.**

 **If you're wondering what exactly I feel about you guys, watch Markiplier's "I Feel Lost". His feelings toward his fans and about what he does are pretty similar to mine.**

 **Also, I'm feeling like going with my own thing is the better option for what happens after Volume 4 since Volume 5 will be a while and I can't wait to do things. Just have to work on other things at the same time...**

 **Michamya's not making the Shovel Knight crossover.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Battle9921: No worries, it's good.**

 **CapitalClassShip: And indeed I did!**

 **Jack905: It's here~**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: We didn't end up playing much anyway, but don't worry about it.**

 **Boriva: Y fokkin wut m8? U trynna smexual me b0i?**

 **DimensionRider: Thanks man, and as always, it's so good to hear people enjoy my story.**

 **gladeo25: *Am immune to all of it because Valve powers* I demand you say "happy birthday" in Tagalog.**

 **HunterTW: Well, no. I don't really want to write a book since that means I have to create a whole new world and set of characters to work with. Granted that I have a million ideas floating in my mind and I have this original world of my own creation that exists only in my mind because I haven't shared it with anyone, but I don't think I'll be writing any books. Just sticking to fanfiction because that's what I got best to work with.**

 **Gzilla45: Yeah, I think that sounds like the better option. And thanks for calling my story fantastaci. It's Italian, not misspelled.**

 **A fan: Look them up. My other favorite game is Garry's Mod, and thanks man. I still can't understand what you're saying because there are no periods.**

 **Awesome Arod: Da fuq are u putting these here for? Tell me these in PM m8. Gonna spoil some stuff for the people...**

 **Lord hellfire913: Fuck yeah.**

 **TheFrankcisco: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!**

 **VivaL'Aquila: *screaming***

 **Titanium Lucas: I know. That's pretty obvious and I've seen it already. And also, Engineer as McCree? Hmm... COWBOY UP!**

 **N7han11: There he is... Thanks mate for recommending it on TvTropes! Only noticed after I looked through search results for my story and found it on TvTropes.**

 **Michamya: Nah, it's good.**

 **SmokieCZT: Began reading around chapter 20? As in, around the time that came out? Well what a nice time to start then because those were fun times, and thanks for telling me so. And dude, it's not pathetic at all. If you love something then it's fine to keep checking up on it, just don't go obsessive like a lot of the big fandoms out there. Did you add me on steam already? I don't think I got any new friend requests...**

 **darkromdemon: To be fair, I don't really listen in Spanish class so I can only read it way better than speaking it and writing it.**

 **deloreansareawesome69: Ayyyyy thnx man. nice to see you're still here.**

 **Guest: Fucking done. Here it is, bro.**

 **Bluere: Keeping it up? Hell yeah.**


	56. Hope and Tragedy

**Vale**

Not a lot happened throughout the whole day other than even more arguing and nothing getting done. To be fair though, even if they did agree on something, there was not a lot to do as they had no method of travelling the world with the ship still out of commission. Yep, nothing is happening here and Medic is just stuck with a bunch a people who are mostly idiots and a whole lot of robots just itching to fight something already. Oh, and Merasmus appeared, but you'll see him later.

Actually, I take that back. The robots _were_ sent to fight. Last night, when Medic went to see Goodwitch, he agreed to let some robots go up to Beacon and help out the forces there push the Grimm back. Though there was nothing she could do to help him, he still sent the robots because at least he was doing something productive with what he had here. A detachment of about 500 robots with giants, mechs, tanks, and some of those new flying units marched through the city of Vale and up to Beacon. At first, the people were worried about this sudden, unknown force of robotic fighters, but they soon remembered that half a year ago these same red colored robots helped to save the city from Grimm attack when Beacon fell. Cheers were had in the streets as the citizens urged the robots on to battle.

"Go get 'em boys!"

"Show those Grimm who's in charge!"

"Fuck them up!"

 _The sounds of marching, airships droning, the rumbling of tanks. Are these the sounds of an invading army? If by 'invading' you mean invading the Grimm held territory of the fallen Beacon Academy, then that will be a yes. Hundreds of strange androids of unknown make and design march through the streets of Vale with tanks, airships, and their own mech units. Their destination? Beacon Academy._ _The council has approved the passage of these robotic allies last night, but it is unknown who built these robots or where exactly they came from._

 _All that is known is that they are identical to the androids that appeared at the Battle of Beacon where sources claimed that they fought alongside nine professors who looked just like them. These are the same professors arrested by the authorities shortly before the attack, but they have since disappeared. However, we have several witnesses claiming they have returned, but this has yet to be confirmed. What is certain though is that these androids will fight at Vale's side again just as they did at Beacon._

The above was the transcript of Lisa Lavender's news broadcast throughout the whole kingdom, letting everyone know that the kingdom had allies. It was a good thing too, as in these dark times, every kingdom was practically completely isolated from each other.

Some cheered from the streets while others from the windows of their apartments or other buildings. A few of the citizens even started throwing flowers and stuff at the robots as good faith for the upcoming fight, and the robot themselves were returning the cheering with their own robotic roars and cheers as they weren't the mindless variety of android that usually existed on Remnant. The fact that the robots shared personalities with the nine mercenaries didn't hurt either, and they proved to be quite entertaining. The police and VDF lined the streets on the off chance that the robots will turn on the people, but they ultimately ended up cheering the robots on as reinforcements were here.

"Whoa..." Velvet gasped as she watched the robots march along a wide street with people cheering all around them. Everyone's really excited by the professors' robots coming through the city..." She was walking around the city with her little sister, Rouge, when the robots started marching through like a loosely organized military parade.

"Robot Mishas!" Rui jumped up and down in excitement at the robot Heavies. The adorable girl even picked up some fallen flowers someone didn't throw far enough and handed it to a giant robot Heavy. Even if it was _waaaaay_ bigger than her, she still wanted these robots to know that she was their best friend, though she did shake a bit when seeing the giant robot. "Here you go, giant metal Heavy!" The little bunny chirped happily with the unusual unicorn hat's heart circling around her rabbit ears, making her look extra kawaii.

The robot paused it's March while the rest moved on, and gave her a quizzical look as if needed a minute to comprehend what this kind gesture was, but it eventually accepted the gift and gently took it. It's huge hand was easily bigger than Rui and Velvet for that matter, but it still managed to get it without crushing it. Rui was absolutely overjoyed and curled herself around the giant fingers in a big hug with as tight a hold as her little body can make.

"I think that's enough, Rui..." Velvet giggled at her sister's cute antics. It was just so silly to see a tiny bunny girl hugging the hand of a crude looking robot way bigger than ever, but there was something about it that was so adorable. When the robot set Rui down and gently patted her head with one finger, her little sister happily waved at the giant as it rejoined its fellow robots on the March to Beacon. It was around this time that Velvet noticed Coco on the other side of the street as the fashionista was waving her over. "Rui, look! It's my friend, Coco!"

"Hey Velvet!" Coco shouted over the noise of robots and the cheers of people around them. "Come over here! Got something important!"

"Oh, okay!" Velvet yelled back. While she wasn't sure what Coco had that was important, she was more than happy to spend some more time with her team leader, or if you want to be exact, _former_ team leader since CFVY was technically disbanded with the Fall of Beacon. So the rabbit teen had her little sister mount up on her back and hang on tightly, and she assumed a stance to get ready for a jump. "Hold on tight, okay?"

"Okay-WEEEEEEEEE!" Velvet didn't even wait for her sister to finish when she made the very high bunny hop over the street full of marching robots and right over to Coco. The jump was made with no issue, but Velvet misjudged her landing point a bit and accidentally bumped right into a man, making him fall to the ground. Seeing what she just done, Velvet gasped and let her sister down.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Here, let me- Oh!" Velvet moved to help the man up, but he rudely shoved her away from him and stood up, giving the bunny angry eyes of hate as the girl fell to the floor.

"Damn freak!" The man cursed at her.

Velvet was hurt, not in the physical way, but in the emotional way. Encounters with racists were never pleasant for her as a Rabbit Faunus. She watched the man disappear into the crowd, feeling sorry that he was a bigot instead of hating him as she never wished harm anyone. Unfortunately, not everyone was like Velvet, and in these times where people were afraid, Faunus were increasingly targeted against. But this was only the first time since the Fall of Beacon where she ran into a person like him. She usually avoided the Anti-Faunus protests and kept to herself whenever she was out in town with Rouge, or she was usually with her friends where no one would come at her.

"I-I'm sorry..." Velvet apologized, but the man wasn't having any of it.

"Filthy Faunus... Hope these robots turn their guns on you animals when they're done with the Grimm. Would save all us people the trouble with dealing with-"

"Hey! Leave her alone, you jerk!" Coco came to Velvet's defense, standing between the bunny and the man in defiance of this man's racism. "She said she was sorry! Now leave, or else..." The fashionista glared daggers at the guy, tilting her sunglasses down just so he can see the anger and seriousness. With a scoff, he walked off into the crowd. Coco watched him leave before helping her teammate up, hand held out for the rabbit to take.. "You okay?"

"Uh...yeah. I'm fine..." Velvet grasped Coco's hand and the deceivingly powerful fashionista lifted her up in an instant.

"Don't worry about that guy. He didn't mean it..."

"I'm not so sure about that..." Velvet said sadly, looking into the crowd to see if he was still there, but he was gone.

"Ms. Coco's right, big sis! But if he really was a mean guy, I'll kick his butt! That's what my friend Misha would do!" Rouge proudly proclaimed while trying to look tough in her tiny little bunny-eared body.

"Hehe, I'm sure he'll definitely do that..." Coco gave the tiny bunny a head pat, and she loved head-pats. Though, the faces of the two older girls were grim. Rouge doesn't know that they disappeared again, and neither of the girls wanted to tell her. Velvet's already told Coco of how Rouge reacted when she found out that the mercenaries disappeared, and it wasn't pretty...

"Right...anyway, what's up, Coco?" Velvet asked.

"Remember what Medic said earlier this morning?"

"Um...about coming to his fort if we wanted to help?" Velvet said after a taking a second to remember. It was only six hours since Medic told them this, but Velvet went to sleep as soon as she got home so it's perfectly justified. "Yeah, why? Are we going now?"

"Exactly." Coco stated smugly, adjusting her glasses and holding her purse/weapon close. "Now let's go. Wouldn't want to keep Medic waiting now, would we?"

"But what about my sister? I can't leave her here!"

"Who said you were going to leave her here? Just bring her with us!" Coco suggested, looking at said bunny wabbit as she was distracted with the constant line of robots rolling down the street. It was more like an order, but Velvet wasn't sure about taking her sister, especially since the mercenaries aren't there. However, there was also no one to watch Rouge as Velvet's parents were out working, so she was stuck with her.

"Um, okay...sure!" Velvet finally agreed. "Did you hear that, Rui? We're going to the mercenaries place!"

"YAY!" The baby bunny screamed happily and hopped up and down, not noticing the older girls sweating in fear should she find out the truth.

* * *

 **On the way to Vale Harbor then Patch**

Not long after, the three of them were walking down toward Vale harbor, or in Rouge's case, hopping because she gets to see her giant Russian friend again. She really was excited because she really loved Heavy, in a childish friend kind of way, after their little adventure back at the Vytal Tournament against that little group of racist losers. That day also thought her how to brave, as she was never as squeamish as she used to be before that day. It may have gotten her into some trouble at school, but it was a welcome change even if her whole family was afraid she'll be brave against the wrong people...

"Fox and Yatsuhashi are waiting for us at the harbor, but the ferry's not going to wait for us forever so we better hurry." Coco said. This time, she gave Rouge a ride on her shoulders as she was also pretty much her big sister in a friend sense. Robots were still marching the opposite direction as they made their way to the harbor.

"So they live in Patch? But do you even know where to go? Medic only said to come over, but he didn't say where though." Velvet asked. That's when Coco turned around, took her scroll out from her purse, and showed a marked location on her scroll.

"That's why Pyrrha marked it for us."

"Oh, that's great! But, what about Pyrrha? Is she coming with us?"

"No, her parents won't let her. They said she still needs to rest, but that's fine. We can just tell her what happens later."

Soon, they met up with Fox and Yatsuhashi and they boarded the ferry. The ride across to the island did not take long at all, and they were soon on the long road to the Mercs' Fort after landing at Patch Harbor. Patch had no taxi system or any form of public transport, but luckily the island was small enough that a walk wasn't too much of a pain. The group of five, five because they had Rouge with them, walked down the road where the natural beauty of Patch's forest and landscape greeted them. This island truly was a nice place to raise a family. Beautiful environment and general lack of Grimm make it very so.

"Alright, my scroll says this is the place..." Coco looked up from her scroll, and sure enough the whole group had their eyes on the fortress. The fashionista was horribly annoyed with having to cut through the forest where she got dirty, but she still whistled at the sight of the fort. "Yep. This is definitely the place..." She said after seeing the same kinds of robots in the city over here.

"How did the professors built this place?" Yatsuhashi asked. "They've returned for less than a month..."

"I would take a guess, but I can't see how big it is to give an estimate, so... yeah." Fox said. This was like his eight sentence in this whole story, and the guy just needed more screen time.

"Why does it look like someone attacked it?" Velvet asked, getting everyone to recognize there was visible damage all over the place.

Getting wary even if the robots on the outside and on the walls don't look very alert for danger or current combat. The five of them went to the barely still hinged front gate with Rouge being kept behind them if there was any danger still around, but they kept their weapons away as to not make the robots think they're hostile. They were met with two Soldier-Bots standing guard at the heavily damaged gate.

"Stop. What is your business here, maggots?" One of the Soldier-Bots demanded.

"We're here to see Med-... the mercenaries." Coco changed what she was going to say mid-sentence because Rouge was here, not wanting to crush her heart.

"The mercenaries are not here, beep boop. They went mi-" The Soldier-Bot was going to say they disappeared, but then Coco covered its robotic mouth and shushed it very loudly.

"-iiiining! They went mining! For gold!" Coco said, nervously laughing off so that Rouge would suspect nothing. "Yeah, that's where they went! Definitely..."

"Are they going to bring gold back!?" Rouge said excitedly.

"They didn't go-AHH!" Yatsuhashi and Fox tackled the other Soldier-Bot and held him down.

"I'm sure they will! And maybe they'll bring you some treasure!" Velvet giggled, also sweatin' because she feared her sister's meltdown.

"YAY!"

" _Trust me, you do not want to see this girl sad..._ " Coco whispered to the Soldier-Bot, before the robots forced the teens off of them. The robots were going to tell them to essentially fuck off, but then the barely attached giant metal gate creaked open. From the crack, none other than Medic peaked out.

"Wer ist da!? (Who is there!?)" The German shouted, then he saw the teens. "Oh, it's you kids... and a little bunny girl?"

"Hello Medic. This is my sister! Remember?" Velvet greeted him, and her little sister waved at the Deutschmann.

"Oh, ja, right. I remember... Um, vat are you kids doing here? And at such a bad time no less..."

"You said we can come here if we wanted to help, sir." Yatsuhashi answered. "You said this earlier at the Nikos' place..."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh... yes... I remember..." The German trailed each word, and gave an awkward blank look at them for an equally awkward moment of silence. "...can you come back some other time? Now is not such a-" Before he finished, the half of the gate he was peaking behind fell forward. The teens quickly stepped the fuck to the side with Rouge in tow, but the one Soldier-Bot on that side wasn't so lucky and got half his metallic body crushed.

"ROBOT DOWN!" The other Soldier-Bot cried, jumping to the screaming crushed Soldier-Bot where it then went into the sad scene with the Soldier-Bot cradling the other and saying a long monologue about how war is Hell or some shit like that. Hey, they're programmed after Soldier, so what else do you expect?

"Oh, fick es! (Oh, fuck it!)" Medic threw his arms out in stress. "Might as well come in then..." He said from a hand covering his face. "Just don't touch or talk to the wizard..."

"Wizard?" All of them tilted their heads to the side in confusion as the notion of a real wizard was strange to them, but this was the mercenaries' world so yeah. Rui had sparkles in her eyes because she heard of wizards in her stories.

"Ja, a wizard... Seriously, do _not_ talk to him..."

"...why?" Velvet said.

It was here that Team CFVY peeked around Medic and saw a rather tall person in long black robes and a skull hat tied to the battle cannon of a robot infantry tank and with a bunch of ropes and chains keeping him to the ground or anything else that was sturdy to tie him to. There were a lot of robots, more like everything that had a weapon in the fortress, and some humans they never saw before surrounding him. The only person they recognized was Pauling, who waved at them before continuing her interrogation of the wizard.

"Because... he. Will. Not. SHUT. UP!" Medic progressively got louder with RAGE.

"Are you talking about Merasmus back there!?" The wizard shouted.

"NO! NO WE ARE NOT!" Medic screamed at the wizard.

"My wizard sense tell me this is a lie-OW! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! MERASMUS HAS A NEEDLE STICKING OUT HIS EYE! IT REALLY HURTS!"

Medic said nothing while the teens watched in a mix of simple awe and confusion, Velvet covering Rouge's eyes from what should be a graphic sight. The German reloaded his Crusader's Crossbow and quickly led the the teens into the fort where the wizard can't fuck with them. The whole time, the wizard was shouting in agony of the needle get forcefully accelerated into his eye through the use of an airgun disguised a crossbow, but nobody fucking cared about Merasmus and they started beating him until he shut up. While they were still out in the fort grounds, the teens saw there was even more damage inside the fort and several robots lay scrapped and damaged across the whole place. Rouge watched a Heavy-Bot pick it's severed right arm and leg off while using a stiff destroyed Scout-Bot as a crutch, and she felt sorry for poor Robo-Misha.

"Hey fellas! Check out those bunny gals!" One of the people they didn't know shouted over. If you haven't figured it out yet, these guys are Scout's brothers.

"Whoa! Damn, they're cute!" Another one of Scout's brothers went, making Velvet blush and her teammates lightly glare at this stranger.

"Tee-hee, they think I'm cute!" Rouge loved the attention people gave her because she was, simply put, kawaii as fuck. If I saw a bunny lolli out in the street, I'd go 'M8 das kawaii' and attempt to cuddle it.

"Who are they?" Coco asked as she got to Medic's side, still eyeing the men.

"Those are Scout's older brothers. They're just like him, and don't pay them any mind either... last thing I want is the wizard AND all seven of those idiots talking nonstop..." It was a surprise for Team CFVY to find that Scout's had seven older brothers, but they guessed it made sense since they felt eerily like their Boston professor. Once they got inside, Medic sat them in a break room as robots still did the usual shenanigans around the fort despite getting attacked by the wizard earlier. "Now that we are away from ze loudmouths, I welcome you to our fortress. Here's a pamphlet explaining everything we did since our return. I'm certain it'll answer all your questions."

"What about the wizard?" Rouge asked,

"He's an evil wizard." Medic simply answered, making Rui sad because he wasn't a nice one. "I think he said something about buying teleportation magic so he can come here without using a portal machine, and then he immediately came to attack our fort because he hates us. As you can see, we utterly destroyed him, though he did do significant damage to our fort with his powerful magic."

"Wait, you said he used teleportation magic? So does that mean he can go anywhere?" Yatsuhashi asked. He also does not say a lot, so here he is.

"Which is exactly vat Ms. Pauling is 'talking' to him about..." Medic pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Are you okay, sir?" Yatsuhashi inquired as to why Medic seemed so stressed.

"Other than a goddammit wizard attacking my fort and damaging everything, and the fact that he's really annoying isn't doing me any good... especially since my other friends are still-"

"MINING!" Velvet blurted out. This annoyed Medic and he was about to correct her when all four of the teens simply tilted their heads at Rui, and Medic understood right away.

"...ja. Zey are. Um...I'm sorry, kids, but zero isn't really a thing you can do here..."

"But you said we can help." Fox went.

"Yes...zat was just me feeling bad for you, and I was kinda hoping your parents wouldn't let you come..."

"Oh, well _that's_ nice... how old do you think we are?" Coco went at how much Medic believed control their parents had over them, to which he didn't say anything in response but he did laugh a bit. "Well, guess this was a waste of time then..."

"Ja, sorry about zat..." Medic apologized to the disappointed teens.

If it wasn't apparent to you, the readers, yet, Medic's whole situation is a long tale of a German who can literally do nothing to help other than wait for stuff to happen. Merasmus suddenly appearing was actually his biggest chance at stuff happening and finally getting somewhere. But then even _better_ stuff happened...

"Hey Deutschbag!" Another Scout-Bot called out for Medic. "A shirtless bastard's outside ando he wants to see ya."

"Shirtless bastard?" Medic said with a questioning tone. Then, his face grew wide when he realized there was only one shirtless bastard that he knew.

"He kinda sounds like Sniper-" That was all the Scout-Bottom said before Medic zoomed the fuck out of there with speed that can rival Ruby herself.

He was in such a hurry to meet this Australian, that he almost knocked over Heavy's sisters as they happened to be walking through. Everyone, including any robots around them, stared after the German or rather the trail of dust he kicked up from his dash.

"Sisters, look! It is bunny girls!" Soldier's wife, Zhanna Cherinkov, shouted in wonder with her sisters covering their faces from the cuteness of Rouge and Velvet.

* * *

 **Anima**

Morning came as it always does at the beginning of a day.

The group woke early so that they could have more daylight hours to travel. That's not to say it was a bright day this time, for it was actually dark with gray clouds hanging above. No sunlight came through, but it didn't seem like it was going to rain and that's what the group were thankful for. Last thing they needed was to get sick or wet when one of them was already in dire condition. It didn't help that these dark moments were accompanied with the fact that they were travelling through mostly dead forests.

Qrow himself had gotten so much worse since he was struck by Tyrian. Dark purple totally replaced the red blood that soaked his bandages, and he had hard time talking to anyone because he was barely conscious most of the time. Whenever he did spoke, it was usually to himself where he would slip into sleep and mumble to himself over what sounded like past memories judging by the mumbling. Some of the stuff he was mumbling did sound very important though, but everyone ignored it because they though he was just hallucinating and they were understandably more focused on finding the safest and quickest way to Mistral as possible.

Pyro, Soldier, and Heavy had their weapons out as they took point while the young huntsmen closely followed them. Yang and Jaune were carrying Uncle Qrow along on the makeshift stretcher they built for him, while everyone else stood at the ready should anything attack them, be it bandit or Grimm. Ruby stood right by him as she worried the most for him, Yang standing close as well.

"We are coming to a crossroads." Heavy called out for everyone to hear. True to what he said, the party came upon a fork in the road that split into two different paths. There was a signpost stuck there with signs pointing in multiple directions. One sign said "Kuroyuri" and it went to the left where the pathway still went through forests, the one that was pointing toward where they were coming from said "Higanbana", and the last two pointed to the right into a rocky mountainous path said "Mistral" and Kuchinashi".

"Hey! Hey! Mistral! We're on the right path!" Nora cheered, making everyone else light up with hope.

"Did you hear that Uncle Qrow? We're almost there!" Ruby exclaimed happily to her uncle, but the dusty crow had no response. He was unconscious at the moment, but that didn't put Ruby's spirits down in the slightest. The girl in question happily jumped into Heavy's arms. As for the mercenaries, they had smiles on their faces as they watched the kids rejoice. They were also glad that they were getting closer to their destination. But for Nora, who was happy at first, she soon saw that Ren wasn't rejoicing like the rest of them, just standing in front of the signpost and looking at the one that said "Kuroyuri". This sign was the only one that was crossed out.

"Ren..." The girl sadly said, walking up to him. Ren said nothing at first, still staring at the sign before closing his eyes and sighing. After a moment, he opened his eyes and slowly turned his head to look at his best friend. Nora nodded her head in understanding, as she was the only one who knew why he was like this.

"Hey Ren! Does it say how close we are?" Yang inquired.

"No, and it looks like the path will take us through the mountains..." He answered solemnly. This was when the party understood that this may be a problem, at least the teens. Jaune and Yang set Qrow down while they observed the mountains the path leading to Mistral went through. The joy on their faces faded when they realized that crossing the mountains, especially with Qrow with them, may be very difficult.

"Guys... I don't think all of us can make that climb..." Jaune said. Everybody understood who he meant when he said that not all of them will make it, and this made Yang and Ruby look at their uncle with heavy eyes of worry. The mercenaries weren't really prone to despair, but it made them feel a little down at this turn of fortune.

"What about this place, boy?" Heavy asked Ren, pointing at the sign that said "Kuroyuri" as Ruby ran up to see the signs for herself.

"Kuro-Kuroyuri!" Ruby struggled to pronounce the name in her worried state. "Can we get help there?" She asked Ren.

"That village was destroyed years ago." Ren answered.

"But if it takes us around the mountains it's the best bet we got." Jaune reasoned.

"It will take too long!" Ren replied, growing noticeably more agitated. The mercenaries stood back, and watched the teens sort this out amongst themselves. It wasn't like they exactly knew what to do here either, so they let the natives of this world handle this. Soldier whispered to his two companions about possibly rocket jumping all the way to Mistral, but Heavy told him he'll most likely run out of ammo long before that happens.

"The town would have had a doctor, right? Well maybe we can scavenge for medicine!" Ruby tried to reason with Ren.

"Yeah, Ruby's right!" Yang supported her. "So what are we waiting for? Let's get a move on!"

"You're not going to find anything!" Ren shook his head, growing noticeably more agitated than the usual calm that he is. This earned worried looks from everyone as Ren was never like this, not even back at Beacon. "We just have to press on!"

"Ren... why are you act-" Jaune tried to ask his teammate, but then Nora cut him off.

"We can split up..." Nora suggested, standing close to Ren's side. Now this suggestion got everyone real surprised, Ruby giving a 'Huh?' at her. "Ren and I can cut through the mountains while you and everyone else can take Qrow around through the village.

"No, we're supposed to stick together. We keep each other safe." Jaune went, earning agreements from everyone else.

"Yeah, why would we split up now when we're so close?" Yang tried to reason with them.

"These lands can also be dangerous..." Heavy added even more sound reasoning as to why splitting up was a horrible idea.

"Americans stick together, and I order you to stay with us!" Soldier went, Pyro "mphming" in agreement.

"We don't have time for safe!" Nora began, Ren saying nothing as he closed his eyes. "If we make it to Mistral, we'll bring back help! If we don't, we'll at least have a better view of the land. Up there we can see if there's somewhere else we can go!" She said her own reasonings. They would have kept arguing, had Qrow not suddenly burst into a short coughing fit, turning everyone's attention on him.

"Okay..." Jaune finally gave up, going in to take Ren in a brotherly hug. "Just take care of each other.

"We always have..." Nora said.

With that, Ruby and Jaune picked Qrow up, and Ren and Nora stood on the path to Mistral. Yang still disagreed with this whole thing, but she will not leave her uncle's side. The mercenaries also heavily disagreed with this, but it seemed like Ren and Nora were dead serious on splitting up. Also, they insisted on it just be the two of them and not any of the others coming with them.

"Are you sure you guys want to do this?" Yang asked them. "Do you at least want Jaune or any of the professors to come with you?"

"No, Yang. Nora and I prefer if we go alone." Ren answered.

"You sure about that, son? This son of America'll be more than happy to make sure you two are safe! I swear I will shove my fists-"

"That is enough, Soldier." Heavy pulled his brother-in-law back. "Go." Heavy nodded to Ren and Nora, where the two nodded back to their friends and began running down the path they're taking.

"Why'd you let them go?" Yang asked her giant friend.

"Because, I can see it in that boy's eyes that this is something very serious." The Russian said ominously, closing his own eyes and remembering his past in the gulag. "It is something that breaks his heart. I know the feeling..."

"Do you think they're going to be alright?" Yang asked worriedly, not liking what her friend just said. The others seemed focused on him too.

"I cannot say for sure, but whatever is making him sad, I suspect it is this village we are going to..." Heavy said just as ominously as before, making the teens look at each other and wondering about what he meant.

The Russian walked to the front as the mercenaries took point again, and he saw Pyro bent down on one knee and examining giant hoof-shaped tracks that had strange long drag marks along them that went the direction they were travelling, the village. Soldier stood by, struggling to understand what the tracks were as the Pyromaniac was drawing eyes and a mouth in the footprint to look like a lily pad.

"My instincts tell me this is so..." The Russian finished. At seeing the tracks and what looked like multiple drag marks, the teens became very worried about their friends and for themselves. Above all, they just hoped that nothing bad will happen and they can save Qrow in time.

* * *

 **Finally here. April Fools' weekend is over and I can get back to the regular story. The prank chapters were moved to the extras if you want to see them again.**

 **Seems like I can finally get to wrapping up Medic doing nothing while also having the Nuckelavee fight come on in next chapter. FUCK YES.**

 **This story has hit barely over 200 favorites and has over 220 followers, and I still can't believe how successful I managed to become here on this site and how supportive the lot of you are. I actually started to branch out and make other stories too. Like, I began a story that involves Team RWBY shrinking, and I have a World War 2 based TF2 story. Expect both of these to be updated soon...**

 **Also, uploads might be faster as I have gotten a new tablet on my birthday which will allow me to type without a computer. YES.**

 **Leave a comment saying your thoughts about the story, especially about the last actual chapter since the system fucked the reviews on that one up, but there'should a chance it will do it again here. Also remember to put a name if you're a guest reviewer otherwise I'll get pissed.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **MrtheratedG: Scout has much to be desired when compared to his father...**

 **Gzilla54: Eh, sounds cool but the user device aren't meant to track his experiments. Only make the user charge functions of his mediums usable on them.**

 **Gea5s: Why the fuck are people so similar to me?**

 **Awesome Arod: yeh...**

 **Titanium Lucas: wot r u, fokkin McCreegineer?**

 **Mr. Green37: Ahhh...**

 **Doctor Homicide 157: Yeah. Don't do this again, the shit stretched the review page so I can't see anything without zooming in.**

 **Gzilla54: Might be coming soon...**

 **buzzsaw935: FRIENDS 4 LIFE**

 **JanSolo: Um...first of all, thanks for liking the story. And I'll PM you about it right after I post this.**

 **A fan: Not possible.**

 **XXXREDengieXXX: This is actually me typing this fake review for the lulz purpose of April Fools'.**

 **Battle9921: Haven't played God of War, but okay then!**

 **darkromdemon: And you have every right to, because you got pranked!**

 **MCZ: Fuck yeah.**

 **CapitalClassShip: *insert penny face***

 **: Hehe... well here's the next chapter to the actual story Here!**

 **OfficerPickles: Not sure what you're referencing here...**

 **Awesome Arod: Don't say that you Hispanic bro. You'll get better, but not with that attitude.**

 **Madlice in Pyroland: git fookin prenked**

 **VivaL'Aquila: *dances***

 **Damn: HA!**

 **NastyNorsemann: Get your Danish ass out of my reviews if you're not gonna say something gr8. Like Denmark is discount Sweden. *troll face***

 **Guest: LOL. Also u lucky you're the only guy who's gone "guest" as a name this time.**

 **Mr. Green37: ayyyyyyyyy**

 **Frank: I am crack.**

 **Gamephysics: Prenked 2 strong**

 **Battle9921: RIP**

 **CapitalClassShip: *says nothing but nods***

 **Awesome Arod: You do that...**

 **VivaL'Aquila: I'd rather go to Dubai. *takes an eagle there***

 **MrtheratedG: LOL**

 **GreenTeaZee: Isn't it though? It's gr8.**

 **heartstringlanterns: WE GOT A NEWCOMER. Welcome to the story, nice to see you're enjoying the early chapters.**

 **buzzsaw935: Spy X Kali, m8?**

 **Guest: immature let this go...**

 **Rick: RIP**

 **Titanium Lucas: MIND BLOWN**


	57. Destiny, and Destination

**Kuroyuri**

Well, it turned out this Kuroyuri village was completely abandoned and decimated. There was no one here, and it seemed like it has been this way for quite some time as there were no obvious signs of recent human activity in the area. Adding to the decay from the lack of people to care for the buildings, there was clear damage and destruction done onto a lot of the buildings. This means that the village was attacked and the people most likely scattered after they were overrun by whatever destroyed this place, which was most likely Grimm judging by the creature tracks and claw marks everywhere. The whole village had an architectural style and design that highly resembled those of China and Japan and the symbol was a black lily on a dark purple background as several flags bearing this are still present, though a lot of them were tattered.

Eerily enough, there were no bodies. Even if this place was abandoned for some time, there should at least be skeletons or something from whoever was slain here, or else that could just mean the people were all really good at running away and escaped the Grimm. This is obviously unlikely.

The party's approach into the village was uneventful. Everyone was alert and ready for something to jump out of the ruins, but it would appear that the settlement was totally abandoned with not even Grimm hiding in the ruins, but that was perfectly fine with everyone though as it just made things way easier. Especially after fighting those flying Grimm and Tyrian, the mercenaries with Team RNJR had to use the few ammo packs they had on them to refill on shooty stuff. Which was only one large pack, a single medium pack, and a small pack. Good thing the ammo contained inside is universal and somehow fits to whatever weapon they're using no matter what it was. Speaking of ammo, Team RNJR found that a lot of their ammo was spent after their fight with Tyrian before the mercs and Yang showed up. The only one of the teens who was good on ammo was Yang. This also meant that they had to use their ammo packs for Team RNJR, so now they're down to the one full pack. Still, the teens were so glad that the mercs' world had magical ammo boxes like that.

"Grimm? Griiiiimm? Come out here you clawed hippies! I know you're here somewhere, and I will rip your eyes out and use them for pool balls when I find you!" Soldier shouted throughout the ruins as he had gone walking about the streets with the Direct Hit out. While he was looking for something to fight, the others went around and searched through the ruined buildings for anything useful, but above all they needed to find any sort of medicine for Qrow.

"You guys find anything?" Ruby called from outside what looks like a ruined shop of some kind with Pyro. There was nothing inside the store.

"Mphmm..." Pyro shrugged, finding nothing, not even something that looked nice to cuddle. Pyro was noticeably more depressed than normal. Maybe this dreary setting reflected itself in its imagination and it just feels sad now?

"There is nothing in this place!" An unseen but friendly Russian voice sounded off somewhere nearby.

"Same here..." Yang sighed. She got done searching a rather large building that looked to be some kind of safe-house against Grimm attack, but it evidently didn't work judging by the big ass holes in the wall. Clawmarks were everywhere within the safe-house, and Yang can only hope the people escaped unharmed.

"Nothing..." Jaune added to this string of nothingness.

After scanning through the rest of the buildings, it was depressingly clear that this village was clean of anything useful. Bandits, scavengers, and maybe even the villagers themselves came in and took everything after it was abandoned. That or the Grimm decided that advancements in their medical field was vital for killing people...

"Ugh...there's nothing here!" Yang shouted in frustration as everyone regrouped by Qrow at a rather large but dead tree in the center of the village.

"You're telling me! There's nothing to fight here!" Soldier shouted from on top of a tower overlooking them. With a sigh, Soldier decided this wasn't a total loss and planted an American flag on top of the very tower he stood on. He then saluted it, still disappointed that he didn't get to kill anything in the name of planting this flag here today though.

"There are not even bodies in these buildings..." Heavy said ominously, face in a mix of fury and deep thinking. Those hoof-shaped tracks and drag marks led here into this vilage, and there was something about them that reminded Heavy about something from a couple years back. While he thought about this, the two sisters gathered around Qrow while Jaune went up to him and Pyro.

"This doesn't look good..." Jaune sighed, giving worried eyes to the sisters with their dying uncle.

"Mphmm..." Pyro sadly muffled. Seemed like there were no rainbows and happiness to be had here...

"Guys, I don't want to say this, but I don't think Qrow's-" The blonde boy stopped mid-sentence when Qrow suddenly had a very violent coughing fit. One so violent that it made all of them fear that this was it, but it resided and Qrow lived for now...

Jaune didn't continue what he was going to say after that, simply looking even more depressed before turning away from Yang and Ruby's frightful looks for the fate of their beloved uncle. Soon, he sat down on the stone ground, and Ruby and Yang followed when Qrow passed out. The veteran huntsman soon mumbled even more nonsense in the form of hallucinations, though a lot of it was strangely specific and it involved the other members of Team STRQ again.

This whole scene was just a horribly big show of despair. The three teens sat next to each other on the cold stone floor, looking down and not saying anything to each other while Pyro and Heavy stood nearby. Soldier was in the process of climbing down from the tower when he fell down midway, though no one was in the mood to call him stupid or laugh at his broken spine. He'll join with them after his spine heals up.

Then, the whole group was suddenly alerted by what sounded like loud moaning. Moaning that wasn't Human, and very, very far away as it was barely heard by anyone. Just enough for them to know that there was something not too far away from them.

"It's far off..." Ruby said, looking up at Jaune who had immediately stood up and placed his hand on his sword, ready to unsheathe it. Yang went to Qrow's side, ready to carry him if anything comes there way.

"I know...but, Ren and Nora are still out there..." He said, not looking away from the direction of the sound.

"...I'm sorry..." Ruby solemnly said as she stood up, getting everyone to look at her questioningly. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have dragged you guys into this..."

"Oh Ruby..." Yang sighed from Qrow's position. This whole thing was a depressing deal for everyone, but it especially hurt Yang to see her sister so sad. She promised to always be at her side and protect her beloved baby sister, no matter what happens. Admittedly, she thought this whole adventure of her's was stupid, but she had to give her sister credit for having such determination. But now, now it seems like hope was lost for her...

"You didn't drag us in, we wanted to come." Jaune said in response to Ruby. While the teens were focused on Ruby, no one noticed that Heavy and Pyro seemed surprised by the sound. It reminded them a lot about some fuckery Merasmus summoned one time when they were at DeGroot Keep.

"But...you didn't know about Tyrian, about-"

"Ruby, we lost...well, sort of lost Pyrrha..." Jaune looked to the ground for a second, remembering that there was still hope that Pyrrha could be walking again before returning to what he was saying before. "...you lost her too, and Penny, and your whole team, and the mercenaries until, you know, they came back..." He glanced at Heavy, Pyro, and Soldier who were talking about something having to do with the noise they just heard. "...and in a way for a while, your sister..." He motioned to Yang. Yang was going to say something, but the sisters soon realized what he actually meant. How Yang wasn't herself for the longest time after the Fall of Beacon, and how the sisters haven't seen each other in half a year. The dragon decided to let Jaune handle this one.

"But you're still here. Despite everything you lost, and everything you can still lose, you _chose_ to come out here because you felt like you can make a difference..." Ruby had her head hanging down the whole time, but now she slowly looked up at him straight in the eyes, a bit of hope seemingly returned in them. "You didn't drag us along..." He gently placed his hand on her shoulder. A gesture of good faith in her. "You gave us the strength to follow you."

These words most definitely seemed to cheer Ruby up as a small smile formed on her face, and Jaune returned it. Same for when he looked behind Ruby and at Yang who was glad that he cheered her up.

"Heh, who knew vomit boy had such a way with words?" Yang said to herself as she sat against the tree with her uncle, not minding the mumbles Qrow was still doing next to her in his passed out state. She always knew Jaune was more than just 'vomit boy' who could barely fight back at Beacon. The girl smiled as Jaune was proving to be a true friend, and maybe she'll even stop calling him 'vomit boy'.

However, being the big sister figure she is, she can't help but look up into the mountains where Ren and Nora were supposed to be, worried for them. This is when Yang noticed the mercenaries hadn't said anything in the longest time, so she shifted her attention towards them. She immediately got weary at seeing what they were doing.

"Uh...Heavy?" She said slowly.

"Da?" The Russian responded dully.

"Why do you guys have your weapons out?"

"I believe we know what kind of creature this is..." Heavy said ominously, checking if the Brass Beast was good on ammo. Soldier kept the Direct Hit out and Pyro had the Phlogistinator. "We faced something like it back home..."

"What?" Ruby gasped. "But... I thought you guys said there were no Grimm on Earth?"

"There are no Grimm, but that does not mean there are no monsters..." Right when Heavy said that, a loud screeching roar pierced their eardrums. Turned out that the moan heard earlier was actually this very screech. Only reason why it sounded like a moan was that it was so far away, but now?

Now it sounded dangerously close to them.

After hearing the intensity of that loud, monstrous, screech of a roar, the teens all got to their feet and were on high alert. Yang in particular picked her Uncle up in case they needed to run. A few minutes passed, and nothing else happened. There was no further roaring, but everyone was still tense since that last screech sounded real close by. The only relief that happened in this moment was that Ren and Nora suddenly came running into the village at max speed, panicked.

"Guys!? What are you doing back here?" Ruby asked, frightful that they came in running because they were getting chased. However, there was nothing following the two. Neither of them said anything, as the loud footsteps of a large creature can be heard approaching from the opposite side of the village.

"No..." Ren gasped, eyes wide at the Grimm that devastated this village, his hometown, all those years ago.

Everyone turned to face this creature, and it horrified them...at least the teens that is. This creature walked into the middle of the village rather calmly until stopping at least 40 feet or so away from the party. This is when it neighed, and the "rider" straightened itself and looked to the humans. The creepy part was that it sounded like bones were cracking as the "rider" slowly raised itself for everyone to see. Its head twitched around a bit in a spasm like motion, and it soon opened its mouth impossibly wide to give a screeching roar so loud that it forced everyone to cover their ears.

The creature took the appearance of a large horse Grimm, far taller than a man, that had the usual characteristics of a Creature of Grimm except for the scary little detail that it had a humanoid figure on its back like a rider. However, this humanoid figure wasn't _riding_ on top of it as in it had a saddle, but it was more like the humanoid part was fused directly into the back of the horse part and is unable to dismount and walk around. The humanoid part itself was creepy to say the least. It was gaunt, skinny, had a row of bone spikes along its spine, had arrows and spears stuck into it back, and its arms were very disproportional compared to the rest of its body which made them drag across the ground at all times when the humanoid part was slouched over. Unsettlingly, it twitched and spasmed in completely unnatural ways. It also sounded like it had a raspy moan to it whenever it make a sound with its mouth.

The head was disproportionate even for its skinny body, and it looked like it was wearing a mask of the usual Grimm bone except it had two long curved horns sort of like that of a goat on it, and two beady red orbs were in the eye sockets. Its mouth can open really wide, and there is no other way to describe it other than it looked like its jaws were breaking to accomplish how wide it could open its mouth. There was an eerie red glow coming out of its mouth and eyes that gave it quite a demonic look to it. This was quite the menacing monster, and it also was evidently quite old and experienced.

"Huh...looks like I am right." Heavy said nonchalantly, leveling the Brass Beast at it. This statement made all the teenagers shoot their heads at him with faces of "WHAT!?"

"You fought _that_ before?" Yang said while trying not to shout. She had Qrow slung over her back and stepped to where the rest of them were gathers, all ready for a fight with this beast.

"Da. At least something like it..." Heavy said just as nonchalantly, revving the Brass Beast up now.

"Oh yeah... Merasmus summoned one of these things when we were in Demo's awful country!" Soldier exclaimed, excited that he was going to kill something.

The incident Soldier was referring to was "that time where RED team fought a Scottish demon and won." Long story short, after a hard week of killing each other over DeGroot Keep, the weekend came and the guys were free to go about Scotland. Yes, Mann Co. gave its mercenaries weekends off for legal reasons unless they have the mercs' consent to work on the weekend, which they never give for good reason. Anyway, Demo was taking them around his homeland when they came upon Merasmus who had just bought a new eldritch castle back here in Scotland.

Since they fucking hated Merasmus, the mercs fucked with him and immediately wrecked his stupid castle literally a minute after he sealed the agreement to buy it. Silly wizard, how dare you believe for a second that spending all your money on a very specific and expensive kind of home can get you away from Soldier and his fuckery? Okay, so Merasmus got absolutely _PISSED_ about having to go back to his old place in the Badlands where Soldier can come and mess with him at anytime, and so the wizard used his dark magic to summon an ancient Scottish demon. This demon is of course the Nuckelavee, and it wanted to inflict massive rape onto the mortal souls of RED team. Though, the monster they fought was _waaaaaaaaaay_ scarier looking than the one they were seeing now.

I may say that some things on Earth are better/more *insert term here* than on Remnant, but in the case of the Earth Nuckelavee, that thing is horrifying. So horrifying that it's scarier than having that one spider you saw for a second before disappear the next moment only to drop down from the ceiling and quadruple in size. It's so scary, that it's scarier than the first time your friends or family played a prank on you in the dark. More frightful than the first time yoou saw someone else naked. Look up what an actual Nuckelavee looks like and does, then you'll get the idea...

"Finally! Something to kill in the name of America!" Soldier smiled. "Listen up, you donkey looking, scum suck-"

*BAM!*

One of the Nuckelavee's disproportionately long arms suddenly shot forward and stretched to such a degree that it nailed Soldier in the face. The patriot was sent screaming as the impact made him fly into a ruined building where he accidentally fired a rocket up into the air. Everyone was shocked at what this creature just did, as it stretched its arm to what had to be more than 30 ft long just to hit Soldier.

"...did the thing you fought do _that_?" Jaune asked, shield raised and sword ready, but you can tell that he was shocked like the rest of them.

"No." Heavy simply answered before letting loose with the Brass Beast. "NOW IS TIME TO FIGHT!" The Russian roared over the roaring of his own weapon. In kind, the creature returned the roar with its own ear piercing screech, and it covered its body with its large hands to block the bullets.

"Yang! Get Uncle Qrow to safety!" Ruby ordered her older sister as the rest of the party engaged the monster. She didn't even have to tell Yang that as the blonde already ran for any sort of cover to hide her uncle behind until they were done with this beast.

"Oh, come on!" Yang shouted to herself as she heard gunfire, explosions, and screeching behind her.

All she wanted to do was bring Ruby back home, was that too much to ask!? But no, fate had to give her a whole bunch of goddamn trouble just for wanting to do something as noble and caring as this! Flying through a swarm of Grimm and going into space (which wasn't a bad thing, at least the space part), immediately getting separated from 5 of the right mercenaries who set off with her after reentering the planet's atmosphere, then getting into a long excruciating fight with Tyrian the Scorpion fuckboy, Qrow getting poisoned, and now this thing!?

"...told you I was bad luck..." Qrow groaned weakly, making Yang glance at him while she was running. It was a worried glance, since she knew that he was right even if she didn't want to believe it. Qrow told them about how his semblance was actually one of bad luck back when he was telling them the legend of how Remnant came into being and the secret war between Salem and Ozpin. Yang didn't want to believe that her beloved uncle was a source of bad luck, but everything seemed to point that it was true.

"Stay here, Uncle... I'll be back!" The yellow dragon ran behind a building far enough from the fight as to where Qrow was in no danger from getting got in the crossfire, and laid him against the brick wall. He held her hand just when she was about to run off. Their eyes met, but no words were exchanged as Qrow was passing out again. Still, the meaning of the gaze was easily understood, and Yang promised to stay safe as well as protect the others.

Returning to the fight, Yang found that it was not going well at all. The monster was insanely tough for a Grimm as it constantly used its huge hands to shield itself from all of their ranged attacks, even against the explosives of Soldier's rockets or Nora's grenades. Any attempts to get within melee range were thwarted by the humanoid part of the creature twisting its body all around in such a manner that its arms flailed everywhere with enough force to smash the walls of houses. It's arms could shoot out in a manner similar to how a frog can stick its long tounge out to catch insects, and it was using them like retractable projectiles against them. It didn't remain in one place either as the horse part whinnied and charged towards the humans, forcing them to constantly be on the move while it also did so. This thing definitely was far more intelligent and had more capabilities than the other Grimm before.

Jaune was slashing at the beast after combining his sword with his shield to make a heavy sword for some success, while the others were shooting at it.

So far none of the projectiles have proven to be effective since the hands it used to protect itself are far harder and more resilient to damage than one might think, and the horse part was insanely durable. The only damage done so far was a couple of slashes on the horse that Jaune managed to get, and some burning from Pyro before it realized that the masked person was probably not the girl you wanted to fight at the moment. The creature came up with keeping everyone at bay by shooting its arms out while moving quickly and defending itself all at once. This was a real bitch to fight as hardly anything was being done to it while it kept this up.

Yang found out the hard way how seriously this creature took to defending itself. She blasted herself over to the creature with the intent of nailing it in the face with a simple yet devasating high powered shotgun gauntlet soaring through the air, but that hope was immediately put down when the creature said 'fuck your shit' and slapped her out of the air like an insect. The direction it sent her in was completely deliberate to as she was purposely sent flying into a grenade fired from Nora, and then it made her hit one of Soldier's rockets by pure chance.

Nora cringed at seeing how she just airshotted Yang unintentionally into the air, but no time was given to her to say sorry when the Nuckelavee sent its long arms to grab her. Seeing this, she swiftly dodged the first hand, but misjudged where the other hand was going and was pinned to the wall. The redhead struggled as the pressure on her body was increased, threatening to crush her. She couldn't even bring up her hammer since that was also pinned, but Ren had no intention of letting this monster do this to his best friend. He leaped to her stabbed down onto the hand pinning Nora down. It screeched in pain, and rewarded Ren with smacking him out of the way with Nora and flailing her around itself. Soldier tried to help, but the damn monster also used Nora to knock Soldier far out of the fight like this was baseball.

"HEEEEEEELLLLP!" She screamed. "I'M GETTING DIZZY!" It was hard to hear her as the Nuckelavee shrieked it's awful screech once more as it was using Nora as a weapon and and human shield and the same time against her friends.

"Nora!" Ruby shouted at seeing her friend get thrown around like a toy. Everyone stopped shooting and stepped backwards in fear of hitting Nora and of getting hit _with_ Nora. "This isn't good..." Ruby stated what was sadly obvious, Nora still screaming over her.

"How are we supposed to beat this thing!?" Yang shouted. Her aura took some damage already from earlier, and she was getting angry at this thing. At the opposite side of the creature, Heavy, Pyro, and Jaune were standing together as Soldier was just returning from getting launched by the creature a second time.

"Back for blood, you dirt eating maggot!" Soldier challenged the beast, ironically spitting out blood. Before he can run in and do something stupid, he was stopped by Jaune.

"Wait, Mr. Soldier!" The knightly boy said, casting a worried look to Nora who was now being held still by the creature. Eerily, it sounded like it was cackling in its inhuman voice. Jaune took a moment to analyze the situation and quickly came up with a temporary plan of action. "Guys! Keep moving! Go in a circle!" Right when Jaune got done saying that, Ren sped in with a fury and charged straight at the beast. "Ren!? Wait!"

"That's the spirit, son! Fight until you die, hahaha!" The patriot cheered right before rocket jumping upwards with the Rocket Jumper to attempt a Market Gardening on its Grimm ass. It didn't work, as the thing simply shot him out of the sky with the hand that wasn't carrying else soon followed, and Jaune sighed. At least they were following his advice as everyone did their best to stay nimble.

Ruby had no trouble with this as she was easily the fastest in the group, maneuvering everywhere with the recoil of her sniper scythe and her own semblance. Heavy not surprisingly had the most trouble doing this given the nature of his build and choice of weaponry, but he fought on nonetheless. Still, the problem here was to take care not to hit Nora and get her free. This was nearly accomplished when Pyro airblasted both arms of the creature away where Jaune managed to get a cut on the hind legs, but Ruby unfortunately missed her swing and that was enough for the creature to completely fuck their shit for failing. Pyro held it back with fire, but it was afraid that the flames will cover Nora so it ended up using its shotgun to cover Jaune and Ruby. The same problem existed for Yang and Heavy as they didn't want to hurt Nora with their ranged weapons.

Back to Ren, the usually calm boy was uncharacteristically filled with RAGE and anger as he sprayed the entire creature down with bullets from Stormflower. The pistol rounds didn't seem to do much even when the creature didn't block it with the hand that wasn't holding Nora, but Ren gave no fucks about what the creature felt as he kept charging at it at max speed. Seeing it's attacker, the Nuckelavee roared at him and raised Nora up as if to slam her down on him, but then explosions riddled its body when Soldier unleashed all the rockets from the Airstrike on it, using the B.A.S.E. Jumper to slow down his descent, and Yang helped out with this barrage with volleys from her own explosive shells. One of the projectiles was lucky enough to hit the hand holding Nora, and she was left to fall to the ground.

Despite being held very tightly by the monster, she appeared to be mostly unharmed, only breathing heavily to get sweet air back into her lungs. While she was down, the others took this chance to keep attacking. Through the smoke and deafening sounds of gunfire and explosions, Nora saw Ren going absolutely feral. "R-ren...?"

The boy in question was not fighting at all like he normally would. Instead of the usual careful precision and swiftness that he fights with, Ren was acting extremely reckless and very aggressive in his rage to slay the monster that killed his family. So reckless, that he was getting in the way of the others who were fighting this thing with him. He nearly got shot up by Heavy when he ran straight in front of Heavy's firing arc on the beast. Not only that, but he nearly got hit by Ruby, Yang, and Jaune when they were trying to slash and get hits on the creature's body.

His total disregard for teamwork and being lost in his anger was acting against their efforts to kill this thing, and the creature knew it. It almost sounded like the beast was cacoming at the anger this boy was feeling, and it was intelligent enough to use this against the humans. Everytime Ren shifted position, the creature would dance around on its four legs to dodge him and his friends while covering itself to protect from ranged attacks. Ren was intentionally kept toward his friends so that they couldn't attack it for fear of hurting him, and this allowed the creature to get hits in.

"Ren! Snap out of it! Don't lose control over yourself-Gah!" Ruby got slammed down into the stone ground with a fist. The horse part of the creature whinnied as it was about to crush her underneath it's rear hooves, but Yang pulled her away just in time. Unfortunately, the hind legs of the creature still delivered a horse kick strong enough to send Yang and Ruby crashing through several buildings with Yang taking most of the damage for her sister.

Pyro was the biggest threat to the creature with its flamethrowers, and the creature understood this very deeply. That's why it made sure the flames from Pyro didn't touch it, and it even managed to take a hold of Pyro's Phlogistinator and throw it out into the village before Pyro got enough "MPHMM" in for a crit-filled rape on it.

"Ren..." Nora gasped, almost in tears from seeing her best friend in such a state. A large black fist soon came her way, but it was then blocked by Jaune and his shield. Still, there was such power behind the fist that Jaune skidded back and nearly failed to stay on his feet.

"N-Nora!" Jaune struggled to say as holding the fist back was taking up all his strength. "Ren! Get Ren!" Nora's eyes widened. She knew that the only one who could calm Ren down was her. And it looked like they seriously needed Ren to stop losing his shit since he was getting in the way of the team's heaviest hitters. Pyro wasn't able to use its flamethrowers because Ren kept risking the chance of getting covered in flames, and Heavy simply cannot get enough bullets downrange to get lasting damage on it. Not like it mattered anymore as the Russian was out of ammo for all his miniguns.

Knowing what she must do, Nora got up, took hold of Magnhild, and set her eyes on Ren. Her dearest friend was beginning to wear out, but his rage didn't allow him to stop his useless attacks against the monster. Said monster had thrown a fist toward him, and he dodged and stabbed both of is pistols into the arm of the beast. The beast seemed to laugh as it was apparently counting on this, and smacked him down before throwing his guns away from from him. He was on his back as the creature made a fist to smash down on him, but the sound of an explosion came to his rescue. That sound was Nora firing one pill first at the hand to blow it away from Ren, and then shot behind herself so she could fly at Ren and quickly get him out of harm's way. She mentally thanked Demoman for helping her perfect the art of explosion surfing and promised to give him a big old hug whenever she sees him again. But for now, she's got to try and calm Ren down from the relative safety of under a raised house.

"Finally! With all these amateurs out of the way, let's give this dumb monster an ass kicking it will never forget!" Soldier shouted inspiringly. "By the power of Uncle Sam, I swear by my rockets that I will-"

"SHUT UP AND HELP, STUPID!" Heavy screamed. While Soldier was saying his promise to kick this thing's ass, it had grabbed Heavy and Pyro and was using them like the hammer you use at Whack-A-Mole for smacking the moles, but replace the moles with Ruby, Jaune, and Yang.

Soldier grumbled at not being allowed to finish his badass battle speech of American glory, and got out the Direct Hit. However, when he pulled the trigger, nothing happened. He then pulled out his other rocket launchers, and they all clicked empty. The only ones that weren't out were the Rocket Jumper and Cow Mangler, but the Jumper does no damage and the Mangler technically has infinite ammo as it is an energy based weapon ran by an unknown source.

"Huh..." Soldier scratched his helmet as he held out his other weapons to check them out. "Hmm..." Checking the rest of his arsenal, he found that his shotgun shells were almost entirely spent and he only had the buff secondaries, melee, and the Righteous Bison energy pistol.

"MPHMM MHAAA!" Pyro screamed for help.

Sighing, Soldier decided to suck it up since Americans can kick ass with any weapon at their disposal. He didn't suck it up fast enough though as the creature noticed he had been standing still and slammed Pyro into Soldier. The American screamed as he sailed into the air before coming to a skidding halt by Ruby and the other teens who were beginning to tire out. Seeing that the humans were weakening, the Nuckelavee began straight up laughing evilly and threw Heavy and Pyro at them as if it was pitching in a Major League Baseball game. They were knocked like bowling pins when the Russian and Pyromaniac smashed into them at high speed.

"RETREAT!" Ruby screamed. There was clearly no way they can beat it, at least not like this. With that, Jaune and Ruby lifted Soldier up while Yang carried Heavy away. Pyro was still able to move so it ran itself, but it was limping to relative safety with the rest of the group.

* * *

"Nora, let me go!" Ren demanded as he tried to force himself out of her hold. Even with Nora's vast strength, the girl was finding it difficult to hold Ren down. The boy was simply filled with that much rage.

"Ren, no! REN!" Nora struggled to hold him back from committing suicide by Nuckelavee.

"Our friends are gonna get hurt-"

* **SLAP!** *

Ren was taken aback, almost entirely forgetting what he wanted to do after that smack across his face from Nora.

"No..." She said softly, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

"...Nora?"

"Ren..." She lifted her head up, her blue eyes meeting his pink ones with a pleading look. "No...I'm not gonna let you go out there and get yourself killed." Said she, the tears nearly starting to flow down her cheeks. The sounds of battle died down outside, but the beast was still heard stomping around there. Yet the only thing Ren focused on now was how much Nora reminded him of when they first met. Not when he first found her getting bullied, but when he first learned her name when this same creature destroyed this very village all those years ago. He couldn't believe this teary eyed young woman was the same teary eyed young orphan from back then.

"We can do this..." She gave him a confident smile while holding his hand close. Ren closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them, revealing a new look of trust in her and determination. He then looked down, and pulled out the knife his father had given him the night this village was destroyed.

* * *

"Are you guys alright?" Ruby asked, trying to catch her breath after having to carry Soldier. The group had retreated back to the inside of a ruined house, that barely had any walls standing. They were still very visible to the Nuckelavee, but that fucking noodleman on a horse was not attacking. It was treading back and forth, seemingly waiting for them to come back out before wrecking their shit again.

"We're fine..." Yang answered, breathing heavily as she actually wasn't fine at all after all of that. A lot of times during the fight, Yang ended up purposefully taking a lot of hits for her friends, especially her sister, to protect them. She didnt want to use her semblance as Ren kept getting in the way, and now she was beginning to really feel the hurt as her aura was very low.

"Scumbag!" Soldier shook his fist at the creature waiting outside. "You may think we are hiding, but we are not!" Before Soldier can spew some more stupid insults at a monster that was cackling at his foolishness, Heavy pulled him down.

"Sit down, stupid..." Heavy muttered. He reached for the last Sandvich he had, and kissed it for good luck before splitting it up for the five of them as there wasn't enough of it for Pyro. "Let us make this count..." He said before they all ate their pieces. They all felt better due to the amazing effects of the Sandvich, but they otherwise still felt terrible.

Soon, they got out the last of their supplies. A medium med kit, three small medkits, and the full pack of ammo. The mercenaries gave the three small med kits to the teens while the medium was left for them, and the full pack was distributed evenly amongst them as they could. Since there was six of them, they were fairly thin on ammo, and the medicine did help them feel at about half strength or so again.

This was it. They had to make what little they had left count as this creature was not likely to give them another chance to rest, unless it was permanent...

The group went back out into the open where the creature seemed to be glad that they were up to fight again. They gritted their teeth, gripped their weapons, and tensed up when the unsettling mix of laughing and soft shrieking/moaning came from the creature once more. Both sides stood on opposite sides of the town square, waiting for one to continue the fight.

"Alright, men! I am not going to lie to you, but we are probably going to die." Soldier began a not too encouraging speech. "But at least it will be one hell of a fight! A fight worthy of being told by old history teachers to 12 year olds for centuries to come!"

"Real inspiring, Mr. Soldier..." Yang mocked.

"Mphmm!" Pyro alerted the group to Ren and Nora running in from the side. The creature let them rejoin the others without any trouble, smug in its ability to rape them all by itself.

They were glad to see that Ren and Nora were safe, but the see situation was still dire. Though, that didn't stop them from noticing Ren was holding a black knife instead of his machine pistols. Ren looked down at his choice of a weapon, and then nodded to them. While the mercenaries didn't quite understand why Ren was so upset about this, the teens did. Jaune talked about it for a bit when they first and raised ere, but the mercenaries didn't really pay attention to him. Now Ren was looking down at his knife once more, building up determination for this battle.

"Ren!" Ruby called out to him. "Jaune and I can take care of its arms." Ruby said with seriousness.

"We'll take care of the horse..." Nora said with her hammer deadly for battle with Yang and the mercenaries with her. The mercs still did not quite understand what was going on, but they decided to just go with it. Anything to kill this asshole.

"And I'll take care of the rest..." Ren said.

Nodding, Nora then ran up to the top of a tower while Yang did the same. Everyone with ranged weapons began shooting at the monster. They all scattered and circled around it, making it hard for it to fend them off. Ruby was especially difficult with her speed, and she used this very speed to stab the monster's hand into the ground when it tried to crush her. In agony, the creature desperately shielded itself with its one free hand as the humans poured what was left of their ammo at it.

Enraged, the Nuckelavee lashed out in all directions with its one free arm until seeing Jaune standing perfectly still. Screeching at this target, it shot its hand over a the knightly boy, but this proved to be a terrible idea as it was a trap. Jaune had given his shield to Ren where he lay waiting at the top of a building. When the hand shot at Jaune, Ren flew down and pinned theven last arm down with the shield where Jaune came in and stabbed its arms down so that it was stuck.

Now that the creature was effectively immobile, the task was left to the rest to make sure it was _actually_ immobile. The horse part of the creature moved around way to much for Yang and Nora to drop down and kill it, and they only had one chance to get this right.

Soldier smiled, and used all of his buffs at once no matter how awkward it looked to have it all on his back at once. Anything to give them an edge. Pyro came in with the last of the gas in the Degreaser and scorched the horse where it only backed up into the saber of Soldier's and fists of Heavy. Damage was being accumulated from the melee hits on the horse, but it was still standing and fighting. The horse kicked Pyro and knocked the Degreaser out of its hands, where it simply couster attacked with a Fire Axe to its hind leg. Soldier slashed across its belly, but he got too confident and nearly got crushed if it weren't for some rockets that came out of nowhere. The rockets struck the monster right before it was gonna kill Soldier, and it stumbled on a blown off front leg while everyone turned to see who had helped them.

To their shock, it was Engineer! The smiling cowboy was riding on a galloping horse with a wrangled Level 3 Sentry mounted on a cart he got from a village along the way. Everyone was extremely happy that another mercenary has been found and at so convenient a time to. With the creature dazed by the Sentry rockets, Soldier slashed one of the hind legs clean off while Pyro crippled the other. Heavy roared like the Siberia bear he was and grabbed onto the Nuckelavee's last leg. With all his brute force as land strength, he snapped the leg and held the monster down.

This is where Yang and Nora's part came in. Nodding to each other, the two teens leaped from their rooftops and came crashing down on the horse with such force as to crush it down into the ground, making a shockwave and a crater complete with cracks.

"Alright! We did it!" Yang cheered with a fist up in the air. A combination of buffs, unspoken planning, teamwork, and Engineer coming in had won the day! Well, almost...

"Step aside!" Soldier ordered them, his Disciplinary Action out. "It's time me and the boys here teach this maggot real pain!" He smiled evilly. The others had just as menacing looks as they were going to torture the fuck out of this sack of spoiled potatoes, but they were suddenly stopped by the teens.

"What are you doing?" Heavy demanded annoyedly when the mercs were stopped from murdering this defenseless fuck nugget slowly.

"Guys, I know you want to kill it as badly as the rest of us, but..." Ruby looked over at Ren who was now walking to the struggling humanoid part of the creature. It was still moaning/shrieking. "Ren's going to take this one..." The mercenaries tilted their heads at her, but Heavy seemed to slowly get it. The look of vengeance on ren, the knife, how he was going to be the one to finish it off.

"What!? Sister, we nearly got our asses destroyed fighting that thing! And I want to-" Soldier as stopped by his brother-in-law.

"John, I think we should let the kids kill this monster..." Heavy said, nodding over to Ren. Before Soldier could object, Heavy carried him and led Pyro off to the side where they waited for it to end. Do not be mistaken, they were a little more than simply grumpy that they weren't going to be the ones who killed the monster that pissed them the fuck off. Their opinions did not change much when the teens explained tof them that this was Ren's hometown and this thing was the reason it was ruined. "Go ahead. Destroy it." Heavy encouraged Ren as he was nearing the creature.

Everyone watched silently while Ren got down to business. He stopped in front of the humanoid part of the Nuckelavee, and its first response was to screech right in front of his face. Ren was completely unfazed, and he clenched his knife tightly.

 _For my mother..._ The creature screamed when its left arm was sliced off. Ren then grabbed it by the horns.

 _For my father..._ He cut off its other arm with the very knife his father gave him.

 _For all those that you've slain..._ He slashed across its skinny chest, and it continued screaming and flailing.

"For myself." Ren said. Near instwntly, he decapitated the Nuckelavee, forever silencing it so that the world will never hear its terrible shrieking again. Black smoke rose into the sky from the freshly slain Grimm, and Ren found himself having to take a breath, dropping his knife. He deserved it, as his revenge had been satisfied.

His friends were proud of him, and the mercenaries were pleasantly surprised with how brutally Ren dispatched the monster. Nora was especially happy, jumping onto Ren and giddily cuddling with him after a hard fought battle. Jaune can only smile while the mercenaries met up with Engineer, but then his attention was diverted onto Yang and Ruby when they ran the get check on their uncle. To their absolute joy and relief, Qrow was still alive.

Even more joyous, the whirring sounds of airships were heard, and all eyes were on the sky as two airships of Mistral design arrived.

There can be no doubt what happens next. The airships took them all in and headed straight for Mistral. Mistral was not very far away from Kuroyuri to begin with, and in almost no time at all, Mistral was in sight. Their journey was finally over. Team RNJR, Yang, Qrow, the mercenaries including Engineer and his horse, all of them, there quest for Mistral was over.

* * *

 **The Fortress**

"Mr. Hale? Mr. Hale! You actually managed to return, sir!" The German doctor ran excitedly to go meet his employer with Team CFVY watching. The robots and other shit they had defending this fortress didn't have their guns pointing at him since they recognized Hale from back on Earth. Pauling was still interrogating Merasmus though she was also pleasantly surprised that Hale was here

"Nurse! It's so good to see you again, chap!" The Australian jollily said, taking Medic's hand for a firm and powerful handshake that nearly destroyed the significantly weaker German's hand.

"Aaaah…It's…so good to see you as well!" Medic said through the pain. He flailed his hand around wildly and kept a smile even though it hurt a lot after Saxton let his hand go. "So that Gaben fiend has allowed you to return?"

"Yep! I managed to convince him that I wasn't hacking from the beginning, and then I promised to never hack, ever!" He gave a thumbs up. "Then his Asian friend dropped me off in the middle of a town full of manly blokes and a giant bread monster, the people took me to that city who's name I forgot, and then I swam across to this island!"

"But, how'd you find us so easily?"

"Gaben told me where your boys' fort was." Hale simply answered. Medic would've questioned it, but that mysterious fat man seemed to be capable of anything so he decided to leave it. "His friend also said that if I'm going to do anything in this world, it has to be with or near you boys. Said it was because he didn't want me messing his world up too much or something." He shrugged. "Where's the rest of you chaps, by the way? Haven't seen anyone else but Pauling, the robots, and that man child's brothers here."

"Oh, well that's actually perfect then! You came just in time, Mr. Hale!" Medic exclaimed. "You see, our team is…." He stopped and looked around to make sure Rouge wasn't listening. Fortunately, the little bunny girl was occupied with getting cuddled by Heavy's sisters, leaving Medic free to not induce a bunny tantrum. "My team is missing, Mr. Hale. They went on a mission to go find some of our lost students when all of a sudden, there ship appeared out of nowhere and in total ruins!"

"The boys are missing again?" He raised a brow. "Well, that certainly sounds like a problem." Hale said in a not really caring that much manner. "Now, you got anything to eat? That swim from the city to here's got me in need of some bear steak!...or whatever else you guys got as long as it isn't hippie food. That's fine."

"B-but don't you care about what happened to us!?" Medic stopped him before he can go find the kitchen. "Did Gaben or his Asian friend tell you where they were before you got here?"

"No. They just told me where the fort was, but they didn't tell me about this whole separation thing. Guess it's fine as long I'm by just one of you guys." Hale shrugged. "Now, let's go grab something to eat before we go looking for Sally or whatever the hell that Asian guy called her." Hale hummed as he began walking into the complex. Medic was in a dilemma, unsure of how he was gonna convince Hale to pour his resources into helping him find the team. Well, looking back on it, Medic supposed Hale actually couldn't do anything since he was merely Human, granted a manly ass motherfucker of a Human, but Human nonetheless. "Come on, nurse! Show me where you keep your grub at!" Hale yelled.

"I'm not a nurse!" Medic yelled back. Grumbling, he looked back to Pauling to see if she was getting anywhere with Merasmus and he most definitely is not complying. If there is anything Hale can do, it would be to convince this filthy wizard to help somehow. "Mr. Hale! You must convince zat filthy wizard to help us!"

"Already did!" Hale beamed. "He helped me out by letting me talk to Gaben."

"No! I mean help us find my team!" Medic pleaded, but Hale kept going inside without acknowledging him any further.

"THAT WOULD BE A _NOOOO_!" Merasmus's screamed in his ethereal voice. "I only promised to help that Australian because he got me out of that beating from this _damned_ woman here!" He bobbed his head to Pauling who was giving him a scowl. "I shall never, ever, not even in twelve thousand years, help you dysfunctional psychopaths!"

Well shit. Medic honestly didn't know what else to expect than this. He was getting to his melting point. All this trouble of helplessly stuck here doing nothing to help find his teammates was beginning to piss him the fuck off. Especially since Hale and Merasmus appeared, and they are not proving to advance the situation in a positive direction. I think you've seen what happens when mercenaries get pissed. When they get angry, the stupid starts. It may be stupid, but these crazy actions is often the last resort and end in a success...most of the time...sort of.

"Ahem, excuse me? Merasmus?" The Medic gently tapped on Merasmus' shoulder, looking rather calm and collected though his eyes looked scary.

"Merasmus has declined to say anything more to you mortals-" He was cut short when Medic roughly grabbed his robes and pulled him close. "Oh! How funny, mortal practitioner of medicine. What are you going to do, dissect Merasmus? If you do, I must warn you that Merasmus' insides are made of pure darkness and evil magic!...and organs!"

"Merasmus..." Medic began. "If you agree to help me find our friends, I will let you kill us all." He said simply.

"Merasmus will not- wait, what?" Merasmus paused.

"You heard me. You can kill us if you can help me bring us all back together."

"...well, hmmm... knowing you nine, you're probably going to kill me as soon as you get back together..." Merasmus mused. Medic didn't say anything because the wizard was not wrong at all. What Medic meant to say was 'Help me find them and we will give you a somewhat fair chance to kill us all'. He was seriously out of options at this point, and this was all he got as an offer for Merasmus. "Hmm...nope. No deal. You're definitely gonna kill Merasmus as soon as you're all together, and the never-ending hatred between Merasmus and you idiots will last for an eternity! Or at least until you die, whatever comes first."

"...very well then. Merasmus, if you help us, I promise that we will never bother you again. And that includes Soldier..." Medic said. "Provided that you also leave us alone of course..." Merasmus' eyes went wide. Mercenaries? Leaving him alone? And they're mere mortals he can easily outlive? And he never has to see them again? Merasmus hated them with a passion, but all of his attempts to kill them and _keep_ them dead have failed. He could spend the next 40-50 something years trying to kill them, or he could just finally have them out of his life and his suffering of them free. Of course he didn't expect Soldier to keep his word, but he was sure the others probably wanted nothing to do with him.

"...Merasmus...hmm..." He kept thinking, Medic patiently waiting for a response. "Merasmus...excepts. But on one condition!"

"Name it." Medic said, giving a slight smile.

"Merasmus wants your company to give me several million dollars so that I can relocate to somewhere as far away from you as possible, and for whatever else I desire!" The wizard said his final deal. Medic's smiles went away at this, and he looked over to Pauling to see if this was possible. She gave him a wide eyed look as Mann Co. was still struggling with money trouble, but she nodded her head. This was their best chance. "It is a deal then! Merasmus will help you find your mentally defective friends in exchange for never having to see you again!"

"It is a deal..." Medic smiled. "Release ze wizard." He ordered Scout's brothers, who somehow managed to go through this whole thing without saying something. They listened, and Merasmus was soon freed. When he was freed, everything pointed their weapons at him in case he went back on his word and did some fuckery, but Merasmus didn't.

"Alright then, what exactly do you want Merasmus to do?"

"Use your magic to bring our friends back!" Medic smiled, no longer pissed as he was hopeful.

"Um...Merasmus can't do that."

"What? Why?" Pauling asked. "Can't you like teleport anywhere though? You did it a bunch of times!"

"Ah! It may seem that way! But that is only because Merasmus had a specific location to teleport to!" He explained. I mean, that's basically how it works. Every time Merasmus has teleported somewhere, he had the name of a place to go to, like how on Halloween he was told that they were in Remnant and was lucky enough that Monty's portal to that world was showing the mercs' place at the moment.

"Well, teleport us to where they are!" Pauling begged.

"Silly woman, that is too vague! Merasmus needs the name of a place to go anywhere!" He raised his hands, and a supernatural began to emanate from his being. "Now hurry up and choose a location! I want to leave your horrible presence as soon as possible..." The wizard trailed off.

Pauling and Medic looked at each other, and knew exactly where they should go. It was better than just staying here.

* * *

 **Okay, fucking finally! I am sorry that it took so long for this thing out, it was just that several things have gotten in the way. Things such as laziness and holidays. It's all good though as this wraps up most of Volume 4 right here. Feeling a little disappointed in this one. I feel like the fight scene here wasn't epic enough and I know there was definitely a lot more that I could have done with it, but anyway, here's the 60th chapter of this story.**

 **I feel like I've been on my own journey writing this. You've seen the story of what I felt while writing this already so I won't say it again. Though know that it was always a joy to write this and keep you readers entertained.**

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	58. See you soon

**Salem's Palace**

In a deep, dimly lit chamber in the depths of Salem's palace, the sounds of combat can be heard. Though it wasn't conventional combat as there were no cracks of gunfire or clashes of blades in the air, but rather the sound of crackling flame and roaring Grimm. These sounds were Cinder Fall perfecting her maiden powers on these Grimm as living opponents. Salem ordered her to go down here and fight her own monsters because Cinder's abilities and confidence were shattered after the Fall of Beacon if it was a victory for her. Not wanting one of her strongest followers to be in such a state during these critical times of change, Salem aimed to recondition Cinder into the woman she once was.

The Cinder Fall we knew before was confident, intelligent, attractive, and powerful. While this one retained all these aspects (except her left eye was now missing), she was lacking the thing that probably made her the most dangerous threat to the huntsmen previously. Her confidence. Without it, this new Cinder lacked the will to do pretty much anything in her fear, especially since that girl in the red hood and those nine psychopaths are running around and are probably looking for her.

All the power of the Fall Maiden being wasted on a woman who's confidence was shattered after losing one fight with a silver eyed warrior at Beacon and even more so with the return of these nine pests...

But that's fine. Salem was going to make sure that Cinder will become strong once more. She may not stand much of a chance against Ruby due to the strange nature of silver eyed warriors having a huge advantage over Maidens, but she can most definitely destroy anything else with it. Especially those mercenaries she was so afraid of for some reason. The mother of Grimm still didn't quite get why they had such an effect on her, but they were a nuisance either way.

Last Salem saw of the mercenaries, they disappeared in a series of large multicolored flashes after plowing through a lot of flying Grimm she had gathered up to destroy them. As far as she was concerned, they were gone and are no longer a threat. This made a smile creep on her face as this was an excellent step in the right direction to get Cinder back on track.

Currently, Salem was down in the very chamber Cinder was fighting Grimm in, observing Cinder's progress. The Fall Maiden easily wiped the floor with the Grimm as they stood no chance against her kind of power, but Salem noticed that she wasn't utilizing the full potential of that power.

"Enough." She ordered Cinder after she just ripped a beringer in half with a fiery punch. The woman in question was heaving as if she was exhausted, and she shouldn't be, not with her kind of power. "I thought you were the girl who wanted power. Did you lie to me?" She said demandingly, the Grimm still in the chamber waiting for her order.

Cinder couldn't speak. That fight with Ruby left her without a left eye and the ability to speak, only able to hoarsely whisper and croak. Her response was to shake her head "no".

"Then stop holding back. If you wish to master your power, you must-"

Just then, before Salem could say anything else, the massive doors leading into the large chamber creaked open, and Tyrian the Scorpion Faunus walked in with an air of shame. He was clearly distressed, nervously muttering to himself about something and keeping his form low as if he were afraid to show himself. Salem's eyes narrowed on the slowly approaching man when she noticed his stinger was missing.

"M-my lady..." Tyrian stuttered as he kneeled before Salem with Cinder watching.

"Tyrian..." Salem said blandly. "Were you successful?."

"W-well..." He stuttered whilst trying to keep a smile. Then his stuttering stopped completely when Salem gave him a cold glare that said 'get on with it'. "Right..." He gulped. "I found the girl like your ladyship has asked, and even Qrow as well!" He said with a big smile, trying to look brave and confident.

"As I asked?" Salem said slowly. "I recall ordering you to bring her to me, not to merely just find her..." Said she, eyes narrowing on the Faunus psychopath as he shrunk in fear. "Well?"

"N-no..." He said, trying to keep from crying at her disappointed gaze. "B-But hope is not lost! My tail, m-my stinger! I, poisoned Qrow! He will be a nuisance to us you no longer!"

Her blood red eyes burrowing ever deeper into his fearful ones, until she decided that she had enough of him. Tired of his incompetence, Salem drifted past the kneeling man, not giving him anymore attention on her way out of the chamber.

"I-I also poisoned the three men with her!" Tyrian cried out with hope that she'll be pleased with him.

This certainly got her attention since she stopped abruptly where she stood. She hadn't expected the girl to be travelling with grown men, but she supposed there was also the possibility that they were with Qrow. That's unlikely though since Qrow works alone as far as she knew. "What did they look like?" She asked without turning to look at him, who now had a smile of hope on his face.

"Ah, y-yes my lady! What did they looked like, um...o-one had a helmet and was yelling something about a country that doesn't exist, one was a large fat man who was an absolute brute, and another wore a mask and a suit that covered its whole body!" He finished his explanation, still smiling and clasping his hands. His heart nearly dropped when Salem's brows tensed up in slight frustrstion, not paying any attention to Cinder's reaction.

Salem already got Cinder to get over her fear of the mercenaries after assuring her that they were gone, but now Cinder seemed to be frozen in place again, mind flashing through all the ways these ghosts can kill her. Torture her, make her suffer, make her repent for the crimes she's done in her quest for power.

"The last eye has been turned..." She said coldly, making her way out of the chamber. "You dissapoint me..." With those last words, she completely left the chamber, leaving Tyrian to break down. The Scorpion Faunus began to wail and tear up, completely unable to control his emotions as the chamber filled with the sounds of his distressed sobs.

It was...disturbing. Seeing this madman wail uncontrollably like he was a child.

One of the Beowolves in the chamber decided to step forward and take advantage of Tyrian while his guard was down. The beast leaped up into the air with its claws reached out, ready to rip him to shreds. However, with a scream of anger, Tyrian swatted the large Beowolf out of the air with his stingerless tail and made it land on its back. Screaming in a mix of anger and frustrated sobs, Tyrian extended his wrists blades and pounced onto the Beowold, then he began to stab repeatedly and viciously into the creature's chest. Soon, his wailing and screaming gradually turned into diabolical, insane, creepy, laughing. He kept this up long after all movement from the Beowolf ceased.

Cinder watched the scene play out with a face of horror. Maybe she was taken aback with this brutality, maybe she actually felt some fear from Tyrian. The only sure thing though was that she had a lot on her mind.

Salem had some thoughts herself, specifically how those nine guys keep coming back. She dismissed them as just maniacs based on what she was told of them, but after seeing them in action, her opinions shifted to genuine interest of them. Still, if they opposed her, they will quite simply die, and she will make sure that they'll stay dead.

* * *

"ENGIE!" Ruby and Nora both chirped happily when they saw another missing mercenary had returned to the world. The girls were so excited that they jumped on the Texan and knocked the air out of him in a giant hug.

"Whoa! Hehe...I'm glad to see you gals too..." The Texan chuckled, even giving the girls pats on the back.

"It's so good to see you again, Mr. Conagher." Jaune went in for a handshake with Ren going to do the same after him. Smiling, Engineer said screw the handshake and took the boys in for a hug too.

"Ah, come on! Bring it in!" He said as he brought the boys in. They didn't complain though, it just felt so right after not seeing Engie for so long.

"And I was worried we weren't going to see the otheres again..." Yang sighed, a smile on her face as she watched the members of Team RNJR joyfully take the Texan in with warmth and joy. She was standing by the other mercenaries, and Engie's horse, who were just as glad to see he was back, and so soon at that. Except the horse though, the horse was with him the whole time and doesn't fully understand human relationships.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we have to leave now." One of the crewman of the two Mistral airships said. "Got to leave before any Grimm show up. Not to mention your friend over there..." He trailed off, obviously talking about Qrow who had just been loaded onto one of the ships.

The Sun was setting over Anima, a welcome sight after shadowy clouds covered the continent for most of the day. Flying against the beautiful backdrop of the sunset were two airships of Mistral design. The airships carrying our heroes after that hard fought battle with the Nuckelavee. Otherwise known as "that dick on a horse". Crude joke aside, it was a very welcome relief that they were found by these ships. Apparently, their fight with that dick on a horse created a lot of smoke that caught their attention while they were out on patrol, and that led to them finding our guys. Currently, the ships were on their way to Mistral, and it could've not have been at an even better time as it is now very likely that Qrow will survive after all. Both airships were flying side by side en route to Mistral.

"Mpmhm hmhpm hmm?" Pyro asked Engineer as to how he found them. The mercenaries rode in one airship while Qrow and the teens rode in the other. Oh, and his horse was riding with them. It was a little difficult to get the animal inside, but it was managed with only one Mistral crewman kicked in the balls.

"Ah, well...it's a long story..." Engie began. "Whatever the hell happened to us when we were separated led to me gettin' dropped off at a little farmstead. People there were nice, but some kid there said he knew Ozpin somehow..." He trailed. "Then I, hehehe, 'borrowed' a fella's horse and rode my way down to where the airship last was. I tell you boys, it wasn't an easy ride through all that land. Ran into a bunch of bandits attacking a village and I had a little showdown with their leader, but do y'all know what the crazy part is?"

"Did you kill all those bandits?" Soldier asked, hopeful that this actual fellow American did his patriotic duty to slay evil.

"What is this crazy part?" Heavy asked, gently pulling Soldier back.

"Oh boy, how do I even begin to say this?" Engie scratched his head. "Well, after I beat her in a fight, I told her she kinda looked like Yang."

"Yes? And?" Soldier went. "Did you kill all the bandits?"

"I killed a bunch of them Soldier, but anyway, I said she kinda looked like Yang, and I ain't foolin' with ya when I say that I just found a needle in a goddamn haystack an acre wide in size."

"What is this metaphor for?" Heavy asked, interested with where this was going.

"This woman, her name was Raven, was Yang's darn mama!" He yelled, getting shocked and stupid looks on all his friend's faces. Subconsciously, the four mercs looked at Yang who was riding in the other airship.

"You are sure of this?" Heavy asked, still not quite believing.

"Yeah! Swear on my darn soul this Raven woman said Yang was her daughter when I mentioned her name!" Engie shouted before continuing his story. "She ran when I beat her, leaving my horse and I to fight off a bunch of Grimm. Then the rest was just travelin' along the lonely roads, sometimes fighting a Grimm here and there, and then I happened across you fellas!"

"I wonder if Yang knows her mother is a bandit..." Heavy mused, looking over at the dragon girl on the other ship. The girl in question looked to be quite happy. She and her sister were sitting close to their uncle, so happy that they were able to finish this journey in one piece. And finish this journey in one piece they truly did.

Soon, the beautiful mountain city of Mistral was in view. The city was entirely constructed on one large mountain with buildings of various types sprawled out downwards across the hills and such surrounding the summit, which had a large palace-looking structure at the very top. Architecturally, all the buildings had the same Asian appearance as several others seen in villages and towns along the way, except much grander. The entire scene was especially grand and picturesque since the mountain city was highlighted by the fading light of the horizon.

"Mistral..." Ruby awed. Both groups in the airships were impressed with the appearance of the city, but it was the native people of Remnant who were especially taken aback by the sight. With the exception of Yang, they had been travelling through the entirety of Anima for half a year, and the realization that they actually reached their destination after so much struggling and difficulty was a huge relief to their weary but strong hearts. "Look, Uncle Qrow...we made it!"

The dusty crow's only response was a weak but proud smile directed at his young niece, and that was more than enough to bring soft but joyful tears to Ruby's eyes.

In a few more minutes, the gang will reach Haven Academy where they will get their own sleeping quarters, clean water, steady food supply, and all the comforts of modern civilization. For RNJR, it had been so long since they've been to a city. A nice, soft, clean bed was a very welcome comfort after half a year of travel.

* * *

"...and that's how I managed to kill Spy, Soldier, and Pyro at the same time without taking a scratch!" Scout smugly claimed once he was finished with a story. It was a story of some of the experiences he had back when the mercenaries worked for Redmond and Blutarch. Currently, the three of them were hiding in the cargo hold where it was full of large containers that had Atlesian goods within.

" _Fascinating..._ " Weiss yawned, not at all interested or entertained with Scout's stories, even if some of them were believable. Weiss never quite got over how these guys used to kill each other and treat it like it's nothing these days, and these stories of Scout murdering his friends in various ways made her sick. But after so, many, FUCKING, stories from this Boston bastard who can't keep his mouth shut, she couldn't care any less of the matter anymore. If the mercs' didn't mind it much, then she might as well not mind it much either.

The small cargo ship they smuggled on had been flying for three days now, and the timing could not have been more perfect. They left a couple of hours just before General Ironwood gave the order to close Atlas' borders, so the military paid the little cargo ship no mind as it flew away from the city of Atlas.

As for what they did in the two days of travel? Nothing, mostly because, you know, they're hiding on a ship with nothing to do but wait until they got to where they wanted to be. The fact that the ship wasn't particularly fast didn't help much. It also didn't help that the ship flew in a convoy with other Atlas ships being escorted to Mistral by an Atlesian warship, with some of the other ships belonging to the SDC so there was still a risk that Weiss could still be found out. Also, this meant the ship had to keep pace with the much slower warship if it didn't want to get fucked by flying Grimm. There were windows lining the sides of the hold, so they had to take care to not be spotted when someone in the convoy bothered to look around at the other ships.

Still, they told stories to each other to pass the time. Weiss told the mercenaries stories of how her life in Schnee manor wasn't particularly pleasant, and she also told them how the SDC was founded along with how she intends to take the company back from her father one day. That was another thing, the story of how her father married into the family and took control of the company for his own selfish gain. This certainly got some negative feelings welling up in Spy and Scout as both of them already didn't like her father from what they've heard.

As for the mercs' stories, Scout told Weiss, well...his usual bullshit of how great he is, but Spy told Weiss his entire life story. A much shortened version of course. Everything from how he learned how to cook so well from how Scout is actually his son was told to her, and Weiss will never look at Spy the same way again. She already recognized that he wasn't as crazy as most of the others, but she still saw him in the same light as the rest of them, a bunch of crazy killers who're nice and friendly whenever they wanted to. But after hearing his story, she couldn't imagine how much it must his poor heart. How he was in a position of such high standing and then his violent downfall touched her deeply since she was also a high standing person, but hearing how someone as high as her can fall so quickly and violently was terrifying.

It made her horribly worried about what if she lost the company completely with no hope of ever getting it back, and how she could possibly lose everything she knew in general. Granted, the Fall of Beacon was already traumatizing enough, but in the case of Spy where he lost everything he ever knew, that was too much for her to even think about if she was put in a similar situation. A new respect for the true gentleman killer was found by Weiss.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm real fascinatin'..." Scout was all smug. "Now let me tell you about-"

"Shut up, William..." Spy groaned, not wanting to hear another story from his annoying son. Before Scout could say anything back and go on a long dragged out rant, there was a knocking on the door leading into the hold. It was the pilot of the ship, one of three crewman on board.

"Ms. Schnee?" The pilot said after opening the door.

"Yes?" She answered.

"We're here, ma'am." He said. "We've reached the city of Mistral." At these words, the three stowaways immediately got up and looked out the windows of the ship. Sure enough, the city of Mistral was in sight. A smile grew on Weiss' face, as soon she can be with her sister, Winter.

"Mistral, we made it..." She said softly. The city of Mistral was far more majestic in person than all the times she's seen the city online or on the air. It took her breath away how the entire city was built on a mountain and how strikingly beautiful that and the look of the city combined was.

"Yes, yes we did..." Spy said, but not with the same enthusiasm as Weiss, and she knew why.

They already told her what they were going to do in Mistral, and it could not have possibly felt nice when they all got separated the way they did. Having no way to bring Ruby and the rest of JNPR back (and not knowing if they even reached Mistral to begin with), and then having to look for the woman they wanted to kill so badly with the possibility that she's not even there must be stressful. _Really_ stressful. To them, it'd be like coming back to life for no reason at fucking all if they couldn't find her.

All the same, the three of them just wished that the others were safe. And that wasn't just the mercenaries, that went to all of their friends no matter where they were.

* * *

Meanwhile, far off the eastern coastline of the city of Mistral, a large transport ship was just coming within seeing distance of the harbor. It's passengers were mainly Faunus as this ship was coming from Menagerie. As you already know, Menagerie is an entire island, though it's more of a continent, that the kingdoms of Remnant gave to the Faunus people so that they had land all to themselves after the Great War. In reality, the island was given to the Faunus so that they'd be out of the way of the human kingdoms, though a lot of Faunus ended up remaining right where they were in the kingdoms. In a lot of ways, Menagerie's pretty much Remnant's version of Australia, if you know anything about Australian history...

Anyways, the ship was closing in on the city's harbor. It was a seafaring vessel by the way, not an airship. Thank the gods that the ship didn't face any serious Grimm threat on the high seas. Also, double that killed the gods for this ship was capable of moving extremely quickly, courtesy to modifications the captain himself made (though the ship wasn't moving at full speed the whole time as that would be horribly uncomfortable for the people on board). It's voyage of six days was coming to a close, and the passengers on board were happy to be in sight of solid ground again. Four of the many passengers were especially glad the voyage was over.

These passengers as you know were obviously Blake, Sun, Sniper, and Demoman. The voyage, like it was for the rest of the passengers, was uneventful. They mostly kept to themselves, and spent a lot of the time telling stories. Blake shared what her past was like already so it ended up with the three guys telling most of the stories. They were all interesting to various degrees, though the most entertaining was easily Demoman's for not only obvious reasons, but it turns out his clan had some deep background and mythology. One of the myths he told them was that of the Nuckelavee, and he also ended telling them how he and the mercenaries fought and killed one before.

Okay, let'some get to back to what our four heroes are doing now. Said four were at the bow of the ship, watching as the city was becoming clearer to the eyes.

"Mistral..." Blake trailed in awe with those accompanying her at her side.

"So that's this Mistral place that we were supposed to be headed too?" Demo whistled when the city visible on the horizon. It was honestly a little hard to see it since the Sun was setting and it was directly behind the mountain city, yet it still looked pretty awesome and majestic. He and Sniper had to shade their eyes to see the outline of the city and make out individual buildings. "What a beaut that city is! Kinda reminds me of my clan's castle but without the crumbling walls and vines everywhere!"

"Yeah, never seen anything like it, mate..." Sniper trailed off. "Except for New Zealand, but uh...you know..." He said, referencing how the entirety of New Zealand is currently underwater.

"Hehe...glad to see you guys like Mistral so much." Sun chuckled. "Just wait until we land. My team and I will be happy to give you guys a tour of the place."

"Your team's from here, boy?" Demo asked.

"Yep! Don't you remember we fought for Haven in the Vytal Tournament?"

"Uh...no. I might've been drunk that whole day..." Demo admitted, remembering how he hung out with Qrow and got so drunk that the two of them could barely walk. That was a fun day. It kind of made Demo wonder where Qrow was now.

"You're always drunk, you one-eyed freakshow..." Sniper snickered under his breath. "You even remember the last time you were sober for more than a day?" Demo raised a finger and was about to answer, then he put it down and shut his mouth when he realized he had no such answer to his Australian friend's question. "Figures..." Sniper softly laughed at this walking Scottish stereotype.

"That's not good for you, Mr. DeGroot." Blake chided him, then she let off a startled meow when the Scotsman got her into a headlock and roughed up her cat ears.

"Ah! What of it? As long as my liver's working, then I can drink as much as I want!" To emphasize his point, Demo took out a bottle of scrumpy and started chugging it right down, much to Blake's disgust. "Besides, not like my drinking gets in the way of my fighting! Haha!" He laughed before Blake broke away from him.

"Right..." Blake growled, her ears down in a little anger at Demo's antics. The others seemed to enjoy the trouble Demo gave Blake though, and she can't help but lighten up at the smiling faces.

"Alright, kitten..." Sniper began. "Now that we've made it, what are we gonna do first?" He asked with genuine curiosity. The Australian looked at Blake, so we'll as the others, waiting for an answer. Blake hesitated, looking down at the water crashing against the bow of the ship as it got ever closer to port.

"First, we warn the headmaster of Haven Academy." She said with an air of authority.

"Alright, warn Professor Lionheart, got it. What else, Blakey?" Sun asked, cheekily aware that she didn't like being called that name. One of the reasons being that was what Yang called her sometimes...

"Well..." She trailed off as she hadn't worked out how they were going to find the Fang yet. "...we find the White Fang and take it back. Just like I said I would-"

"Take it back!?" Demo nearly spat out his drink as he actually forgot what Blake wanted to do with the Fang. "Oh, wait...that's right. You want to try and make the White Fang a peaceful group of happy little terrorists again..." He sighed, taking another swig of his drink.

"He's got a point there, girlie... how exactly are you gonna make those maniacs into a peaceful group again? In my experience, extremists like that don't exactly change in a few days..." The Australian said. He definitely had a point. Not only did they have to deal with actually _finding_ the White fang in Mistral, but Blake had to figure out how to make the Fang change back into what they once were.

"I...I'll just..." She struggled to find words for her weak answer. "...I'll find a way." Blake said after a moment. "I have to. For the good of everyone, I have to stop the White Fang from behaving like...like..."

"Animals?" Sun finished for her. This got an angry glare from the kitty, but even though this word was used to put her race down for generations, he was right.

"Right..." She sighed, calming down. "They were once a peaceful organization, and they will be again when I take it back. All those years of misguiding ideas from its current leaders will end..."

"Well that's all noble and brave of you, but you didn't answer my question."

"...we'll deal with that when we get there." She said softly, looking back out to the city while the others kept their eyes on her.

""Hmm...right then..." Sniper nodded. "I know I said this a bunch of times already, but you got us and Sun here if you need help." He reassured her. "Just hope we could meet up with the other mercs soon..." Sniper himself said softly.

Then, everyone went quiet, setting their eyes back on Mistral as they were now in the harbor. The only noises that could be heard was the wind and waves and the various Faunus passengers talking amongst themselves. That was until Sun broke the silence for a second.

"So...we're still up for that tour, right?"

* * *

 **They're almost there~~~~~~**

 **Soon the gang will be back together in big happy family. Medic will appear next chapper, no worry 'bout that.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **TheFrankcisco: Yeah. I need to go back and expand on that.**

 **Gizmo Gear: YEAH!**

 **gladeo25: ;-; Fokkin stahp et...**

 **cipher11196: I do, you just didn't have a review last time. I also messaged you but you never responded.**

 **Gzilla45: *makes okay sign with hand* And he probably will...**

 **Guest: Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... hush. You'll see...and stop taking my ideas.**

 **Ren Woods: Fuck yeah.**

 **Unzealots: Fokkin noticed. Also noticed you on Steam ;)**

 **Madlice in Pyroland: I will...see. I was thinking about it, but not sure how that will work out. And sure. Hale will do something about Beacon.**

 **Mr. Green37: YEP.**

 **Boriva: I would say, but I'm so not care about cosmetics that I don't know what to name all them. Bad English for me :v**

 **A fan: Maybe I will. Get an account and we'll talk more better than this. Stop posting these comments since It'll be a while before I respond to them and make yourself a fanfiction account.**

 **MCZ: Ayyyyyyyyyyyy**

 **Jack905: Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy**

 **SilentXD7: It's going to continue.**

 **Michamya: Mate, I will deck you in the gobber, I swear on me mum.**

 **Doctor Homicide 157: You're welcome.**

 **GhettoZorcress: YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH**

 **Gea5s: Da airship is break so no nuke for while**

 **Lord hellfire913: Machinima group? Let's talk about this, mate.**

 **Alpha Tyrant: Is called not want to see them no more sorcery. Slav is best group. Gopnik is great human bean.**


	59. Eight Out Of Nine

**Haven Academy**

The Sun had set, and the city was covered by the darkness of night with only the light of the moon shining a faint white over the buildings and streets. The people either went to their homes to sleep, or some decided to go and enjoy the night.

It was no different for our heroes, the ones who fought and defeated the Nuckelavee yesterday that is. When they arrived at Haven, the headmaster welcomed them with open arms and gladly gave survivors of the Fall of Beacon accommodations in his academy. It was the least he could do after all they've been through, what with the Fall of Beacon and the hassle of taking a long and perilous journey and all. The medical facilities at Haven were more than capable of removing the poison from Qrow's bloodstream through the administration of the appropriate antivenom and some other medical stuff I'm not qualified to describe. The doctors said all he needed now was a week's worth of rest to recover where his aura should be able to bring his body to full strength in that time.

Qrow, Ruby, and Yang got a room all to themselves while Team JNPR got their own room as well did the mercenaries. It was so refreshing for Team RNJR to finally be able to relax and rest in civilization again. After making sure Qrow was taken care of, the first thing the members of Team RNJR did was reminisce on their adventure. The whole half a year long journey from Vale to Mistral, the troubles they faced and conquered, the joy of finding the mercenaries were alive and Yang being reunited with Ruby, and above all else, actually making it to Mistral. This was their greatest triumph they have ever done in their whole lives thus far, and they celebrated this ultimate victory with a long and well deserved slumber on these soft beds of Haven Academy.

It felt just like heaven to be able to sleep on beds like this again after so long...

It was the first time Ruby and Yang had to share a bed in ages since the room they had only came with two beds and Qrow needed one for recovery purposes, but the sisters didn't mind at all. Their sisterly feelings of family ensured they were perfectly at peace with sharing a bed. They used to do it all the time as kids anyway.

Throughout the first night in Mistral, Yang had stayed awake for a while and watched her sister and uncle sleep. That may sound a little creepy at first, but consider that it was because she was proud of them, especially Ruby for pulling through and taking care of herself out in this big scary world of their's. She gently kissed her sister's forehead before finally going to sleep. Still, Yang was conflicted on if she'll pull through on her promise to take Ruby home once they made it to Mistral. She decided she'll decide on it later, and let herself fall to dreams for now.

"... _it's about time she went to sleep."_ Qrow softly whispered. Silently removing his covers and getting to his feet, the huntsman slipped out of the room and went straight for the nearest place to get a drink.

Well then, what about the mercenaries with them?

The gang were given a room like I said, and it happened to be a student dorm only because none of the staff accommodations at Haven were available for them. None of the teens saw them again that night after they all went inside their rooms, but a lot of people claimed to hear the laughing of grown men moving through the halls at night. These were the sounds of the guys going out together late at night to celebrate.

* * *

Elsewhere in the academy, four other heroes were tucking in for a night's rest as well.

The ship Blake's party was sailing on arrived at a later time than Ruby's party, so they just barely missed each other when they got to the academy. First thing Blake did was go straight to Professor Lionheart office with Sun while Demo and Sniper followed since they didn't really have anything else to do. Unfortunately, the professor wasn't able to make any time to meet with them, but he did arrange for the school to give them their own rooms where they can rest.

They didn't need the rest nearly as much as Team RNJR did, but it was nice enough that they had their own private rooms. Blake had a room to herself while Demo and Sniper got the other. Sun simply went to his team's dorm where he was reunited with the rest of Team SSSN and stayed with them. Blake didn't like the thought of sharing a room with a guy anyway.

First thing Blake wanted to do in Mistral was go straight to Headmaster Lionheart's office as soon as he was available to take anyone. In fact, that's exactly what she's going to do once the Sun was up. For now, she'll just have to sleep the hours away until sunrise. However, she found that she couldn't fall asleep. There was too much on her mind now. It was just her, Sun, and the two mercenaries with them against the entire White Fang. Sure, the authorities were going to help, but the more Blake thought about it, the more she realized how huge of a task this was going to be. Could she really take the White Fang back?

Her thoughts were temporarily interrupted when her cat ears detected two voices in the hall. She immediately recognized them as Demoman and Sniper. Knowing those two, they'll probably look for a bar or something to find some drink. Or more specifically, Demoman's gonna go find a bar and Sniper has to tag along with him to make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble.

Sighing, Blake looked up at the ceiling and tried to fall asleep. Sleep...rest...she remembered someone telling herself about this stuff once. That someone was Yang, all the way back when she was stressing over what Torchwick was planning at the same time prom night was coming. She'll never forget what Yang told her about not to worry so much and exhaust herself to death. Yang...she missed her so dearly. She missed all of her friends. Her time at Beacon were some of the happiest times in her whole life, a place where she had people who loved and cared for her.

Wiping a tear she found falling down her face, Blake smiled and finally went to sleep. She decided that someday, when all of this was over, she'll go back to Vale and see them all again.

* * *

 **Atlesian Embassy**

At the Atlesian Embassy near Mistral, a convoy fleet had come in and delivered much needed supplies to the force stationed here as well as some of the last Atlesian goods up for sale in this kingdom.

Our stowaways had a rough time getting themselves not detected after the ship they were on touched down. Weiss hadn't exactly thought out how she was exactly going to approach Winter and say 'hey I escaped from father to be here with you lol", but she was confident that no one was going to provide too much resistance if she directly expressed that she wanted to see Winter.

"Halt! Who are you!?" A soldier demanded with androids flanking him.

"I am Weiss Schnee! Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, and sister of Winter Schnee!" She declared, not minding how she's technically not the heir to the company anymore. "I wish to meet with Specialist Winter Schnee."

Scout and Spy did not stick around to see what happened to Weiss when she exposed herself to Atlesian soldiers and embassy personnel, as they were focused on getting the fuck out of there. Unlike Weiss who'll probably just get sent back as a punishment based on her social standing, they could be executed or imprisoned for stowing away on an Atlesian vessel. Even if Weiss said they were with her and they let them stay, Scout and Spy didn't like the idea of being surrounded by these Atlesian dudes with their order and discipline and shit. That...and Winter doesn't really like them that much...

So they opted for going out into the city of Mistral where they will probably spend their first night at an inn or something. They would have gone to Haven Academy which was only a really high stair-climb away from the establishment, but they were fine with staying at an inn for now. Spy still doesn't know if Ruby even made it here in the first place, so he decided he'll check tomorrow. For now, his focus will be digging around these streets and seeing if he can find anything out on where Cinder Fall was. His son came along to help his father anyway he can to find Cinder so they can rape the soul out of her.

* * *

 **At a Tavern & Inn**

Qrow sat alone as he indulged in alcoholic beverages like he's known for. There was no one else in the tavern except for the absolute beauty of an innkeeper and a few barmaids since it was really late in the night for most patrons. He sat there, thinking back on the events leading up to how they got to Mistral and over what to do with the issue of Salem. At this point, Qrow was alone in this quest to oppose the evil forces of Salem. The other members of Ozpin's inner circle were occupied with their own issues. Ironwood is busy in Atlas where he's no doubt doing something stupid, and Glynda's back in Vale making sure the city doesn't fall apart in Ozpin's absence. His only allies here were his nieces and their teenage friends, and the four mercenaries they miraculously had with them. They hardly had the resources and knowledge of Ozpin's inner circle, but Qrow had to make it work until he found Ozpin's newest incarnation.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a little bell from the front of the tavern ring, signalling that others have entered the tavern. He didn't pay it much mind as all he really cared about were the drinks to be had here, and he soon fell back into his thoughts. Then, his eyes went wide when he heard a familiar voice. The voice of a dead man.

"Oy! Has this place any good drink for two thirsty travelers!?" A Scottish voice cried out from across the tavern and over to where the innekeeper and Qrow were. The woman had been wiping the counter and totally wasn't checking Qrow out when these new patrons came in. She had an annoyed look when those two came in. As did the other pretty young bar maids since they were also checking Qrow out.

"Yes. What will you be having?" She said, continuing to clean the counter while keeping her attention on them.

"Oh, anything strong will do..." Demo said as he walked to the counter with his Australian friend following him.

Apparently, the two mercenaries had not recognized Qrow yet, not even when the two sat to his right with a gap of just a single stool. To be fair, Sniper hasn't really met or actually seen Qrow at all, but Demoman had no excuse. Qrow expected Demoman to recognize him any second now as he waited for the bar maid to bring him something, but the Scotsman still seemed oblivious. Maybe he just didn't get a good look at Qrow and dismissed him for just a random guy. Qrow faced forward, but his eyes did look at him and Sniper from the side. He heard from the mercenaries that accompanied him that they had all been brought back to life, but it wasn't certain whether or not some of them had died again when they were split up. Evidently, at least two others were alive to his knowledge.

"Well...aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Qrow said, staring into his glass.

"Who? Me?" Demoman asked, as if he and Sniper weren't the only other two people here.

"Yeah. I'm talking about you..." The veteran huntsman turned his head to face Demoman, and Demoman instantly recognized Qrow now that he cared to actually look at him. His black face went in surprise, and then turned into a bright friendly smile.

"My God, Qrow!" Demo shouted. With no hesitation whatsoever, the Scotsman pushed aside the stools and gladly took Qrow's hand for a firm handshake between two men. "It's good to see you again, mate! Sniper! This good man here is Qrow Branwen, Ruby's uncle! And one amazing drinking mate!" Just then, Eyelander popped himself out of his scabbard.

" _Hey! Aren't I your best drinking mate?"_ The ghost sword complained. While Demo argued with the ghost sword, Sniper continued talking with Qrow.

"Qrow, huh?" Sniper nodded his head and held his own hand out. "Pleasure meeting you mate. Name's Rick, Rick Mundy, but people call me Sniper."

"Pleasure's all mine..." Qrow took the Australian's hand and shook it. "Now, what are you boys doing here? Last I heard of you, you guys were dead..." Said Qrow, before taking a swig. The bar maid was standing behind the counter and was cleaning glasses out while listening to the three men. It's kinda what people behind the counter do. She'd already brought out two glasses for Demo and Sniper but the two men were too focused on Qrow.

"Ah, well you see, we did die..." Sniper began as he and Demo were taking seats at Qrow's flanks. That means 'sides' by the way. "Then we-"

"Got resurrected through a magic spell and you used a portal or something to get back here..." The duty crow summarized the very bare bones of what happened, surprising Demoman and Sniper with how he knew. "Yeah, I know that already. I even know why you're here in Mistral..." He trailed, the two mercs still quiet with surprised expressions on their faces from how much he knew. "What I meant was what are you two doing here in this tavern?"

"Isn't it obvious, hon?" The innkeeper suddenly chimed in, not looking up from cleaning the empty glasses. "These nice men want some cold drink to wash the day's stress off. I had patrons like them come by here before...like you." She gave a playful wink at Qrow after that last part, and his response was a smile at this attempt of a flirt.

"Well, she's sort of not wrong." Demo shrugged. "Another glass for my sword here please."

"A girl like me knows her stuff." She said as a matter of fact. " _If you know what I mean..._ " She winked at Qrow once more, but he waved her away so he can keep talking with his pal here. Faking being hurt, she went back to get another glass even if she didn't know why a sword would need alcohol. At least they're paying...

"Right. Well then..." The huntsman lifted his glass up in the air above him. "Cheers to not being dead, I guess." He declared, minding the bandages that covered the wound that would've killed him. Demoman and Sniper definitely couldn't deny him that honor, so they raised their glasses too.

"Cheers!" The three men clinked their glasses together and gladly downed their drinks in one go. Eyelander pretended his glass tapped with their's and he happily had alcohol poured on him, earning Demoman a fierce glare from the annoyed innekeeper. She had to clean that up later.

"Say, Qrow..." Sniper began when he set his glass down, getting the man to face him. "How in bloody Hell did you know we were alive?"

"Ah, that...well, let's talk about it over some more drinks. I'm still feeling pretty thirsty if you ask me." He gave the bar maid a nod, and she nodded back before heading in the backroom to get more for her three patrons here. "Alright, so you see boys, it's really simple..." Qrow began as he waited for her to come back, Demo and Sniper listening closely. "I know what happened to you guys because of-"

*DOOR SMASH*

Without warning at all, the door to the tavern flew wide open, and a booted foot was sticking out the doorway. In came Soldier, and the other mercenaries who came with Team RNJR behind him. "CITIZENS OF THIS ESTABLISHMENT, IS THIS A PLACE WHERE A FEW WAR VETERANS CAN FIND SOME DRINKS!?" Soldier screamed at the top of his lungs and a fist shaking out in patriotic fury and revenge.

"...them." Qrow muttered out as he, Sniper, and Demoman looked back at the other mercenaries.

"Jesus Christ, Soldier!" The Texan of the group pulled Soldier back from the doorway. "Learn to have some civility in your damn life..." The Texan shook his head.

"Mphm! Mphmh mphm!" Pyro suddenly shouted from under its mask. Looking straight at the other end of the tavern, the two groups of mercenaries caught sight of one another. "Mpmh MpmhroMman Mandh Mphmer!"

"Hey, Pyro's right! It's Demoman and Sniper!" Engie grinned at reuniting with even more mercenaries. Soon, the two groups came together and greeted each other like one big family reunion. Only ones who were missing were Spy, Scout, and Medic. But they all knew Medic was back at Patch and Spy and Scout fucked right off for all they knew. Qrow and the bar maid watched the men come together, slight smiles from seeing this reunion.

"Better get some more drinks out, lady..." He said over his shoulder to the innkeeper.

She said nothing, but understood why right away and went waved the bar maids over to get some drinks ready for them. So the drinks were brought and the gang...well...how do you think they get when something like this happens? Within an hour, each man took way more to drink than they should've and were pretty much having a small party by themselves. Glasses smashed together, sometimes literally, and dances were to be had. It's actually looking a lot like a typical casual server now when no one's killing each other. They were very much in a similar state as to when they were partying all the way back when they defeated Gray Mann.

"How did you get here?" Heavy asked the two.

"We took a ship, mate!" Demoman answered. "Sniper and I dropped right in the middle of an island filled with whatever those people with the animal parts are called!"

"They're called 'Faunus', Tavish." Sniper said. "And we ended up coming here with Blake and that monkey kid just yesterday."

"Blake?" The four mercs said together in surprise. They never thought they would see Blake again, at least not so soon.

"Yeah. She's up at the academy with that monkey lad. We got rooms there you know." Said Demo.

"What? But we got rooms there too!" Engie exclaimed.

"You know what this means boys, WE'RE GOING TO BE ROOMMATES AGAIN!" Soldier yelled with his fist straight in the air.

"Mphmh mphm! Mphm #$% Mphen $ !^# Mphmhpmh Mphm Mpmh Mehm Mphmilry!" Pyro cheered, getting cries of approval from the others since they have the magical ability to understand whatever it said. Still couldn't tell if Pyro was a girl or a guy, but at least they can turn the muffling into words.

"That is the spirit, my fire loving friend! Together we can destroy fire witch!" Heavy cheered as he was in a really good mood with this newest chunk of good news, earning cheers back. You can feel the hype build up in the room just from these six guys. The hype was so real, that even Qrow felt his spirit rise. Even the bar maid was getting excited, and she had nothing to do with this at all. "We will find here, destroy everything she loves, and bring much pain to her! We will kill her!"

* * *

Scout and Spy were walking down a closed off street where a bunch of people were still up and about. They were looking for a good place to stay for the night while also getting the feel of the city before doing anything major. Haven Academy loomed above atop its mountaintop position with only the moon and clouds being higher.

The city had an influx of people coming in from the frontiers as Grimm attacks increased and more settlements are lost, but luckily the city has been able to keep up with the stress of taking care of all these refugees so far. People here in Mistral were quite diverse from what they can see. Everyone, be they Human or Faunus, varied greatly from one person to another in their manner of clothing and the way they behaved. Spy remembered hearing something where Mistral was a place of diversity, and now he's seeing it for himself.

"Hey there, little lady!" Scout suddenly yelled out, interrupting Spy's mental note taking of the city. Looking over at his son, Spy saw he was focused on a rabbit girl. A rabbit girl who was wearing Asian clothing that showed a lot of skin. She looked to be older than Velvet, but not by too much. Maybe around Scout's age. "Man, you're cute! Has anyone ever told you that?" The rabbit giggled at him, and he took that as a 'yes'. "Bet they never told you that you are the most cutest..." He trailed off, trying to find something clever to say before realizing he didn't got anything. "...most cutest girl they've ever seen!"

Scout gave her a toothy grin, but then his grin went away when a big ass dude with rabbit ears came to her side and gently took hold of her arm, glaring at Scout.

"Oh...this your boyfriend here?" Scout whistled. "Man, never thought I would see such a frickin' ugly rabbit in my whole life. Has anyone ever told you that, buddy?" Before the rabbit dude can attempt to beat Scout silly, Spy popped in between them.

"Apologies, monsieur, but my son here is an idiot who can't keep his hormones in check." Spy explained, holding Scout's mouth so that he won't fuck anything up. Scoffing, the rabbit guy decided to let them go and he led his cute girlfriend away. The rabbit girl winked back at Scout as she left.

"Come on! What the Hell was that!? I could've taken him!"

"We're not here for fights, William. We're here to get information." Spy scolded him.

"Yeah? Well the only information I need is that girls' number and what she looks like without the clothes!" Scout's words made Spy face palm. He had the same love for women alright, but he definitely did not have the class or charm that Spy had.

"Scout, we are effectively alone in the city where we believe _Cinder Fall_ is..." Spy said her name as if it were made of poison. "We don't know where she is and we're currently gathering as much information as we can." He reminded Scout of their objective. "So shut up and do not do anything stupid. I do not want any possible spies to tell her that we're here..."

"Ugh...yeah, yeah, whatever. Man, I sort of wish the other fellas were here with us. This whole searching thing would've been a lot easier, dontcha think?"

"Oui...but we can't think about them now. We'll find them whenever we next meet. _If_ we meet again that is..."

"Yeah. Guess I just really miss the other guys though..." Scout trailed. "Never thought I'd actually miss those guys too. Guess we did come together as friends, right?"

"Sure..." Spy answered, starting to walk forward.

"I think I might be hearing them right now!"

Spy was going to say something about how that's impossible, but then he also heard it. Six distinct voices were screaming and laughing from a building further down the street. They apporached the front of the building, and found that it was an inn. Just like what they were looking for! Seeing no reason why they shouldn't go inside, both father and son went inside and expected to find a bunch of drunken hooligans who were the cause of all this noise.

"Mon Dieu..." Spy gasped. Inside the inn were the other six of their missing coworkers! He didn't expect to reunite with them so quickly, or even at all. At least they were right about the drunken hooligans part...

"Hey look! It's the guys! They really are here!" Scout shouted with a big smile on his face.

Despite how real the hype the guys were on, it temporarily stopped when they stumbled on Spy and Scout, or rather the other way around.

"LOOK! IT'S THE FRENCHIE AND THE SHRIMP!" Soldier screamed. "NOW WE CAN ALL KILL THE FIRE WHORE AS A UNIT AGAIN!" Hype seemed to build up again as the guys whooped and hollered like animals.

"Soldier? Where did you all come from? How did you get here?" Spy asked questions that he needed answers to. Answers that they were too hyped to give. "Gentlemen, please! Settle down, you're going to cause a massive disturbance!" Spy yelled, glancing back behind him where a crowd of people going about the night formed to see what was going on. Acting quickly, he ushered Scout in and closed the door behind him.

"Will someone please explain to me how you are all here!?" Spy demanded, but again, everyone was too hyped to answer anything. They quickly broke into a rabid mob again and indulged in even more drinking and dancing. He sighed when Scout decided to join in on them, and he walked past their antics over to the counter where the innkeeper, her bar maids, and Qrow was. Qrow had just been sitting here drinking the whole time by the way, just watching the guys go wild with the rest of the non-mercenaries here.

"Two rooms for eight please..." Spy said to the innkeeper. " She nodded, and ordered the bar maids to get two rooms ready for them. They doubled as regular maids I guess. While Spy was wondering how everyone was here, and even where Yang was since she came with them, the man at his side stirred.

"That won't be necessary, stranger..." Qrow said. Spy looked at him questioningly as he hadn't met him before. Taking a moment to think, Spy remembered that this man was apparently Ruby's uncle based on what Demoman told him when they nearly got arrested by Winter's sister. Now the Frenchman wondered why he was here. What were the chances that they'd run into the missing girl's uncle here in Mistral? "These guys said they already got rooms to stay in at Haven."

"Haven? As in...the name of the huntsman academy here if I remember properly, correct?"

"Yep." Qrow hiccuped. "Headmaster Lionheart's given us all rooms like the generous fella he is... I even got a room with my nieces." This most definitely got Spy's attention.

"Nieces? You mean...?"

"That's right." Qrow looked him straight in the eye and gave Spy a smile. "They made it..."

" _Mon Dieu..._ " Spy gasped. If he was completely honest here, he didn't really think Ruby and her friends would actually make it. He knew the kids were tough, but this was an accomplishment on a whole other level that he didn't think was possible for them.

"Yeah. I'm real proud of them too." He patted Spy's back. "Name's Qrow Branwen. Your friends here told me everything already." Spy looked at him with wide eyes. "And I mean everything, at least how you guys died and came back looking for Cinder that is."

"Well, I suppose you're with us then? On this quest to kill Cinder?" Spy asked him. At least objective number one of finding Ruby was complete.

"Eh... Cinder's small fry compared to what I'm after, but yeah. I'm with you." Qrow emptied his glass before continuing to speak. "What you really got to worry about is her boss..."

This...this did not bode well for Spy. Somehow, deep down he knew that it wasn't just going to be Cinder that they had to fight. He already got a hint of this when he raided the White Fang camp for information that one time.

"Excuse me, madame, but we will not be needing the rooms tonight." He said to the innkeeper before giving his full attention to Qrow. "Her boss, you say?" Spy asked, both men not minding the noise and ruckus of the mercenaries behind them.

"Yeah...might want to get comfortable, pal. It's a long story..."

* * *

 **Haven Academy, Seven Hours Later**

It's morning now and everyone in the city is stirring up for a new day. Ruby woke up with a cute yawn, stretching her arms out while Yang was still snoring in deep slumber.

"Oh Yang..." Ruby softly chuckled to herself. She remembered how just days ago Yang was the first to wake up for she was ready to take Ruby home, and now it seemed like the tables are turned. Shifting her attention to the left, Ruby half expected to see her Uncle Qrow a sleep in his bed, but he wasn't there. "Oh geez, really Uncle Qrow?" She said to no one but herself as she had a pretty good idea where he could be at right now. "Oh... good old Uncle Qrow..." She sighed and shook her head in mock disapproval. Not even on doctor's orders will Qrow miss out on a drink...

" _Is he gone?"_ The tired voice of her sleeping dragon sister asked from right at her side. Only her mouth moved while the rest of Yang hadn't moved an inch.

"Yep..." Ruby sighed as she slowly flipped herself out of bed. "Come on, Yang. Get up. We got some bad guys to find!" She declared with enthusiasm and determination as she went to their bathroom to get ready for the day.

Still in bed, Yang had a slight frown form on her face. She already knew why Ruby was here, and she still doubted she'd find anything here. Same for the mercenaries, though Yang thought they had a slightly better chance of finding Cinder than Ruby ever could. Back when they weren't divided of course.

"Okay..."

In the other room where the remnants of Team JNPR stayed, they were also waking up to a new day. Jaune was the first to awake amongst the three and gladly took the shower first. The sleeping couple didn't mind though. They happily snuggled with each other in the one other bed in the room. Sharing a room with Nora and Ren reminded him of happier times. Times where Pyrrha's smile lit his days and they were just four young students training to become defenders of Remnant.

Jaune used to wake up first just so his teammates wouldn't use all the hot water.

Oh how long ago those days felt...

He found himself standing in the shower, letting the warm water wash over himself without scrubbing himself down. He's too lost in thought right now, thoughts about Pyrrha, thoughts about his friends, thoughts about everything. But above all, Pyrrha was at the top of his mind now. He remembered the awkward adventures they'd had at Beacon and how she was always there for him. His best friend, and the only girl he's ever loved...

In a few minutes, he finished up with his shower and got out to find Ren and Nora waking up. He didn't really feel like talking right now, so he decided to go out the door and take a walk around the academy. Maybe it'll help him get his mind off of Pyrrha, but more likely it'll just keep making him think of her. Either way, his resolve do see this thing through has not wavered, and he promised his hear out that he'll stop Cinder.

When he left the door, he only took a few steps out when he suddenly bumped into someone and fell flat on his back. That's what you get for not paying attention to where you're going.

"Oh! I'm sorry mister, I...I..." Jaune trailed off with his eyes becoming wider than plates. "...Demoman?"

* * *

 **And cut!**

 **Okay, the guy's are back together, now it's just time for the teens next chapter...**

 **So I'm not going to directly respond to all the reviews this time around as a lot of them were your thoughts on this, so I'm going to make a decision right now. I decided to wait until Volume 5, but I'll still be creating stuff relating to and unrelating to this story in the mean time. An overwhelming majority of you suggested I wait anyway, and that's what I will do. Some of you said to keep going with my own ideas, and some others said I should make stuff in between to satisfy the wait.**

 **What's going to happen is that the extras will be the go-to place for all these side stories. There's going to be Chibi stories, as well as stories about their adventures if the Fall of Beacon never happened. Unless you think they should be added on the main story page which I'm fine with. The extras were created so unrelated stuff wouldn't get mixed in with the chapters of the main story, but it all depends on if I should keep these side stories in that one or the extras. With making this extra side stories, it should satiate those guys who want me to keep going, but without _actually_ going.**

 **I can finally make all the ideas I had before come to life while also fixing and editing the story for mistakes and adding stuff!**

 **Also, I decided to not add any OCs. It's just going to create too much trouble and I don't want to deal with that, so no.**

 **There's one more chapter left before I'll actually stop and wait for Volume 5. I'm not going to make up filler for the main story since it typically does not end well, which is why the extras will be filler. By the way, the next chapter is going to be really long since it is the actual 30th chapter anniversary since the Fall of Beacon.**

 **Now I will respond to some reviews.**

 **Review** **Responses:**

 **A fan: Alright then. I'm sorry.**

 **gladeo25: Hush...I got this.**

 **Gzilla54: No worry about Hale, mister. I got him next chapter.**


	60. The Big Reunion

**Last Night, At The Inn**

Out of the eight mercenaries United here at this fine inn, seven were busy getting hyped out of their goddamn minds. Granted a lot of them weren't considered to be exactly mentally secure, but still, they were behaving like straight up animals. So much so, that people walking out the street near the inn would think either a massive bar fight was going on, or there were legitimate wild animals let loose in the inn. Maybe they thought it was drunken wild animals having a massive bar fight, who knows? To be fair though, some of them did start fighting each other in acts of nonsensical violence.

Anyway, the only mercenary who wasn't particularly interested in getting himself fucked up was Spy. The Frenchman was currently engaged in a huge info dump of a conversation with Qrow. A conversation that made Spy become increasingly tired of the constant trend of things making shit way more complicated than he wanted to deal with. All he wanted to do was find Cinder and kill her soul hard that it'll be like she never existed, but _noooooo._ There's an entire goddamn secret war going on between the forces of good and evil, stuff about two gods of creation and destruction, and how by choosing to go after Cinder, all the mercenaries and teens got themselves involved in it.

He said nothing while Qrow explained all of this to him, just a straight face with one hand resting on his chin while the other stayed on the table for the one drink he decided to have tonight. It wasn't until the very end of Qrow's story that Spy spoke. Qrow had asked him a question he simply can't give no answer to.

"So...what's it gonna be? Still want to go through with your insane goal, or do you just want to go back to your own world?" Qrow asked. He patiently waited for a response from the masked man. Said man stayed still, face still straight like it was throughout Qrow's story. In a few moments, Spy will give his answer. A simple and easy answer.

"I want to kill Cinder."

"Sure about that? I did say she has the Mother of all Grimm on her side."

"Yes, I am very sure."

He then looked down at his glass and stared at the dark liquid within. He stared deeply at his own reflection, seeing how his face slowly twisted into determined anger. Then, the face in the glass was suddenly no longer his. Or rather, it wasn't him now in the present day. The glass he held showed him a young man who was barely out of his teens. A young man who watched a city burn and his people and family massacred by evil. His blood began to boil, but he managed to not show it on the outside too badly.

"...I have never been more sure in my whole life." He said solemnly, but seriously. Looking back at his coworkers who did not appear to settle down at all, he nodded his head up and down slowly as if he mentally got their approvals. "We all vowed to destroy Cinder and everything she knows for what she has done to us. Not to mention the suffering that will no doubt come with her foul existence..."

"Well, how noble of you. I suppose you want an award for being a hero or something." Qrow said before a hiccup slipped out.

"...that will be most appreciated if it's not too much trouble." Spy smiled. Qrow smiled at this little bit of humor and raised his glass up, prompting Spy to raise his in preparation for a toast.

"Cheers to stopping the bad guys."

"Cheers."

With that, the two men drank their glasses down until they were empty. A sign of trust between them if the fact that the mercenaries were friends of Qrow's nieces wasn't enough already. While the mercenaries were distracted doing their own things in the inn, none of themy, noticed the door leading into the inn open up.

Oscar had no idea what he just walked into to, and honestly, neither did Ozpin. The farm boy didn't expect to walk into a place full of rowdy men who were fighting and dancing each other while drunk, and Ozpin did not expect to see them all here to begin with. The only one who was missing was Medic. However, Ozpin was not here to show Oscars what a bunch of drunken dudes looked like, he was here to see someone very important.

"There." Ozpin's voice echoed in Oscar's mind. The boy looked straight to the opposite end of the room and saw a man in a tattered red cape speaking to a man in a mask. "That's who we're here to see."

"Hey, is that... Mr. Conagher?" Oscars gasped to himself when he caught sight of the Texan Ranger dancing over by Soldier. Either Dell didn't notice him or he was too hyped to care as he made no notion of noticing him.

"Yes, that appears to be him." Said Ozpin nonchalantly. "I know all these men here, but I did not expect to come across them in partaking such...shenanigans..." Ozpin trailed while Oscar watched the men proceed with their antics in a mix of horrified fascination and anxiety. "Now, kindly make your way to the man in the red cape. I know you're afraid of them, but have no fear. They will not hurt you."

"O-okay..." Oscars gulped. Slowly, but surely, the farm boy slipped his way carefully passed the seven men hyped off of their minds. He was caught off guard and yelped when Demoman popped right in front of him.

" _Who in- *burp* -the Holy flowers of the King's stupid horse are ye?"_ The man muttered out, very clearly drunk over his alcohol tolerance. Even more trippy for Oscar, he had a glowing sword that can talk." _I-I think...he's...*hiccup*...the mail boy..."_ The sword then stopped glowing, apparently meaning that it had fallen 'asleep'.

" _Nah, dummy! He's obviously the maid!"_ Scout drunked, looking at Oscar as if he were one of the pretty maids who've already slapped him away multiple times.

" _Mphmh mphm?"_

"U-um, I-I, I'm..." Oscars stuttered intensely. "I got to go!" The boy then slipped past Demo and quickly shuffled past the other mercenaries. Luckily, they paid him no mind or else they would have gotten him involved in their hyped state. He awkwardly stumbled to Spy and Qrow who had not noticed him yet.

"Why don't you say hello?" Ozpin said from in Oscar's mind. Oscar hesitated, first looking back at the rowdy hooligans behind him and then at the two seemingly civil men in front of him. "Come now. Don't be shy." The detached voice of the Beacon headmaster encouraged him.

Swallowing his fear with a loud and visible gulp, Oscar stepped forward and hoped everything goes smoothly. "Excuse me?"

Somehow, over all the noise, both of the men heard him. He could tell by the looks on their faces that they were puzzled by what a young man like himself was doing in this establishment. Oscar felt like looking away from them, but he forced himself to remain still. The huntsman and the merc looked at each other as they were skeptical before Qrow said something.

"You know, I don't think they allow kids in here, pipsqueak." Qrow said while turning to face him.

"Tell him I want my cane back." Ozpin told Oscar.

"Shut up, I'm getting there..." Oscar said to Ozpin, but to Spy and Qrow, it looked like he was talking to himself. "Um... I'm supposed to tell you...I'd like my cane back." The boy said, looking at both men. All of them still ignored the rowdiness going on behind them. When Qrow heard Oscar say this, he looked to the side as if to think about it and then nodded his head a few times. Then, he stood up and faced Oscar, making him step back as he wasn't sure what he was going to do. Qrow reached for his waist and retrieved Ozpin's unextended cane which he had kept with him the whole time since Beacon fell.

"Heh... it's good to see you again, Oz." He smiled, tossing the cane to Oscar shortly afterwards. When he caught the cane, it immediately extended to its full length which startled Oscar.

Spy was silent this whole time. Just when you think things couldn't get any more complicated for the mercenaries, and then it did. Least this wasn't the weirdest thing they've ever seen. Not by a long shot.

* * *

 **Haven Academy, Now**

"Demoman!?" Jaune cried out when he realized that the person he just bumped into was the one and only literal Black Scotsman. Demoman in the flesh was standing before Jaune Arc, and...to put it simply, he looked awful. He was very clearly drunk and his clothes were messy and had small rips in small places, and he had bruises on his face. Damn Scotsman dranks tons more alcohol than the rest of the team combined last night."Demoman! It is you!" Excited by this pleasant surprise, Jaune leaped to his feet and embraced Demoman in a great hug. "It's so good to see you again! I missed you so much!" Jaune shouted in joy.

The Scotsman looked down in confusion as he didn't realize someone was even hugging him, but eventually he did and clumsily returned the hug. Then, awkwardly enough, he started patting Jaune's head and stroking his hair. Jaune was horribly confused for obvious reasons

" _It's alright, Yang. Old Demo misses ye too..."_

"Huh? What? No! Demo, it's me! Jaune Arc!" Jaune said with a smile, gently breaking out of Demo's hold.

" _Aye, of course I know it's you, lass!"_ Demo laughed drunkenly. Jaune thought about it for a moment, and it became very clear that Demo was so hammered, that he thinks Jaune is Yang only because of his blonde hair.

"Right..." The boy sighed. At least he was happy to find that another mercenary had been found. First Heavy, Pyro, and Soldier, then Engineer, and now Demoman! It made him wonder if Demoman came here with anyone else since he already knew that the rest were alive somewhere in Remnant.

From behind him, the door to his Team's room opened up and Nora peaked her head out into the hall.

"Jaune? Are you screaming alone agaaiiiiiinn..." She trailed off when she saw who was standing in front of Jaune. Nora had completely frozen as her heart stopped beating. Her brain kept telling her that her eyes were lying while her heart was telling her to screw her brain and believe that a ghost was here.

" _Oh!_ _Hi lass!"_ The ghost slowly waved at her with a goofy smile. Gradually, Nora' heart was beating her brain senseless and forcing it to believe that Demoman was here. A noise that can be described as a rising scream of joy and pure happiness can be described as coming from Nora's mouth, a huge smile growing ever bigger and bigger.

"DEMMY! :D"

With speed that would even rival Ruby's semblance, she tackled Demoman to the floor and crushed him to near death in a hug that pales in comparison to the loving hugs that Yang gives Ruby.

"YOU'RE ALIVE! YOU'RE ALIVE! YOU'RE ALIVE!~" The hyper excited girl kept repeating to herself in absolute delight, not noticing that her love was killing Demoman. To be fair though, Demoman didn't notice either since he couldn't feel a single thing in his body after last night. Still, Jaune swore he heard something in Demo's body cracking, and a lot of cracks at that, and tried to pry Nora off of him. "Oh, Demoman! You won't believe how much I missed you! And you missed so much too!"

" _Aye,_ _I heard about it all..._ " Demo smiled, still not noticing that his arms are bending at all the wrong places.

"We went on a huge adventure across the world to here and it was super fun, super scary, and super sad, but it was also super cool! Some of the Grimm we fought were _sooooooooo_ much fun to fight! Except that one monster we fought yesterday and that scorpion jerk, but I know you would have totally loved it! Hey are you drunk? Why's your arms feel like jelly? Did you get into a fight? Oh, I don't care! You're Demmy! You can beat anyone! Oh my gosh I missed you so much!" She squealed all of this in the span of less than a minute.

"Nora! Get off of him! You're crushing him!" Jaune yelled. Even as he clenched his teeth and pulled with all of his strength, Nora hadn't budged a bit in her devastating hug of love. The students of the academy started looking out their doors to see what all the fuss was about.

Soon enough, the rest of Team RNJR came outside when they heard all of the noise. Ren casually opened the door and expected Nora to be doing something silly, and Yang and Ruby rushed out because they thought some trouble was going down. Both of the sisters were still in their sleeping clothes when they came out, and Ren was already in his everyday wear. It's been a while since they've worn pajamas, mostly because they were on the move most of the time.

"Nora! Did something happen!? Are you al-OH MY GOSH!" Ruby screamed when she saw Demoman. Absolutely overjoyed that another mercenary had been found, she ran to jump on Demo too, but Yang grabbed her by the back of her pajamas and held her in the air.

"Whoa there, sis. I think Demo would appreciate it if you wait your turn..." She trailed off, keeping a smile even though she was sure Nora had turned Demo's insides into squishy mush. Well then, Yang was certainly glad that more and more mercenaries were turning up. She hadn't expected to reunite with a couple of them so soon. It kinda made her wonder if Demo was here the whole time.

Fortunately for Demoman, Nora gained hr senses and had the decency to pick him up and help him stand. The mercenary was significantly taller than her, so it was a little comical to see a young girl like Nora lift him to his feet.

"Oh..." Nora lightly cringed when she noticed the damage she did to him. "Uh.. _hehe_...sorry, Demmy..." She laughed nervously.

" _Ah, it's fine lass! It's going to take a lot more than -*hiccup*- than...than...where am I again?"_ He looked confused all of a sudden, daring at the girl in front of him as if she was a stranger.

"Oh, Demoman!" Nora laughed at his drunken antics, giving a friendly slap on the back that sent Demoman sprawled against the floor. It was here that the Scotsman fell asleep while the teens looked on.

Ruby worriedly poked his face. "Is he gonna be alright?"

"Eh, he'll be fine!" Nora shrugged.

"If Demoman is here, then that could mean the others are too." Ren reasoned. He was also glad to see another one return, and like the rest of them, was more than eager to meet the rest. Lucky then that they did not have to wait long.

"And you are right to think so." A Russian voice called from down the hall. All eyes turned to the source and saw Heavy, Pyro, Soldier, and Engineer standing side by side. It looked like there were people standing behind them.

"Dammit, Tavish! You weren't supposed to go out there!" Soldier yelled before Heavy knocked the side of his helmet for him to shut up.

"No...don't tell me..." Ruby awed. Her eyes were really wide, waiting for them to do something.

Every face was waiting for the reveal. All eyes trying to look behind the mercenaries to see who they were hiding even if it should be obvious, at least to Team RNJR. With grins on their faces, the four stepped aside and showed them all the other missing mercenaries. With

"Bonjour." The French ghost said.

"G'morning." The Australian ghost said.

"Sup." The Bostonian ghost said.

It was just silence on the other side of the hall. For the Haven students looking out their doors, they had no idea what the occasion was. Some assumed they were there patents or something. But for Team RNJR, the reaction was stunned silence as if someone had stolen their ability to think.

...

" _Why they just standin' there?"_ Scout whispered to Sniper.

" _Shut your cake hole. Give them some time..._ "

" _Well what? Are they stupid or something? -OW!"_ Scout softly grunted when Spy elbowed him to shut up. Deciding that more than enough time had passed for them to comprehend what they were seeing, Spy cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Hello, kids. It has been too long-OOF!" Mid-sentence, Spy found himself smashing against the two behind him like bowling pins when Ruby shot herself at the speed of sound towards them. So fast that she went, that the open doors of students flew open and some even were sucked out into the hall from the force she gave off. The mercenaries went down like bowling pins when Ruby smashed into them with the force of all her petite frame flying at them with speed that broke the sound barrier.

In a manner of a single moment in time, the eight mercs found themselves sprawled on the floor with Ruby going around brutally hugging and kissing each of them on the cheek. Tears were flowing down her face, for it was an absolute fact that every single one of them was back. Seeing no reason why they shouldn't be embracing the mercenaries in joy, the rest of Team RNJR rushed to meet their sorely missed professors while Yang watched on with a smile across her face.

The two girls in RNJR just couldn't stop giving obsessively powerful hugs to them and they just wouldn't stop kissing them on the cheeks. The guys could of cared less about the kiss on the cheeks since it actually felt nice, but the hugs were too much and they felt like they were dying. As for the two boys in Team RNJR, they didn't give any kisses because that would be weird, but they did join in on the embraces even if not as severely as the girls were.

Students that had been sucked out into the hall earlier by Ruby's insane burst of speed grumbled as they picked themselves up, but the general reaction of the Haven students was good wishes and thoughts toward the warming scene, even if they still didn't understand the relationship between these adult men and these four teenagers. Heavy, Soldier, Engineer, and Pyro stood by the side and also watched the girls brutally destroy the three arrivals with love while the two boys waited to properly embrace them.

"Looks like Ruby really misses them..." Yang sighed with a smile, still standing by her room door where Demo was unconscious at her feet.

She can't really blame any of them for missing them though as all of the students at Beacon, or rather former students, missed them. Especially their valiant attempt at trying to save the school. While they didn't save the school itself, they did save several lives. As a matter of fact, a lot of former Beacon students dedicated a memorial for them at a park in Vale. It wasn't an official memorial sponsored by the city, but the students and their families gathered in their hundreds to pay their respects to the heroes who lost their lives trying to save their home. Even after they returned, there were still a lot who didn't know they had come back.

" _What do you expect? It's not everyday where a bunch of dead guys drop into your life again, and with flesh on their bones no less! The lucky bastards!"_ A ghostly voice said from Yang's side, albeit drunkenly. Recognizing the voice as that of Eyelander, she looked down and expected to see just the claymore sticking out of its scabbard, but to her utter surprise, a ghostly crusader in full armor was lifting Demo up to his feet. The girl actually jumped back when she saw this literal ghost. No one knew Eyelander could do this, and Yang was still creeped out by ghosts.

" _What are you staring at? Help me get this fool to his feet!_ " The sword urged her. If you're wondering why's he's in this state now, it's because the power of alcohol has allowed him to temporarily leave the prison his soul was trapped in. That makes like little to no sense, but that witch who did this to him didn't make much sense in her motives and strange behavior either...

Hesitating a bit and with the Haven students who noticed looking on in awe, Yang helped out with lifting the drunken Scot up.

Back to the sapfest that was Team RNJR finding the rest of the guys, Ruby and Nora were still turning the guys into mush with the insane strength of their hugs. Even petite little Ruby was somehow matching Nora's strength just from how happy she was to see them. Obviously, the mercs were not enjoying this at all, and they quickly threw them off of them. Heavy grabbed the two girls with each of his hands and held them up in the air before they can pounce back on them, and the the boys had stopped long ago.

"That is enough hugging and kissing." Heavy said, giving both of them a stern look. "You girls make Heavy's friends squishy like baby fat." He faced them towards the guys, and they indeed looked like they were made of jelly, their bones being in not the best of shape as their passive healing slowly got to work.

"Oh...sorry!" Ruby apologized immediately with Nora following her example right after.

"Ow! Ugh...yes. Apology accepted..." Spy grunted through clenched teeth.

"Man! These girls got some freakin' incredible strength..." Scout exclaimed, cracking his back into place.

When they had recovered enough, Jaune and Ren finally got the chance to properly meet them with manly handshakes and the kind of hug men do to each other that you just knew that they were great friends if you saw it happen. As soon as the three crushed mercenaries healed enough as to where their chests weren't caved in and able to breathe properly again, they dusted themselves off and gave pained smiles to the happy teens

"Yes, yes...we missed you all too." Spy said whilst trying to not seem like he was in pain. He gave them a proud smile.

"Yeah, I do too! Even if I don't remember half of your names." Scout shrugged, still giving his signature grin through soft heaves of pain.

"What they said..." Sniper was standing, yet he was bending over and breathing harshly.

Then there was a short moment of silence. Both sides looked to each other and kept smiles of either proudness or joy depending on who you're looking at. The members of Team RNJR simply could not be any happier right now. Not only did the missing mercenaries return, but they're here with them in Mistral! Together they can stop this evil plot and make things right again!

Ruby started to cry as that dream she had was become that much more of a reality, except the only one missing was Medic, but Ruby had faith that she'll see him again.

"No." Spy said to Ruby. "Do not cry now. For we have an even bigger surprise in store for you all. And that includes you, Yang." His words got Ruby to stop crying, and it got the teens thinking over what they can possibly do that can surprise them even more. Worldlessly, Spy nodded back to Sniper and the Australian went back down the hall. "However, the surprise isn't ready just quite yet, so until then, you may catch up with the rest of us." With that, Spy turned and walked down the hall where Sniper was heading.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Ruby yelled, not wanting him to leave so soon as they just met each other again.

"I'm going to get the surprise ready! It will only take a couple hours, I promise you!" He yelled over his shoulder.

At this point in the reunion, the Haven students who peaked their heads out of their door either went back inside their rooms or went out to perform their daily activities. They said nothing to the mercenaries or Team RNJR but they did smile at them for the most part on the occasion of this happy meeting of their's.

" _So..."_ Suddenly, Ruby and Nora felt a weight on both their shoulders, and were startled to find that the figure laying his arms on them was a transparent yellow ghost knight! And it was speaking in Eyelander's voice! Though he sounded drunk as fuck. " _It's been too long since I've last seen you boys!"_ Said the literal ghost, so drunk he can't tell Ruby and Nora were girls. Ruby looked past the ghost with wide eyes and saw Yang shrug as she didn't know he could do this either.

"Damn it, Eyelander..." Demo said in a dazed way, apparently recovering just now from his insane hangover. Struggling to still stand on his feet, he got Eyelander to go back into his sword.

"Aright y'all, settle down and let's find somewhere where we can all sit and talk. It'll be nice to catch up after so long."

Not wanting to argue with that perfectly good reason, all the teens followed the mercs out somewhere while Haven students walled by them. There was a stark contrast between Team RNJR and Yang with the black uniformed students of Haven academy. If Ruby wasn't so overjoyed with this big reunion, the uniforms would have bugged her because they were the same type that Cinder and her team wore all those months ago when they were in disguise.

Little did any of the teens know a much bigger surprise was on its way...

* * *

 **Atlesian Embassy**

Weiss had to wait the nright after her arrival to meet her sister since Winter was out on assignment. She was uncomfortable with the comfortable arrangements of the quarters she was given. Everything here made her a little sick inside from how orderly everything it was. It reminded her a lot of her restricted life back at her father's mansion. This is why she had a fear that Winter will send her back, and if not Winter then maybe some other Atlesian official.

And she was afraid of it becoming a reality when she finally met with Winter when she returned to the embassy this morning. Weiss sat silently in a proper manor while Winter stared at her after she had finished explaining what she was doing here, and Winter did not looked pleased.

"...you ran away from home." The older Schnee said as a fact instead of a question.

"Yes." Weiss answered without delay. She showed no signs of fear, but you can feel it.

"By yourself."

"That is correct. Well, I had some assistance." She admitted.

"Hmmm...and you decided to have yourself smuggled here illegally..."

"...yes." She answered.

Weiss felt like she shouldn't mention she brought Spy and Scout with her. Speaking of those two, she had no idea where they went after they sneaked out of the embassy and left her here. All she can hope for was that they weren't doing anything stupid to get themselves in trouble, but she had faith that Spy was more than capable of that.

Sighing, Winter closed her eyes and remained silent for a minute, mentally going over on what to do with her sister here. Weiss waited patiently, Still hiding her fear. Eventually, the older Schnee opened her icy blue eyes and looked straight at her little sister's own blue eyes.

"I can't let you stay here."

"What? But why?" Weiss said, losing her calmness. "What is wrong with me staying here with you?"

"Weiss, I understand how you feel about father, but you have came here to Mistral in one of the worst times possible." Winter said as an absolute fact. This made Weiss wary as it seemed as though she had more to worry about than just being sent home.

"Winter, what is going on? I heard father and the general talk about some kind of confct hapening here in Mistral, and the general said this information came from you." Weiss said with a look of seriousness. "What's happening?"

"It's things that do not concern you." Winter sighed.

"But Winter! I can hel-"

"Silence, you dolt!" Winter shouted at her. "Do you understand how serious the situation in Mistral is?"

"Well maybe I will if you told me!"

"Weiss, this is something that is far out of your hands. Not even I know what's going to happen, but it will most likely lead to conflict. But what I do know is that I am sending you back home. That pilot who smuggled you here will be happy to find that he will not be punished if he takes you back..."

Weiss opened her mouth as if to say something, but then shut it. A mixed feeling of anger and despair was whirling inside her right now, and she can't bear to think of what would her father do to her when she gets back to Atlas. She seriously did not want to go back, and so much so that she considered running away from here and possibly staying in Haven. Though, in all likelihood, the Haven headmaster may just hand her back over when asked to.

"I will have the pilot informed of what he must do. You can expect to be leaving within the hour." Winter said. She was not stupid. It can be very clearly seen in Weiss' expression that she did not want to leave, and it pained Winter. The older Schnee understood perfectly well why Weiss would want to be with her, but now of all times was not a good time.

Weiss remained silent. A single tear formed on her right eye, but it did not fall. Her eyes were watery yet no tears flowed down.

They remained like this for a minute but it felt like a whole hour. Intensely staring at each other full of emotion, but Winter kept a stern look to hide it. The moment was broken when a knocking was heard on Winter's office door.

"Specialist Schnee? I've the report on the androids as requested, ma'am."

"I don't remember asking for any report..." Winter said to herself. "You may enter." The mechanized door slid open and revealed an Atlesian soldier with yellow highlights and symbols that marked him as a guard. Winter was immediately suspicious on why a guard would bring a report instead of the soldiers who're tasked with handling the androids. "What have you to report?"

"This..." The soldier pulled out a pocket watch and held it in front of her face, much to the Schnee sisters confusion.

"What are you doing?" Winter demanded in a tone of authority, annoyed with how this strange guard is off duty and interfering with her business.

"Just watch. No pun intended." Said the guard. Winter was going to shout at him for this ridiculousness, but then she felt a strange attraction to the watch that she found difficult to resist.

"Wha-what...is this..." Winter was beginnings to fall under its spell. Seeing her sister in trouble, Weiss immediately stood up and was going to jump on the guard with Myretenaster had the guard not removed his mask.

"Oh please..." The guard's voice morphed onto a French after clouds of red mist covered his body. "Put that away, Ms. Schnee. I'll be done shortly." Spy said to the shocked former heiress.

"Spy!?"

"Oui, now sit down." He ordered her, then turning his full attention on the hypnotized Winter. "You are getting very tired...so tired that you think Weiss was here."

"I am tired, and I think Weiss is here." Winter repeated his words like a machine. Weiss was absolutely amazed with whatever sorcery Spy was doing now.

"You will forget any of this happened and go to sleep. It was all just a dream."

 _"I will forget any of this happened and go to sleep. It was all just a dream..."_ Winter yawned. She then curled her arms up and fell asleep on her desk with her head resting on her arms.

"Excellent. Now, come with me, Weiss I have a surprise for you." Spy said, disguising himself as a guard again.

"That was incredible! How did you do that to Winter?"

"A little thing Earth calls hypnosis. A handy trick for getting people to do what you want. She'll be fine. Winter will wake up thinking she had a dream of this happening and nothing more..."

"Well, what about me? I have nowhere to go if I can't be with Winter..."

" Oh...don't worry about that. I have arrangements for all of us at Haven." He gave her a smile. "Now, take this invisibility watch and follow me. We are leaving." He handed her the Cloak and Dagger invis watch, thought her how to use it, and they were off.

* * *

 **Haven Academy**

Just as she promised herself last night, Blake's going to go meet with Headmaster Lionheart first thing this morning. Not without getting ready for the day of course. She had a big day ahead of her, and she just kept going over all the things she had to do with Sniper, Demoman, and Team SSSN today on her quest to take the White Fang back. The only thing that she could think of doing after meeting with Lionheart is tour the city of Mistral, mostly because it'll give her an idea of where the White Fang can possibly be if they were in the city.

That was unless Lionheart was willing to provide any assistance, but she'll get to that when she meets with him. She showered, put her clothes on, and left out the door. Then she let off a startled mew when Sniper surprised her by standing right in front of the door which also made her jump back and slip.

"G'morning, Kitten!" The Australian chuckled as he held a hand to help Blake up.

"Do mercenaries always scare people like this?" Blake said in an annoyed tone, her cat ears folded down in that way cats do. Of course, she was referring to all those times in the past where the mercenaries just loved to mess with them. Thinking about those times back in Beacon made her miss her friends, but she held those feelings back as she had something to focus on now.

"Ah, lighten up, sheila! Just some morning humor to start the day off..." Sniper smiled.

"Uh-huh..." She slowly nodded her head, keeping a stern look at the smiling Australian. "Go scare Sun or something. I have to get to Headmaster Lionheart as soon as possible." Said she, before starting to walk down the hall in Sniper's direction. Then, much to her annoyance, Sniper deliberately stood in her way with that smile on his face. Blake's face soured in annoyance, it kinda made her cute. She stepped to the right, and Sniper did so as well. She stepped to the left, and Sniper did the same. "Mr. Mundy, please get out of my way or else." She stated coldly, her grumpy face staring at him just as coldly.

"Sorry, girlie, but I got something real important to show ya." Sniper said. Blake had enough of him and simply pushed through the Australian and stomped off down the hall.

"Whatever it is, it can wait. I need to see the headmaster. _Now._ " She said over her shoulder and hastened her pace. Blake straight up hissed like a cat when Sniper grabbed her on the shoulder and pulled her back.

" _Whoooooaa_...easy, Blake." Sniper raised his hands up as if he felt threatened by her hiss. "But I think this surprise is something you really have to see."

"More important than telling Headmaster Lionheart about the White Fang's plans?" She raised a brow, but still held her annoyed and angry look. Still pretty cute looking.

"Eh...maybe not _quite_ as important, but we already got it ready for you, so you better come with me now if you know what is best for you, mate."

"Sniper, no." Blake rejected his words. It was here that a short but tense standoff happened between the Faunus and the Australian. Blake's feline eyes stared down Sniper's rugged Australian eyes.

"...I see." He nodded. Then, at a speed that caught Blake totally off guard, Sniper grabbed her and held her tightly.

"Sniper!? Put me down!" Blake shouted as she flailed her legs around.

"Nope! You have got to see this!" Sniper grunted as Blake was surprisingly heavy. Not so heavy that he couldn't hold her but just heavier than he thought she was.

"Why can't you just tell me what it is!?"

"Because it's a surprise!"

 _Really_ tired of his antics now, Blake reared one of her legs back and kicked Sniper in the knee. This got the Australian to let go of her and she attempted to make a dash down the hall, but then Sniper tripped her and pounced right back on her. Haven students walking down the halls were attracted to the sudden violence and weren't sure of what to do.

"No worries! Just some-ugh-...friendly wrestling!" Sniper struggled to say to the crowd as Blake and him were grappling with each other. He found it really hard to hold onto Blake as the girl was really slippery like a cat. Like, have you ever tried to hold a cat that didn't want to be held? Exactly, it's hard as fuck. Even if that cat was a Faunus.

Currently, Sniper was holding onto her by the waist and she was pushing against his face with both of her hands to get free. It didn't matter how awkward some of the positions they were in were, Sniper was not going to let her go.

"Sniper! Let go of me!"

"No!" Sniper responded. He then got a slap across the face that dazed him for only a bit. "Augh! Feisty kitten, ain't ya?" Sniper chuckled with a a visible red handprint across his cheek. Blake was tired of how smug he looked, and finally just decked him in the face. Then, she kneed Sniper in the chest which knocked the air out of him, and was finally able to break out of his hold.

To her dismay, though, Sniper picked a fucking painting from off the wall and smashed it over her. Blake wasn't hurt at all, just really shocked as she found she just ripped straight through the painting. However, the wooden frame of the painting held, and Sniper used that to pull Blake back towards him where he was able to get a hold of her again. It was clear that Blake was too damn feisty to bring peacefully, so like any other cat going to the vet, Sniper had to drug her. That might be in the wrong order, but you get it.

Reaching into his bottomless inventory as Blake was punching, kicking, and even biting him, he got out a bottle of chloroform he kept handy whenever he needed to interrogate someone, doused the glove on his left hand, and held it in front of her face. Unwillingly, the kitty got some good whiffs of the stuff and was beginning to feel really sleepy.

"Wha- what is thiiiiiiiss..." She trailed until falling asleep. After making sure that Blake was sufficiently knocked out, Sniper laughed in victory and held her body over his shoulder like a bag of rice.

"Looks like you're definitely not missing out on the surprise now!" Sniper taunted the fast asleep Faunus. Then he found that the crowd of Haven students were still surrounding them with unsure looks to weren't sure if they just witnessed a kidnapping right in front of the public or if this was some kind of sick prank. "What are you bunch of posies looking at? Bugger off, the lot of ya!" He said to them before forcing his way through the small crowd. "Go on! Get to class or something! Show's over!"

* * *

 **An Hour Later, Courtyards of Haven Academy**

So, the rest of the mercenaries and Team RNJR decided on catching up at a large pavilion with benches in the beautiful and grand courtyards of the academy. Most of the stories told were of Team RNJR's exploits and that of the mercenaries adventures with Yang since they returned to Remnant.

" _Dell, I have the package."_ Spy's voice transmitted through a little earpiece in the Texan's ear. Engineer was still wearing the cowboy hat by the way.

" _And I have the tuna. Repeat, I have got the tuna."_ Sniper's voice came over.

" _That's a dumb codename for that cat gal."_ Engie said.

" _Whatever! I got her, mate. You know what to do next."_

"Alrighty then..." Engie said to himself. The mercenaries were looking at him while the teens hadn't noticed him. He nodded to the each of them, signalling that it has been done. "Hey kids, y'all might want to simmer down."

"Why, Engie?" Ruby tilted her head sideways.

"We got a surprise for y'all." Engie smiled.

The word 'surprise' did not mean a lot of good things if it was coming from the mercenaries. They may be happy that they were back, but Team RNJR and Yang know full well how a lot of their 'surprises' turned out. It was usually some kind of scare or something generally unpleasant to the teens where the guys will laugh at their expense, and they hoped that whatever this surprise was so soon after they've become reunited with each other wasn't too bad.

"Alright, put these freakin' blindfolds on." Scout said with a blindfold in his hands. This _really_ made them afraid, and they tried not to show any dread when the blindfolds were put on.

" _You're not gonna hurt us, right Demmy?_ " Nora asked her Scottish mentor as he was about to put the fold on.

"Ah, it's nothing to be afraid of, lass." He assured her before putting the fold on.

Soon, all the blindfolds were put on, and the teens waited in darkness for whatever the mercs had in store for them to happen. With their hearing, they heard two people approach them judging by the rhythm of the footsteps.

"Put her right here." They heard Heavy say to whoever came. The fact that he said 'her' got them thinking. They were gonna surprise them with a person? And a female at that?

"Mphmhm phm Hmpmh." They heard Pyro mphm. They got absolutely no information out of that since no one except for the mercenaries and some of the people close to them can understand Pyro. Strangely, they heard a female voice softly whisper something to one of them and she was told to hush by Spy. It sounded strangely familiar to them all, but it was too faint to be certain. They also heard muffled sounds that sounded like a separate girl struggling with a gag in her mouth, where whoever it was then got hushed by Sniper.

"Alright gentlemen, on the count of three, remove all of their blindfolds." Spy said. Each of the teens can sort of sense the mercenaries coming behind them and taking hold of the blindfolds.

"One...

two...

three!"

All seven of the young huntsmen were blinded by light when their blindfolds were removed, and they blinked their eyes rapidly to adjust and see just what the surprise was. It was safe to say that it felt like time froze. Specifically for the members of Team RWBY.

Ruby and Yang had their jaws hanging when sitting on the bench across from them was Blake and Weiss in the flesh. Weiss was still blinking her eyes to get used to the light, but she then also became as shocked as the sisters were. Blake was tied up and had a gag in her mouth, where she then spit it out in absolute fury. Softly chuckling to himself, Sniper cut her loose. The catgirl was going to scream and pounce on him for basically assaulting her and wasting time, but no words came out of her mouth as she also seen them.

No words were said in the next minute of time. Team JNPR was surprised, but just not as much as the members of Team RWBY rightfully were. The mercenaries gathered by the side in one group and waited for something to happen.

It has been so long. Over half a year has passed since any of them seen each other. Yang may be considered an exception, but she had been reunited with Ruby for only less than a week. All four girls remained still, eyes wide and jaws hanging open as their brains tried to process who they were seeing right now.

"... _I think they're being stupid again._ " Scout whispered to his coworkers. Pyro then elbowed him in the side.

" _Shhh! Mphm hmphm!"_ Pyro mphmed because it wanted to watch this sweet moment unfold.

After another minute of nothing happening, some of the guys tiptoed to the girls because they were getting bored and annoyed that their hard work was seemingly going to waste.

"Go on!" Engie shoved Ruby forward. "Get huggin' already! You know you want to!"

"Dragon should go and hug teammates. You have not seen them in a long time." Heavy urged Yang forward.

"Do something now and I will not force you to drop and give me 200!" Soldier threatened.

Hesitantly, the girls took a step toward each other, and everyone who wasn't them waited once more.

"...Weiss." Ruby squeaked softly. "...Blake." Tears were beginning to fall down her cheeks. The other girls didn't say anything initially for they couldn't find the strength to.

Team JNPR remained patient, but the guys were getting irritated by this. They didn't go through the trouble of getting them here without receiving a sweet moment in return! The mercs were going to do something about this, but much to their surprise and satisfaction, all four members of Team RWBY embraced each other in a big group hug in the middle of the pavilion.

"Well, I thought they weren't going to do anything!" Demo laughed.

"You said it, fellow patriot! I was about to whip them if they disappointed me!" Soldier said with the Disciplinary Action out.

"Yeah, don't whip them, Soldier..." Scout said in disgust. Team JNPR was going to join in on the sappiness, but the mercs held them back as Team RWBY needed just this moment to themselves.

Team RWBY made no sounds as they embraced each other, though all the girls had tears coming down their faces. Joyful tears after not seeing each other in so long. It took them another minute of tight, caring hugs before one of them was able to say anything, and that would be Ruby.

"I missed you guys so much..." Ruby said through teary eyes.

"Me too..." Said Yang with eyes just as tear filled.

"Y-yeah..." Blake went as she was tightly being hugged by Yang.

Then, the girls broke up and all of them started clamoring out stories and how much they missed each other all at once.

"I couldn't stop thinking about you while I was travelling!"

"You guys were always on my mind back in Patch..."

"I'm so happy to see you again..."

"I missed you all so much..."

And so on. This happy clamor certainly made RED Team and Team JNPR feel nice and warm inside. Blake and Weiss were also pleasantly surprised to see the members of Team JNPR and even they joined up to catch up. The mercenaries watched on, proud of what they had just done. Operation Bring the Kids together was a success.

"But how? How is this all possible? How did you all get here?" Blake inquired after cleaning her face of warm tears. Her attention was caught when Spy cleared his throat.

"I believe you have us to thank for that." Spy said. "Hello, girls."

Both Blake and Weiss were again shocked. Just when it seemed like they couldn't get surprised anymore, the rest of the missing mercenaries that they had respectively not seen yet (with the exception of Medic) were here! It soon became a big pile up in the pavilion as the mercenaries and the teens all properly met each other with open arms. It was very emotional. Maybe not so much so for the mercenaries since they're pretty hardened (though they were still Human, touching moments like this brightened their spirits up), but the teens seemingly could not control their joy and tears. None of them can thank the mercenaries enough for arranging this huge reunion!

The leader of Team RWBY was particularly the most joyful of them all. Ruby's dream that foreshadowed the great reunion had become a reality, and now all there was to do was find the bat guys and stop their evil schemes! However, Ruby was a little saddened by the fact that Medic was not here. None of the huntsmen except for Yang has seen the good doctor, and Ruby was somewhat close to him after he saved her life. She missed his friendly demeanor, even if he was creepy at times and gave off mad doctor vibes every now and then.

"Oh, this is wonderful! All we need now is Medic!"

Suddenly, an eerie green light covered the sky above them. They couldn't see what was above them due to the roof of the pavilion, but fortunately for them, they didn't have to. Screaming was heard, and then two figures crashed straight through the rood of the pavilion and landed right on top of the happy ensemble, interrupting this joyful moment. Especially since the impact caused the pavilion to collapse right on top of them.

"Ach! Why is my whole body in pain yet my heart feels like there is butterflies inside them!?" The good German doctor rubbed his head as he looked back up at the green portal he fell through. He hadn't noticed on what he just landed on. Above, Merasmus was looking down at them all.

"And take your accursed boxes! Merasmus has no use for them!" The wizard then disrespectfully dumped a cardboard box and nine crates full of stuff right on top of the already rubble-turned pavilion. The boxes did not break on contact, but they did cause even more pain for the people who were in the pavilion when the boxes landed on some of them.

"FICK DICH, DU DRECKLIGER MAGISCHER HUND! (FUCK YOU, YOU FILTHY MAGICAL DOG!)" Medic cursed him out in German right as the wizard's portal disappeared. Near him, Ruby threw a piece of rubble off of her and coughed a bit as she was in pain, and as was the rest of the people under the pavilion. Then, her heart stopped when she saw her wish came true. Damn, Ruby's been having a lot of things go right for her these days. "Huh, why does it feel like my heart stopped? I-GAH!" Medic gasped when Ruby had hugged him at the speed of sound.

"DOCTOR!" Ruby screamed in joy when the last mercenary suddenly dropped out of nowhere, but it's not like any of them cared. Medic was here! The gang was all back together! A lot of Haven students and staff had gathered around the pavilion to see what all the commotion of the pavilion collapsing was about, but no one minded them.

"Argh! Vat!? Ruby!? Und...und..." Medic's eyes went wide when he looked around him and saw that the whole crew was here. "Und meine freunde? Und alle fehleden kinder? (And my friends? And all the missing kids?)" Immediately, Medic whooped in joy as his quest to find them was over just like that! He hugged Ruby tightly and shook her petite body as he jumped up and down in victory.

Another big ass group hug ensued, but everyone seemingly forgot about the other person Medic fell through the portal with. Said person was still under the rubble and was working on getting a large section of roof off of her.

"Hey! Someone's still stuck!" Jaune yelled.

The knightly boy ran over to help the person lift the piece of roof off, and with some effort, were able to throw it off. Smiling to himself as this day was already a really good one for him, Jaune held his hand out for this mystery person. Smoke from the collapse of the pavilion and then the piece of rubble they threw off had broken up into smaller pieces which made even more smoke, but Jaune can just make out that the person was a woman.

"Here! Let me give you a hand!" Jaune said warmly. He heard coughing from this girl in the smoke, and then she said something. Something that made his entire body freeze.

"Jaune?"

* * *

 **Fuck yeah. Everyone's back together!**

 **So I was wrong about this being the last chapter before I take a break for Volume 5. It's because I'm going to make one more chapter just to explain what was going on with Medic in Vale while all of this was going down.**

 **Then after that, break time! This story will go on hiatus until Volume 5, where I will do other shit until then. Just wait until what is in the boxes is revealed!**

 **Review Responses:**

 **buzzsaw935: NEXT CHAPTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER**

 **Gizmo Gear: Actually, Volume 5 comes out in fall of this year, not almost a year.**

 **VivaL'Aquila: Yeah, got a glimpse of some interaction here.**

 **gladeo25: Yes, and shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...it's coming.**

 **Awesome Arod: Engie's only teleporter he brought with him was rekt on the ship. Medic's sword was broken by Yang. And Spy already had a saber unless you're asking for a new one, and Sniper's Shahanshah is not a saber.**

 **Guest: Here he is.**

 **Neramo: Is it good?**

 **Jeff: Already decided on doing so!**

 **darkromdemon: Yeah, but it's all good, mate.**

 **The Mercenary Prime: ...and? Continue about Soldier, as I do not remember that part. Also, you're welcome for the Cinder image :)**

 **A Shattered Piece of Crap: Scout is 27 years old. This was confirmed in the latest comic if you haven't read it yet. His real name is actually Jeremy.**

 **420blazeitfaggot: Done.**

 **ATTF: Yeah. As in 30 chapters since the Fall of Beacon. I'm just too in love with this story, man.**


	61. The Doctor's Little Trip

**The Other Day, Mercs' Fort**

"Little rabbit girl is so cute with hair tied back!" Yana, one of Heavy's younger sisters, petted Rouge's adorably small head with her hair recently tied into a ponytail.

At the moment, Heavy's family was entirely focused on spoiling the little cutie, while Team CFVY watched Medic and Pauling finishing up the deal with Merasmus. The little rabbit girl really enjoyed the attention she was getting from these four Russian women, and especially from Mrs. Cherinkov since she felt very much like a warm old nice babushka. Probably because she was if you ignore how she has no grandchildren. Yet...

Anyways, let's give a quick run down of the current state of the fort and what's going on here. Saxton Hale literally swam here after hiking his Australian ass through the Vale Frontier in record time, a bunch of robotic forces were sent to assist in containing the Grimm at Beacon, Team CFVY has come to the fort following up on what Medic promised them, and Merasmus attacked the place off screen and got absolutely rekt. Now Merasmus finished up on a deal to help Medic and Pauling find the missing mercenaries, bringing an end to Medic's problem of not being able to do anything. Also, the airship was nearly done building.

Margaret also came through the portal looking for Hale when she heard her husband actually made it back in Remnant, and was glad to see it to be the truth. The perfect match for Hale was currently with him.

"Alright, Merasmus, Medic and I know where we want to go!" Pauling declared to the wizard.

"Yes, yes, alright. Just say the name and Merasmus will bring you there." The wizard was strangely eager. Probably because he wanted to get the fuck out of here and live the rest of his immortal life with the mercenaries no longer fucking with him.

"Wizard! I vant you to bring us to-" Medic was stopped mid-demand when his boss' voice yelled from in the base.

"Nurse? Nurse!? Get over here, got something to for ya!"

Medic felt like screaming his heart out when he was interrupted this close to getting his team back, but he showed no sign of it and looked back to his employer. He saw that Saxton Hale actually did have something for him in the form of crates full of stuff that was apparently for him.

"Can you wait for a few minutes? I'll be right back..." Medic groaned to Merasmus before heading to Hale.

" _WAIT!? MERASMUS DOES NOT WANT TO STAY IN YOUR AWFUL PRESENCE ANY LONGER THAN HE HAS TO! I WILL GIVE YOU A GRAND TOTAL OF TEN MINUTES!"_ The wizard screamed with an ethereal rage, making everything with a weapon face the business ends at him, though the wizard either didn't care or didn't notice.

"That should be more than enough time!" Medic yelled back over his shoulder as he jogged over to the waiting Hale. Hale was by the entrance to the main building of the fort where he was still pulling out crates from his inventory when the Deutschmann was coming over. "Ja, vat is it, Mr. Hale?""

"Nurse! Just the person I wanted to see!" He smiled his signature Australian grin. "See these crates here? Of course you see 'em, but take a guess at what's in these funny little boxes!"

"Items that I already have?" Medic guessed, minding his time.

"Haha, no. It's something even _better_!" Hale said with a finger in the air.

"Ja? Vat is it?" He said calmly, still having plenty of time.

"NEW WEAPONS!" Hale shouted. At the mention of new weapons, Medic ceased all bodily functions. It was extremely rare for Mann Co. to make any new weapons these days. Most of the manufacture is on hats since the hat market is flourishing right now on Earth, and the usual lineup of weapons is still in circulation. "Ah-ha! I can tell by the look on your stupid face that you want these new weapons! Well today's your lucky day, mate! Because all these weapons are free!"

"FREE!?" Medic's jaw dropped. He seemed to entirely forget about anything else in his utter shock at Hale's deal right now.

"Yep! Mostly because you boys need some more firepower to keep those annoying Grimm things off me while I strangle that pale witch, but think of it as a nice gesture from good old Hale to my favorite mercenaries!" Hale paused for a bit, thinking. "...my only mercenaries!" Hale laughed jollily in that way he does. "By the way, what's the business with all those robots leaving this place anyway? You going to take over this world or something?"

"No, Mr. Hale." Pauling answered as Medic was too much in awe right now to speak. She had to close his jaw before he started drooling. "We're not going to take over anything. Those robots are heading out to help the locals fight those Grimm, monster, things, whatever they're called." She explained to Hale.

"Wait, if you need to send a robot army to fight these Grimm, then that means..." Hale trailed, his mind coming to a quick and exciting conclusive answer. "THERE'S A BIG FIGHT HAPPENING RIGHT NOW AND I'M NOT IN IT!?" He screamed excitedly like he just found the Yeti's bigger brother and aimed to fight it. "Nurse, Pauling, other weirdos, I'm off to fight some nasty beasts!"

"You mean, _we're_ , off to fight some nasties!" Margaret chimed in.

"Oh, I'll fight anything with you, Mags!" Hale said to his wife. Then, the strongman turned toward the wrecked front gate of the fortress and ran full speed with Margaret following. Such was their excitement that they knocked over several robots along the way.

"Huh...Guess they really wanted to fight something..." Pauling trailed as she watched them run out until they were no longer visible past the wall. Team CFVY had walked up to her while Medic was cradling the crates closely.

"So...are we going to bring our friends back or what?" Coco asked, getting tired of waiting around here like the rest of you. I know, I am as well...

"Of course we're going to get them back." She assured them. "Come on, people! Everyone to the wizard! We're getting our guys back home!" Pauling yelled through cuffed hands. Scout's brothers looked eager and excited to get some more exposure to this new world, and Rouge came out riding on Yana's shoulders with the rest of Heavy's family who looked just as eager as Scout's brothers.

"Misha is coming home!" The four women in Heavy's family yelled in unison.

" _YAY!""_ The kawaii wittle bunny girl shosted with candy and stuff on her face.

"No Rouge, you can't go." The older bunny said to her. This immediately prompted a tantrum and Velvet needed a minute to get her sister in check.

"Yes, yes, the stupid mortals are happy. Now shut up and come to Merasmus already!" The wizard was getting quite impatient with these mortal people wasting his time. "You now have only _six_ minutes until Merasmus leaves!"

"Oh shut up!" The fashionista of Team CFVY yelled at the wizard as she found him quite annoying. Clearly, she didn't understand how powerful he actually was under all his annoyingness and silliness. Merasmus looked like he was about to whoop the shit out of her, but he quickly restrained himself with all his wizardry might so his chance at being free of the mercenaries will not be lost.

""MERASMUS WILL-" The wizard stopped there, having a clearly visible face of anger with green flames coming out of his eyes, but he took a deep breath and calmed down. Also, he noticed how everything with a gun pointed it at him this time. "...will take you to whereever you want to be." The wizard said, forcing a painful smile on his face.

So then everyone gathered up by the wizard, and Medic hauled all the crates he had to him when he realized something. He needed to bring Pyrrha.

"Excuse me, wizard?" The doctor asked him kindly, and the wizard looked at him. "Can we pick up someone? She's someone I promised to bring along for the trip."

"No!" The wizard said. "For you see, this is a straight to destination trip! Much like a trip to the dentist, but with magic!...and teleportation!...and no dentist!" He declared.

Upon hearing this, the doctor looked lost. Medic promised Pyrrha he'll bring her along whenever they were going, but now it looked like he was going to have to break that promise.

"You have three minutes left!" The wizard yelled.

"Come on, Medic. What's the hold up?" Pauling asked.

The Earthlings didn't quite seem to understand Medic's dilemma here, but the members of Team CFVY did. They looked just as down as he was that they couldn't bring Pyrrha since after all the warrior girl deserved a chance to reconnect with her lost friends after being in a coma for so long.

"It's okay, sir." Fox put a hand on the man's shoulder, prompting him to look at the blind boy's eyes.

"I'm sure Pyrrha will undsrstand." Yatsuhashi said. Coco didn't say anything, but she slowly nodded at what her teammates said.

Still...Medic wasn't one to break promises. Sure, he's lied and cheated, but whenever Medic promised something, he'll do it. Even if he did in a way that surprised a lot of people while still _technically_ staying true to what he meant, Medic keeps his promises. Especially in the name of his lost love all hose years ago. Making his mind up, he quickly thought up a plan.

"You now have two-OW!" The wizard screeched when Medic suddenly threw all the crates at his face quite unexpectedly, even surprising the others. With utmost haste, Medic ran to Pauling and detailed some deep instructions.

"Miss Pauling, I am going to have to do something incredibly stupid." The German said simply. He continued on without giving Pauling a chance to speak for he was in a hurry. "I will bring a teleporter with me. Do not worry." Pauling looked confused as the doctor then broke contact with her and ran to Merasmus...

...and then he fucking lifted the wizard fireman style while the boxes were stacked on top of him. The wizard screamed and protested, but Medic ignored him and whistled for a Robo-Engie to throw a teleporter at him which it did so dutifully and the German caught it one-handed. Everyone awed at his feet of strength, but were still very much confused when he tipped over several large boxes full of explosives with his legs. Then he threw the wizard on top of the bombs and sat right on top of him.

"You all might want to step back." The doctor said, procuring a match that he lit right away. Immediately understandings where this was going, everyone, every single fucking thing that can process the immediate danger they were in ran the fuck away to a safe distance where they watched in horror of Medic was gonna do next. Shield Medic-Bots instinctively acted on their programming and activating their Medi-Shields around the people and other robots.

The match dropped, a second passed, and a gigantic explosion threw flames everywhere. The force was so great that everything that wasn't secured to the ground was knocked to the ground, and some portions of the fort collapsed. The shields of the Medi-Bots held just enough for shrapnel and shit to not harm anyone to severely, though a few robots were wrecked.

"Oh my gosh..." Velvet gasped after coughing out all the dust in the air. Looking up into the sky, they all saw a great fireball that was Medic and Merasmus with their crates since Medic still wanted that shit no matter what fly though the sky.

"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Rouge cheered, hopping up and down after witnessing the spectacle. The rest can't be said to have the same reaction. Their reactions can be summed up as silent WTFs. The mercenaries were known for doing some crazy stuff, but Medic was never thought to be one who would of something like this unless it was in an operating room. Regardless, their eyes followed the trail of fire as it sailed toward the general direction of where Pyrrha's parents had their temporary home.

Looking back at the damage, sighed. Seems like the fort has taken more damage from Earth elements instead of anything from this world.

* * *

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Both the wizard and doctor screamed together.

Clearly, Medic didn't exactly think this through. He was sailing through the air at several hundred miles per hour and this would most likely lead to their deaths. It was also not assuring how if he were to look down, he could see the entire cityscape of Vale breeze by in a blur and that he was also hundreds of feet in the air. Maybe taking Demoman's technique to a whole other level wasn't such a good idea, but at least the wizard absorbed the explosive damage for him.

On the ground, people everywhere in the city stopped what they were doing and looked up to see the blur of fire fly through the sky, but soon the fire and smoke around the object trailed off and a strange grey shape was revealed to be underneath. The citizens couldn't tell what it could possibly be from how fast it was going, but some of the police were alarmed that it could have been a bomb of some sort. Especially since it was heading for the Nikos' residence.

Back to the doctor's point of view, he clutched Merasmus tightly before regaining his sense of why he even did this. His brilliant but cracked mind didn't want to, but his heart did. Even if his heart probably wasn't a Human heart anymore, he was urged to go on and keep his promise in the fastest way possible.

"YOU FOOL! THIS ACT OF STUPIDITY WILL GET YOURSELF KILLED!" The wizard screamed through the rush of air passing them. Then, he realized that may not be such a bad thing for him. "ON SECOND THOUGHT, MERASMUS APPROVES OF THIS SINCE IT MEANS YOU WILL DIE AND MY IMMORTAL FORM WILL SURVIVE!" He began laughing maniacally. "OH YES, AND YOU HAVE _**ONE**_ MINUTE LEFT BEFORE MERASMUS DISAPPEARS!"

Hearing this, Medic's newfound courage said 'fuck you and your expectations', and he stood on top of the wizard as if he was on a surfboard. Like a goddamn guided missile, he aimed the wizard straight for the modest luxury home where Pyrrha was staying. Praying that this next part will work since it most likely will, Medic got out his Medigun and activated his ubercharge.

* * *

Pyrrha was in her bedroom now. Nothing seemed right to her. She was with her parents now, but this wasn't their home in Mistral. Well, that wasn't what bugged her. What bugged her was that her friends were still out there in the world during this time of uncertainty. Her team and Ruby was out doing who knows what, but above all, she worried deeply for Jaune.

Tears softly came down her eyes as she distinctly remembered her first kiss mere minutes before she went to face Cinder. She can only imagine what kind of heartbreak she had caused, and all she wanted to do was go to him, all of them, and say it's alright and maybe even apologize.

Sighing to herself, Pyrrha-

*DYNAMIC CRASH*

Oh shit.

Okay, so Pyrrha was about to go outside her room when she had the daylights and everything good scared out of her when the wall exploded. And it went just an explosion like from a bomb, but it was more like two dudes smashing into to it at several hundred miles per hour with several crates in tow. Or more specifically, Merasmus at several hundred miles per hour since Medic used the extremely durable wizard to absorb the shock and force again.

It especially shocked the girl when Medic flew off the wizard and skidded over to her feet flat on his belly like a penguin.

" _Ahhhhh..."_ Merasmus croaked as he was in extreme pain. Medic appeared to be no different though he was glowing red all over his body, and he wasn't even moving. The user charge effect went away shortly after.

"M-mr. Medic!?" The Nikos girl went as she immediately regained her senses and kneeled down to see if he was okay. Shaking him rapidly for she was scared that he was dead, the doctor scared him even more when he hopped up as if all his bones weren't broken and lifted her fireman style. The good doctor had no broken bones of course. He was perfectly intact with only his appearance being a little messy thanks to the invincibility of ubercharge.

"ZIS IS NO TIME FOR YELLING MY NAME!" He yelled, Pyrrha being horribly confused and still incredibly startled.

The doctor then jumped on top of the wizard and kicked him awake. Before he could say anything though, both of Pyrrha's parents smashed through the door with their weapons at the ready. As you can imagine, they were beyond shocked to see their house was hit with the doctor who saved their daughter and a strange man in a dress and ram skull hat.

"Doctor!?" Argus Nikos yelled in total confusion.

"What are you doing with our daughter!?" Aleka Nikos screeched as her motherly instincts were in full drive from seeing Medic holding her scared daughter in such a way.

"TAKING YOUR DAUGHTER!" The motherfucking doctor answered.

" _It is time...f-for Merasmus to leave..."_ The wizard groaned with his finger up in the air. At hearing Medic say 'TAKING' and Merasmus say _'leave'_ , Aleka started twitching.

" _ **NOOOO!"**_ She screeched with the force of an angry goddess who had the power to crack entire continents at will. The enraged mother flew at Medic, but it was too late. In a flash of green mist and glow, they were and all gone. She threw herself outside since the wall on that end was missing, and when she realized her daughter was gone, she immediately broke down into screams and rides of and danger and sorrow.

Her husband went to comfort her and calm her down before she destroys half the city. He also felt resentful at the doctor for taking his daughter again, but he also understood that his wife needed to be calmed the fuck down right now or else andndngernd natural disaster is going to occur.

Looking at the spot where they disappeared, he can only pray that the man who kidnapped his daughter twice now will keep her safe.

* * *

 **The Void**

Pyrrha was so incredibly confused right now. Her initial reaction of fear went away and now she was just trying to understand what exactly happened in the last couple of moments. It all went by so fast, Medic crashing through her room on top of a strange man she doesn't recall seeing with a bunch of crates and a toolbox, and now they were flying through a multi-colored plane of existence where nothing made any sense. She could recall that this was the place that the mercenaries teleporters traveled through whenever they went between worlds, she knew this from the time she went over with her friends to train in heir world, but this time it was far less chaotic and stable. It may had to do something with the difference etween methods of travel, but she was not worried about that now for obvious reasons.

In the distance, two figures watched from a giant gold plated battle PC. I think you know who they are already.

"Yo, check it out." Monty said to Gaben.

"Is that Medic and Merasmus?" Gabe squinted his holy eyes to see the sight.

"Yeah, and they're heading straight to Team Fortress Earth with one of my characters." Monty's said. "I'll let 'em pass. You?"

"Ah, I'll let them pass too." Gaben shrugged. "Got to handle some CS:GO issues right now. Hey, you got any ideas for knife skins?"

* * *

 **New York City, New York, United States of America**

The group plopped right down on a pier in New York harbor, and the crates fell right on top of them and conveniently formed a neat stack. The toolbox that contained the teleporter unfortunately fell into the waters of New York harbor, but no one seemed to notice. It was dark out as it was nighttime here in this area of Earth, and a full moon shone above the city. Some people who were out on the harbor were startled by them, but they otherwise carried on with business.

"Oh...I think I'm going to be sick..." Pyrrha groaned as they were picking themselves up. She shook her head and it and turned to see if Medic was okay, and then she looked at Merasmus.

"Medic, who is he? And..and.." She trailed, and then she gasped android seeing the city and around her. "Where are we?"

Everywhere she turned, the tallest buildings she had ever seen in her life covered the skyline. These skyscrapers as she will learn later were far bigger than most buildings in Remnant with very few exceptions. Most of the skyscrapers towered over Beacon Tower if she were to compare them to it, and she observed that the particular tall ones were made of what looked to be glass all along the sides. Under those skyscrapers though, were buildings that were somewhat more familiar to her since they were constructed of brick and stuff like those in Vale and were closer to the height of the buildings in the city she was just in.

All of these buildings had their lights on, and it was an awesome sight for the girl as the lights of this he buildingsaid seem to be endless with no clear end to this Hehe its in sight. After all, a city like New York was several this was several times more massive than Vale since there was no such threat as Grimm forcing ths Americans to limit the city with walls and barriers.

Turning around toward the bay though, her breath was taken are way too the sight of a giant green statue of a woman with a crown and robes holding and torch up into the night sky. It was clear that the torch wasn't actual giving off a fire, but the electric lights on it still looked grand and the spotlights illuminating the Statue of Liberty even more grander. A monument like that doesn't exist in Remnant...

"Ms. NIkos, welcome to New York City." Medic said. "There's far more to Earth than that desert Mann Co. Headquarters is in, but anyway, Merasmus! The doctor went over to the wizard who was still picking himself up while Pyrrha took in how grand this Earth city was.

"Merasmus! Take us to to the city of Mistral back in Remnant!"

"Nope!" The wizard denied him.

"We made a deal!" The doctor sternly said.

"Ah, but you see mortal practitioner of medicine! Merasmus said you had ten minutes to make that demand, and you have wasted it!"

"Zat does not change what we agreed on though!" Medic yelled in the wizard's face.

"Merasmus has added new conditions!" The wizard claimed before throwing Medic off of him. "Now, Merasmus will leave you two here to probably get mugged by a street gang! Goodbye!" He waved before summoning portal for him to go back to the Badlands. Before he could finish doing so, Medic tackled this magical son of a bitch and started wrestling with him.

"Pyrrha!" He yelled for the warrior girl who was snapped out of her trance by the beauty of the city. "Hold him down!"

"O-okay!" She obeyed a around bit hesitsnrly, and then hopped on the wizard to hold his arms back. Merasmus twisted and thrashed everywhere which gave the two great difficulty in trying to keep him restrained. Meanwhile, some people out on the pier were standing and watching the violent display.

"What's going on over there, daddy?" A young child asked his father as he had taken them out for a late night walk.

"Well there, Robby, that looks like a witch wrestling with a doctor and a Spartan girl." The father said as if this was nothing.

"Cool. Can we get some ice cream now?" The kid said.

"It's like 9:00 at night and you want ice cream?"

"Yeah."

"You got money to pay for this ice cream?" The father asked.

"...no."

"That answers that question then. Now let's go home."

As these two random bystanders left, Medic and Pyrrha were still struggling with the wizard who was proving to be quite difficult. Eventually, the wizard managed to make a teleportation away from this place. Problem, Pyrrha and Medic were taken with him.

"Get off! Merasmus-ARGH! OW!" The wizard cried when Medic threw the crates at his face in absolute rage that fucker is twisting the deal. Then, the good German doctor ran over and socked Merasmus in the face.

So basically, this devolved into a huge ass fight where Merasmus ended up popping up in several different locations on Earth assndnd even travelling between dimensions. For a moment, they were in Tokyo. Another, they were in Paris, Copenhagen, Beijing, London, and so on. Pyrrha was getting really disoriented with all this, but Medic was too focused on beating the fuck out of this wizard into doing what he wants.

It wasn't until they started going to different dimensions where things got more insane than they already were.

They accidentally killed an elite that was about to get the jump on Master Chief from Halo, popped into Hakurei Shrine for a moment where they scared the crap out of Reimu from Touhou Project, ended up knocking both Parasoul and Valentine from Skullgirls out when they landed on top of them and they got caught up in the fight before they disappeared. They appeared in Kill La Kill for a second where they interrupted some random club leader's battle speech against Ryuko, they temporarily interrupted a shootout between Counter-Terrorists and Terrorists from Counter-Strike, even appeared in Samurai Jack for a minute, and so on.

I think you get it now, they travelled through several different dimensions in this fight against the stubborn wizard just to get where they needed to be. And that's how a lot of the that day was spent, if time even mattered with all this dimension hopping they were doing.

Until finally, in the middle of the Void just before they were going to enter another dimension, Merasmus gave up.

"ARGH! ENOUGH! The wizard roared. "Fine! Merasmus will take you if you leave me alone!"

"Zat vas ze original deal anyway!" Medic yelled with Pyrrha standing, or rather floating, by.

"Whatever!" The wizard shouted before snapping his fingers. At the snap, they all found themselves flying right back to Remnant where they find themselves at Mistral. As soon as the portal showed Mistral, Merasmus shoved both Medic and Pyrrha out as he did not want to deal with their shit no more "Filthy mortals!" Merasmus said under his breath. He then noticed that the crates Medic had were still with him, and it pissed him off.

This prompted the wizard to angrily throw the crates down at them with rage in every fiber of his body.

* * *

 **Alright then. How Medic and Pyrrha got there has been revealed!**

 **Don't worry about the others, something will happen with them soon.**

 **Okay, so this is the final week of high school. I graduate on Saturday. If you bothered to dead the update on what will happen then you already know what's up. I'd like to thank you all so much for supporting me and this story as I spent most of my Senior year writing this story for you all with high devotion and love for you all. It makes me eel especially good about myself when I see you enjoy it as much as I do writing it, and it turns out that I've been also inspiring a bunch of there to write their works as well!**

 **Now that this is over, the wait for Volume 5 begins. As you know, there's going to be side stories contained in the Extras now so hopefully this promotes growth of that after its reputation of containing mostly silly stuff, but now it's going to have more variety other than the stupid insanity. Just the other night I posted a chapter that detailed an important moment in Heavy's life, so I suggest you go check it out. Especially since all content relating to this story until Volume 5 will be found there.**

 **Also, I'm open to any ideas for stuff in the extras, and they can be anything so long that I approve it.**

 **I was going to do Saxton Hale's fight at Beacon, but it didn't fit with what's happened in this chapter so you'll just have to wait.**

 **Oh yeah, since schools out soon, I'm open to any games and shit again. My Discord is the same as my Steam, but it takes forever to load and barely works.**

 **Steam Name: Sorun_c**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Lord hellfire913: It's cool, man. You can take as long as you like.**

 **The Singaporean Squid Brother: Why you're welcome! That's so nice to hear!**

 **Madlice in Pyroland: Thanks, and you're welcome for the feels.**

 **Guest: It probably is.**

 **Titanium Lucas: Making a sequel entails that the events in this story end, and we are far from that. And, I don't know if I can do that method. I'll just need to see if I can get over it and find a way around.**

 **TheFrankcisco: Thanks man. Hope you do well as well.**

 **Gizmo Gear: Thanks! And it's going to take me a bit to do the DeviantArt stuff since I'm rusty at drawing.**

 **Awesome Arod: Wow, you sound like you care so much, but it's fine though. It's late at night so I understand. Lol**

 **Michamya: K.**

 **Guest: Why thank you so much for saying how you feel about the story! It's true, all that I've said, and I hope it continues to be that way except for the not being able to read fanfiction of course. And yes I have played Paladins but I do not enjoy it as much as TF2.**

 **gladeo25: Stop playing games in my reviews m8. Com c me in a PM if u wanna fokkin play games.**

* * *

 **Beacon**

At the sight of where the ruins of Beacon Academy lay, a massive battle raged on. The local Vale Defense Force fought the massive horde Grimm, and they had some much needed assistance. This assistance was in the form of a detachment of robotic forces sent from the mercenaries fort to help out, and damn were they appreciated.

The huntsmen and soldiers cheered on the robots as they all clashed against the Grimm together as allies. It was not an easy fight though, as the Grimm have grown larger in both number and ferocity. Several elder Grimm have arrived, and they were proving to be quite the match for the experienced huntsmen while the VDF and robots dealt with the lesser varieties.

Meanwhile, two figures appeared at the treeline near the reclamation force's base camp. Two Australian figures.

"Look Sax! Monsters! Millions of 'em!"

"Well what are we waiting for!? Let's have a go at them, Mags!"


	62. Good Times

"Jaune?" A voice Jaune hadn't heard for a long time say to him. A voice he missed very much. It was none other than Pyrrha Nikos, the girl who had fallen into a coma all those months ago when Beacon fell. She also happened to be the only girl who ever loved Jaune, and he felt much the same way about her.

When he saw those beautiful green eyes look at him for the first time since she gave him his first kiss, he was frozen dead in place. His mind stopped thinking as he was unable to focus on anything else than trying to understand who he was seeing before him was real. She was every bit as beautiful as he remembered her to be, except that her hair was a lot longer and she was noticeably much skinnier due to her coma.

On Pyrrha's end, it wasn't very different. Her eyes were locked on his and she was just as frozen as he was. He didn't seem to change a bit since she'd last seen him, but she couldn't help but notice that his outfit was... different.

"...Jaune?" She said again as if she had to make sure he was real. Jaune only seem to freeze up even more when Pyrrah spoke to him, and he wasn't able to make any response other than his eyes widening more than they already were.

It wasn't just Jaune who was totally at a loss of words here, but all the other teens for shocked as well since Pyrrha suddenly returning to them like this out of literally nowhere with Medic was highly unexpected. Yang herself was shocked as well, even if she was the first one among them to know that Medic kidnapped Pyrrha in order to help her. She just didn't expect for it to happen so quickly.

"Well what in the Hell are you waiting for, son?" Engie chuckled as he came up to Jaune and patted him on the back, causing the boy to snap out of it and blink at him and surprise. "She didn't come all this way for nothing! Be a man and help a lady up!" Jaune blinked his eyes rapidly as he tried to focus on what Engineer said, then turning his gaze back on Pyrrha who he knew for real this time was here.

Finally, Jaune slowly held a shaky hand out for Pyrrha to take. As soon as Pyrrha also realized Jaune was real, she immediately teared up in utter happiness. She completely ignored the hand he offered to her and jumped right onto him in one big hug, knocking the air out of him as he suddenly found Pyrrha in his arms again for the first time since Beacon's final days.

Of course, the others couldn't just stand aside and let the couple have this sweet moment together. They all missed her.

"PYRRHA!" The shrill voice of Nora screamed in all the joy and energy her soul could muster, which you already know is absolutely massive.

Before Pyrrha and Jaune even saw her coming, the redhead had pounced on them too and was now crushing them both in a loving hug. Less than a second later, the big group of friends came in and jumped on each other to form one big group hug where they couldn't stop chattering about how much they missed each other. The mercenaries stood nearby and smiled at the heartwarming scene. It felt good in their hearts to see them embrace each other like this. Even if they initially did not intend to go around looking for them, these teenage brats just grew on them so much that they actually cared for them.

"Ooh... my heart feels very happy and warm for some reason..." Said the doctor quizzically, feeling his chest at the anomaly.

"That's just what happens when a person sees somethin' sweet, doc." Said Sniper.

"I know zat, but zis is different. It almost feels as if I'm feeling happiness on two different wavelengths..."

"Eh... I'm not gonna question how that's possible, but whatever you say mate."

"No really! One part of me feels like my regular self, and the other part feels like... like... a teenage girl. Oh dear..." Blinked the doctor, his eyes widening as if he just remembered something.

Medic stared at Ruby Rose, and he understood right away. The doctor didn't say much else after that, only continuing to stare at Ruby in particular as the teens continued to embrace each other. The other mercenaries didn't really understand or care about what Medic was getting at, but they continued to smile at the warm feeling that seeing the happy teens gave their hearts.

* * *

Later on, the whole crew was merrily together having a grand old time catching up with each other in a staff house given to them by Headmaster Lionheart. This house was being cleared out specifically for Team RNJR and co, but they had to spend the first night in empty regular dorm rooms first as it wasn't ready yet. Problem was that the headmaster was not anticipating having to accomodate eighteen or so people instead of Team RNJR plus Qrow, Heavy, Pyro, Soldier, and Engineer. This meant that the place was absolutely crowded, but that was just something that our heroes will worry about later. Now it was time to catch up.

They were telling tales of their adventures and experiences while they were away from each other, but the thing that caught everyone off guard was Spy explaining how he and Scout escaped Atlas with Weiss, no matter how much the former heiress wanted him to stay quiet about it.

" _WHAAAT!?"_ Nora squealed, nearly spitting out the water she was drinking in sheer surprise. "WEISS' MOM WAS FLIRTING WITH YOU!? NO WAY!"

"Indeed she was. That woman wouldn't leave me alone every time I ran into her..." He sighed. "Then, when we were making our quiet escape from her manor, we ran into Weiss' mother again where-"

"STOP!" Weiss exploded, her cold icy blue eyes staring at Spy in a death glare. She said nothing else, but her face just screamed out 'DON'T SAY IT'. Spy looked back at her with a straight face, but then a slight grin appeared.

" _...where I kissed her mother on the lips to convince her to let us leave._ " He finished, his grin getting bigger as his deliberate trolling made the Ice Queen's pale skin turn into a furious reddish pink.

"HOW DARE YOU!?" She screamed in fury, nearly jumping over to rip Spy's face off had a laughing Heavy and Demoman not held her back. Weiss continued to blush intensely as her friends all around her exclaimed in surprise and began losing their minds at hearing Spy do such a thing.

"No way! You didn't! Did you?" Ruby gasped in disbelief.

"Oh, yes I did. I knew the only way that she was going to let us go was if I gave her what she wanted. She certainly seems to be more attracted to me than she is to her husband, so I think she greatly appreciated what I did for her all things considered."

" _Ooooooooooooooh!~_ Does this mean Spy's gonna be Ice Queen's new dad?" Joked Yang, knowingly teasing Weiss who was getting redder and redder in embarassment. The Ice Queen would of shouted at Yang to shut up if Heavy had not covered her screaming mouth with one of his huge hands, making only muffled yells come from the flustered girl.

"He's definitely a better guy than who her father is..." Blake added with a slight smile, knowing full well the background of the Scnee family. The blonde turned to Blake and smiled at the support, but both girls shied away a bit. These two still had their own things to talk over alone.

"I ain't so sure 'bout the whole 'dad' thing. Spy doesn't stay around very long when he meets a lady." Scout said, drawing from his own experience.

"Why not? It'll be awesome! If Spy's Weiss' new dads then that means you guys are kinda like her uncles! Except for Scout, he could be her stepbrother!" Reasoned Nora.

"Yeah, I don't know how I feel about being an older brother to her..." Scout said, glancing at the ever so furious Weiss as she uselessly tried to break free. "Wait... _older brother_... Oh, Hell yeah! That means I won't be the youngest no more! YES!"

"NO! ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" Furiously yelled the heiress once Heavy finally decided to let her go. "My mother's not going to marry Spy! He... he just did that so we can get out of there without my mother alerting my father!"

"That is true, but I don't know... your mother really is quite beautiful..." Said Spy with a hint of a trolling grin.

"OHHHHHHHHHHH! HE SAID IT! HE SAID IT!" Nora squealed in delight. "I totally ship them now!"

"WHAT!? WHY YOU - _**RAAAAAGH!**_ "

Weiss leaped over before Heavy had time to grab her and pounced onto Spy, feebly trying to make him pay for embarassing her like that by trying to slap him mercilessly. Spy had no trouble at all preventing her from landing any hit, and so he just heartily chuckled along with everyone else in the room at her expense.

"Oh, that's bloody hilarious..." Laughed Demoman.

"What about you, Doc? Anything happened while we were gone?" Sniper asked the German of the crew.

"Oh, you have no idea my freind! Your airship crashed outside of Mann Co. Headquarters with no one inside it and we were vorried sick for you all!"

"Really now? Damn thing teleported all the way back to Earth?" Engie said in surprise.

"Ja, it did! We feared zat maybe all of you and Yang had been killed, and I vas doing everything I could think of to try and find you. It wasn't until Merasmus appeared and I was able to strike a deal with him to bring Pyrrha and I here to you."

"Whoa... I didn't think-" Yang managed to say before Medic cut her off.

"I'm not done yet, but Saxton Hale was finally allowed to return to Remnant!"

"Really? What's he doing now?" Sniper asked.

* * *

 **Back in Vale**

"HAHAHAHA! OH, IT FEELS SO GOOD TO BE BACK!" The manliest man known as Saxton Hale laughed in utter joy as he reminded the Grimm why he is the definitive manly man. At his side was Margaret his Australian wife, and also a legion of robotic warriors and vehicles that Medic sent to help Glynda Goodwitch retake Beacon.

Speaking of Glynda, she was watching Saxton Hale and the robots go to work as the VDF and gathered huntsmen stood by her.

"That guy is insane..." A random huntress trailed with her jaw hanging open at how he was engaging the Grimm with nothing but his bare hands.

"No kidding..." Went a random huntsman.

There wasn't a lot to argue there. Glynda still could never get over how men with no aura or semblances from another world are able to fight so extraordinarily, if very violently, effectively. She didn't know what Earth was like at all, but if the mercenaries and Saxton Hale are any hint of what people there were like, then it didn't exactly sound like an ideal vacation spot. Like, the main reason why the VDF and huntsmen weren't helping was solely because Saxton Hale and the robots already pushed the Grimm back significantly with the sheer momentum and shock of their attack.

* * *

 **Back to Mistral**

"Last I saw him, Mr. Hale ran off to join a legion of robots I sent to help Professor Goodwitch retake ze academy from ze Grimm. So he's probably performing acts of extreme violence right now." He shrugged.

"Eh, makes sense." Sniper shrugged as well with everyone else agreeing on that.

"Ja, but-OH! I nearly forgot! SAXTON HALE HAS PROVIDED US CRATES FULL OF NEW WEAPONS!" Medic yelled excitedly.

"NEW WEAPONS!?" Shouted all the mercs in unison with Ruby joining them with wide eyes, always happy to hear those two words together no matter what the situation may be.

No sooner did they yell that out when they rushed to the said crates with their teenage friends watching. One of each crate had the emblem of each class on them, and when the team opened them up, their jaws all dropped from the goodness contained inside.

The following sounds can only be described by those watching as multiple animals screaming and hooting in a cramped cage. Seriously, the teens never knew that a bunch of grown adult men would behave like excited teenage girls just because they got new weapons. It only made them look sillier when Ruby, an actual teenage girl, joined in on them over the joy of new weapons.

"OHMYGOSH!OHMYGOSH!OHMYGOSH! NEW WEAPONS!" Cried Ruby in a hurry, already touching like half the new weapons already in less than five seconds.

"Ah, sweet! I got a new drink!" Went Scout as he pulled out a glass soda bottle filled with an orange liquid. There was a label with writing on it, but he was unable to read it. Good thing Yang was there to read what it said for him then.

"Invis Bonk? What, so drinking this will make you invisible or something?"

"No clue, but Imma try it out right now!"

"Ooh! Ooh! Let me try it!" Ruby begged like a child with her big ole silver eyes doing the puppy thing. It wasn't having nearly as good of an effect when the mercs are not busy being hyped on new weapons though, and when Scout refused to acknowledge her, Ruby instead snatched it out of his hands at the speed of sound when her weapon greediness got the best of her.

"Hey! GIVE IT BACK YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Demanded Scout but it was too late. Without thinking about any possible negative effects from drinking it, Ruby downed the whole bottle in one go. Before anyone knew it, she vanished on the spot.

"Did it work? Am I invisible now?" Asked Ruby who wasn't visibly there.

"WOW! IT WORKED! RUBY'S INVISIBLE NOW!" Cried Nora.

"I AM!? _Hehehehe..._ " The little ghost snickered ominously, thinking of some invisible mischief

Moving on to Sniper now, the man pulled out two new weapons from his crate. One was the Slayers Arbalest, a repeating crossbow weapon that is horrifyingly effective against burning enemies, and the other was a bow weapon called The Penetrator. It was slightly larger than Sniper's standard Huntsman bow, but its most notable feature was that it had a smaller attached to the middle so that he's basically using two bows at once. Also, the weapon is far more powerful than the standard bow so it has the ability to do far more damage (hence the name) in exchange for slower draw times, and the arrows can apparently ricochet a bunch.

"Heh, nice..." The man softly chuckled to himself, setting the weapons down to see what else he got. He looked into the box, and his eye's widened at his next two weapons. They were both sniper rifles, and one of them was called The High Noon while the other was the Manncannon. " _Holy dooley..._ " Gasped Sniper, his eyes widening and sparkling a bit in awe at the beautiful weapons. An unsteady hand went out to grab them when all of a sudden, Sniper was surprised to see both weapons levitate out of the box!

"HA! MINE!" He heard Ruby's voice declare with a crazy laugh, then hearing the girl giggling like a kid as the two weapons disappeared as her invisibility spread onto them.

"OY! MY GUNS!" Yelled Sniper angrily as he got up and chased nothing.

"What did you get, big guy?" Yang asked Heavy who had just pulled out a minigun that looks like it was crafted out of parts from a destroyed Dispenser.

"It says this is called The Provisioner. It is supposed to make Heavy into walking Dispenser."

Heavy set this weapon down gently as he reached for his next weapon. Only to find a certain petite ghost attempting to lift what looked like a huge PPSH-41 out of the crate to no avail. Soon, the ghost stopped being a ghost and Ruby's little form was revealed when the invisibility wore off.

"Put weapon down, Ruby." Heavy sternly said while Yang held back some giggles.

"Uh, _noooo! This isn't Ruby! I'm a ghost..."_ The cutie said in an eerie tone, unaware that she was visible again.

"Hey, there she is!" Scout yelled.

"Get her!" Yelled Sniper as he and Scout pounced on Ruby without mercy. "Give my guns back!" Growled Sniper as he wrestled with Ruby, Scout joining in with Heavy shaking his head and Yang laughing out loud.

"NEVER!" Screamed Ruby defiantly, squirming around like a worm until she managed to slip out of their grip and ran away in a flurry of rose petals. Scout and Sniper ran after the little trickster in vain while the others were hanging around the overjoyed mercs unpacking their new goods.

Yang couldn't help but smile at her little sister's lovable antics. It felt really good in her heart to see Ruby having fun again after so long. In fact, her heart felt the happiest and warmest it's been ever since before Beacon fell. All her friends and the mercenaries were here hanging out and enjoying themselves. That even included Blake who wasn't much of a... talker.

...

... Blake.

She was here. Just, suddenly returning out of nowhere after she left them over six months ago. Yang looked to Blake who was talking to Medic and Spy, smiling and laughing with the two mercs as she had missed them. The catgirl's gaze wandered off a bit until she noticed Yang staring at her, and she quickly looked away from Yang as if she was ashamed. Yang could tell right away that Blake missed them all and she missed her too, but she doesn't know how she feels about what Blake did now.

Before she was mad at Blake for disappearing like she did and said she didn't care about her after she made her decision. The mercenaries she could excuse since they literally died, but Blake chose to run away from them all. It's one thing to say she doesn't care back then, but now that Blake was here in person, Yang didn't know what to feel about her.

"Why did little dragon stop laughing?" Asked Heavy without looking away from his new weapons.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing..." She said. Heavy was no fool so he knew that there was something on her mind right now. The Russian man looked up from his new weapons and gave Yang a questioning look.

"Everyone is together and having celebration. Why do you not go talk to your teammates?"

"I will. I just... I just want to be with you right now. That's all!" She claimed with a fake smile and laugh, giving Heavy a soft friendly punch to the arm, but Heavy was not buying it. Yang could see it in his eyes too, and she quickly dropped the act.

"Yang, you should go be with friends. We worked hard to bring you all together." Said the Russian, placing one of his huge hands on her shoulder in a fatherly way. "I think you should not make my work for nothing. Heavy does not like doing things for nothing."

She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but she ended up sighing instead. After a moment, she began nodding in understanding and looked back towards where Blake was. Blake already moved away from Spy and Medic, and Yang saw that she was moving onto Engineer who was having a conversation with Weiss. Closing her eyes and clearing her head, Yang went to Blake.

It's been a while since they talked.

Same could be said for Jaune and Pyrrha. The couple had been left alone ever since they all came to the staff house Headmaster Lionheart had appropriated for them, and with good reason. Neither had seen each other, awake that is, ever since Beacon Academy fell. Pyrrha was put into a deep coma induced by whatever Cinder did to her up there, and she was always in his thoughts no matter what in the time that they have been apart. Jaune visited her every day in the hospital and spend hours making sure she was okay. He didn't care if the doctor's said that the chances of her waking up were slim. The boy wouldn't give up hope that one day she would wake up.

Turns out he was right. All that waiting paid off and he has Pyrrha back in his arms after so long.

The two remained outside on the balcony throughout the night. Even after most of their friends finally quieted down and called it a night, they remained out there in each other's company. They told each other stories of their adventures since they've been apart. Well, _adventure_ for Pyrrha since she was awake for like less than a week at this point in time, but still.

"You turned my equipment into armor?" She asked him.

"Uh... well, I did it to keep you close, you know? Something to remember you by..." He trailed, showing Pyrrha his sword and shield upgraded with what used to be her weapons. Shyly, he unsheathed his blade and handed her the sword so she could see it for herself. Pyrrha graciously took the blade and carefully examined it, quickly noticing the bronze details that were from her old equipment. "There was a blacksmith in a village we helped who did it for me. I uh... sorry about that."

"... it's okay, Jaune. It's a beautiful sword." She said, smiling as she offered it back to him.

"Yeah..."

"Is... is that my sash?" Pyrrha asked, noticing that Jaune was wearing a red sash that was awfully similar to the one she wore back then.

"Oh! Yeah, yeah it is. Do you want it back? I-I can give it back if you want." He said in a rush, already moving to take it off. His hand didn't even touch it when Pyrrha grabbed it and stopped him.

"No, no! I think it looks good on you..."

"I-er, uh... yeah. It does, doesn't it?" He sheepishly smiled with a blush, earning a laugh from Pyrrha. Soon, she stopped laughing and her gaze turned to Remnant's shattered moon. Her smile went away, replaced with a solemn expression. "Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, looking up to the moon to see what was so special about it. The only thing worth noting about the moon was that its shattered side was facing the right.

"The last time I've seen the moon like this was when Beacon fell..." Pyrrha said softly and solemnly, not taking her eyes off the moon. Jaune turned and looked at her with some worry. "I know I was in a coma for months, but it feels like no time has passed at all. It felt like I was knocked out for a moment and I could just get back up and keep on fighting to save the school, but... that's not what I found when I woke up."

"Pyrrha..." Jaune somberly said.

"I woke up to find a world in darkness. The school had fallen, everyone is afraid, tensions between the kingdoms were high, and all my friends were off on an adventure to stop what happened at Beacon from happening all over again. The world's a darker place than I remembered it, Jaune..." Pyrrha trailed, some tears beginning to well at her emerald green eyes. Unlike everyone else in Remnant who's had more than enough time to cope with the darkening world, Pyrrha was suddenly thrusted into a reality she didn't want to accept when Medic woke her up. "I missed you, everyone, and everything so much..."

Tears softly streamed down her face, and she was beginning to sob as she threw herself onto Jaune in a hug. The boy was taken aback by this, but he understood how she felt. Nobody liked the reality of the world after the Fall of Beacon Academy that fateful night.

"It's okay, Pyrrha. Sure the world's not such a happy place anymore, but you still have us with you. Together we can beat the bad guys and fix everything." Said Jaune with a smile.

"Not everything, Jaune..." She sniffled, thinking specifically about the lives lost that night, Penny among them...

"...yeah. Yeah, I know..." He admitted sadly. "But we still have each other though, and..." Jaune paused a moment, temporarily moving away from Pyrrha so he could see her beautiful green eyes. She still had tear streaks running down her face, and Jaune's heart dropped a bit when he saw the look of legitimate fear and despair on the girl's face. The girl he knew as the bravest and kindest person he's ever met, and also the only girl he's ever loved. "I promise that as long as I'm alive that I will never leave your side. Because... because I love you." Jaune said, finally saying it with some tears of his own.

Pyrrha smiled. The tear trails were there, but the despair and such had left her pretty face and was replaced with a warm smile of hope.

"I know..."

* * *

 **Salem's Palace**

Salem quietly sat at her throne alone in her throne room. Well, not completely alone. Cinder Fall and her two lackeys in Emerald and Mercury were there too.

She was in the middle of giving Cinder her part in the plan when a jellyfish like Seer Grimm came in and Headmaster Lionheart from Haven Academy in Mistral suddenly contacted her, and he had something real urgent to tell her. What she heard was not pleasing in any way whatsoever. Especially not to Cinder who was there when he told her.

Salem already knew that Qrow and Team RNJR made it to Haven Academy with four out of the nine mercenaries accompanying them, but then Lionheart just informed her that suddenly all the other teenagers and mercenaries somehow all came together. Needless to say, she was quite displeased. The same could not be said for Cinder as that would be a severe understatement.

Cinder was absolutely terrified. She may have gotten over her fear of RWBY, but she had most definitely not gotten over the mercenaries. Salem knew this as well, and she was getting somewhat agitated in Cinder's very noticeable reaction at learning this. Mercenaries or not, Salem wasn't going to let Cinder's seemingly irrational fear of these men get in the way of her plans for Haven Academy.

Cinder knew as well, but she was too frozen in fear to acknowledge that right now. She stared into the Seer Grimm with her one Amber eye, her body trembling even though Lionheart's message was long over. On that note, Emerald and Mercury were also highly unsettled by this. Salem told them less than five minutes ago that they were going to Mistral to enlist the help of the Branwen Tribe. Cinder was kinda okay with that since she's only heard a confirmed report from Tyrian that at least only four of the nine mercenaries had survived Salem's attacks on them somehow. Now that she knows that every single one of them was alive again, it was a different story.

"Cinder..." Salem said, lazily turning her head to said person. Shakily, the Fall Maiden's head turned towards her mistress, the fear highly visible in her expression. Salem said nothing for a moment, watching Cinder's terrified face closely. She was getting quite tired with this foolish girl's petty fear...

"Who do you fear more? Them, or me?"

* * *

 **It's finally back after so long.**

 **How I missed this... Hopefully the return is good enough for you guys. It's been quite a long time since this story has been properly updated.**

 **In other news, I'm possibly deleting V2A1 and replacing it with something else. It'll still be a TF2 X RWBY crossover, but this time it's different. Main reason I'm thinking of deleting it is because it already has too many reviews, favorites, and followers on it. Now that doens't sound like a bad thing, but what that means is that I can't get a good gauge of who's there for what and I'll get confused with the stats since I'm putting another story onto where an existing one used to be. If I start a new entry, it'll be a fresh slate and everyone including me can keep track of it more easily. So I'm still making a new story, but it'll be under a different name if I do.**

 **V2 was never really a second version of the original anyway. I look back at it, and the only true similarity was how it began. It was more of it's own story with little to do with the original and so calling it V2 in the first place was kinda silly. So it'll be replaced with a completely new story entry and be deleted, but the chapters of V2 are archived in extras for people to see if they want.**

 **Do you guys think I should do this or not? I'm not finalized on it yet.**

 **Also, after months of not really writing anything I'm feeling it again. I think I'm back for real this time.**

 **It feels good to be back, and I hope it keeps feeling good.**


	63. Business Trouble

**Haven Academy, New Staff House**

So as the mercenaries were busy gushing and squealing over their weapons like teenage girls in the other room, the actual teenagers all gathered up back in the living room and that included Jaune and Pyrrha. It also included Ruby who ended up getting a whooping as punishment for trying to mooch in on their new weapons. Currently, they were continuing to speak of their adventures while they were away from each other. Oh and if I didn't mention it before, Sun is out hanging out with his own team after not seeing them for a while. They are from this academy after all.

" _Owww..."_ She groaned in pain, face down on the table. Ruby was covered in bandages and bumps in a cartoony fashion complete with a large bump on the head when Heavy had to donk her for trying to steal his beloved Miniguns again. The whooping they gave her wasn't nearly as serious as it looked at all as it was only a light whooping as punishment, but Ruby was just being a big crybaby right now.

"Ugh... as immature as always..." Sighed Weiss, managing a smile since she missed Ruby's antics so much.

 _"_ Awww... cheer up, Rubes! I'm sure they'll let you see their weapons later!" Her beloved big sister chuckled, messing up Ruby's hair as the girl kept groaning in exaggerated agony. "And who knows? Maybe the mercenaries will take us all to space like they did with me!"

" _I KNOOOOOOOW_! THEY TOTALLY SHOULD! Yang, you lucky girl! Being the first person in space and stuff! It's not fair!" Whined Nora.

"Right? It's not like _we_ wanted to go into space or anything..." Ruby whined sarcastically.

"Hey... where's Qrow?" Ren asked. The teens were so caught up with reuniting each other that they completely forgot about Ruby and Yang's uncle. They hadn't seen him all day. This actually wasn't that big of a concern since the easy answer was that Qrow went out to get drunk, which is technically correct, but he's been out since this morning and it's late at night by now.

That question was answered not a minute afterward when Qrow suddenly burst through the doors of the staff house, scaring all the teens inside. Ruby and Yang immediately let out sighs when they saw Qrow stumble into the building, drunk off his damn mind as he laughed and giggled drunkenly towards them.

" _Hey_ \- _*hiccup* -ey, kids... ahahahaha..."_

Yep. Not very surprising that Qrow would suddenly come in here drunk. The teens watched the bumbling drunk trip all over himself until he finally fell flat on his back on the table in the middle of the living room.

"Uncle Qrow! Where have you been? You were gone all day!" Ruby went.

" _Out... out with Ozpin..._ _Ehehehehehe... I missed you too, Zwei..._ _Good dog..."_ He slurred with a smile, giving an unamused Ruby a headpat before continuing to chuckle alone. " _I_ _f_ _ound him... ehehehe... I found him..._ "

"Ozpin?" Wondered Ruby.

"Uh... hello?" A voice that none of them recognized called from the wide open door. Turning to see who it was, everyone was confused to see a young teenage boy who looked like he was Ruby's age if not a little younger. He didn't look like much from appearance alone, and he looked quite shy to see all the people inside the house.

"Um, hi. Is there something you need?" Jaune asked the stranger.

The boy hesitated, appearing to freeze up in shyness as he wasn't able to say anything for a moment. They watched as he whispered something to himself, almost like he was talking to someone before he managed to build the courage to speak with them.

"I uh... I'm with him. I think he needs help."

" _Uncle Qrow? Who is this kid?_ " Yang whispered to her drunken uncle.

" _You don't - *hiccup* - recognize Ozpin? Sure, he got a little short... but_ ehhhh..." Qrow wasn't able to continue talking beyond that, only slurring his words nonsensically while the teens were left to take from that what they will.

"Who are you, stranger?" Ren asked the kid.

"I'm Oscar Pine." He answered shyly.

"Oh uncle..." Sighed Ruby, thinking that Qrow got so drunk off his mind that he somehow mistook this Oscar kid for Ozpin. Probably thought the kid said his name was 'Ozpin' when it was actually 'Oscar'. This Oscar kid must've simply been helping Qrow find his way back home and that's why he was here. "Sorry about my uncle, Oscar. He's just drunk. He thinks you're someone we knew."

 _"_ Well... he's not completely wrong about that..." The boy trailed, pausing a bit as if he was listening to someone speak to him again.

" _Wait... wait for it..._ " Whispered Qrow to himself but everyone sort of ignored him as they were focused on Oscar.

"This might be hard to believe, but I kinda am Professor Ozpin..."

"Huh?" They all went in unison, not sure if this kid was being serious or not.

" _AHAHA! I DID IT!_ " Uncle Qrow suddenly yelled out in cheers before accidentally rolling off the table, finally knocking himself out drunk.

This got some gasps out of the girls of the group, but everyone otherwise focused their attention on Oscar who was still quite shy looking. He's clearly got a lot to explain to them claiming he was Ozpin and stuff...

(...)

The crates Saxton Hale had generously given to the mercenaries for FREE contained not only new weapons, but also some items that are extremely useful to them. Such items include extra ammo and health kits, some leftover reanimators left behind at Mann Co. HQ, grappling hooks that the mercenaries completely forgot about, and perhaps most awesome are goddamn Halloween spellbooks and special Power Up Canteens Saxton Hale had specially made just for the mercenaries.

What made the Power Up Canteens so special was that each canteen was modified so that they were able to take different types of buffs instead of only three of the same. With that said, each mercenary now has one short Ubercharge, one crit booster, and one ammo refill.

It's a shame that the mercenaries weren't going to use these to fight alongside Saxtone Hale like he intended them to do, but at least they have them now for their own quest.

Anyways, back to the new weapons, the mercenaries got quite a lot of them. In fact, they got so many new weapons that it kinda feels like Saxton Hale just shoved them into the crates as if he expected them to somehow use all these weapons at the same time to defend him. This was great, but it meant that there was too damn many new weapons for the mercs to try out in combat to see which ones they like the best. On the other hand, it seemed like Saxton Hale was in such a rush that he unevenly gave new weapons out as some mercs got more weapons than others.

Like-

 _ ***** SUDDEN PORTAL OPENING *****_

A swirling portal that the mercs found oddly familiar opened up in the room they were in, and the mercs groaned at seeing Gaben on the other side.

"Whoa there, boys. Those weapons aren't cleared from the workshop." The man said, holding a hand out like he was a Jedi using the Force. Then, all the new weapons the mercs just got sucked into the portal with Gabe giving a wave goodbye.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Team Fortress all screamed in unison, not even thinking about what could happen to them as they jumped into the portal after Gaben.

* * *

 **Salem's Palace, Grimmscape**

Salem sat alone in her throne room, contemplating all she has heard in the last thirty minutes. That being hearing that our heroes have arrived in Mistral. The teenagers were negligible except for Ruby since she doubted that they could put up much resistance, but Qrow and the pesky men of Team Fortress were a different matter entirely. Cinder went down to her chamber where she was getting ready to leave with Mercury and Emerald to meet with Watts in Mistral, but Salem knew that Cinder was no longer reliable. That was made very clear that despite her answer that she feared Salem more, Cinder was obviously still very much terrified to encounter the mercenaries.

The Queen of the Grimm actually heard about the mercenaries as far back as their initiation into Beacon where they took down a sizeable force of Grimm, but she waved them off as them simply being skilled huntsmen and not much else. Groups of huntsmen have done similar events in the past, and so she didn't think much of the mercenaries and honestly kind of forgot about them until not too long ago when they proved to be a major threat to her faction.

However, what really caught her attention all those months ago was actually Saxton Hale's sudden appearance into Remnant. Now she was able to brush off the mercenaries, but she absolutely _could not_ ignore the ridiculouslessness that was the Australian's insane manliness and power. Which is precisely why she broke the fourth wall and contacted Monty and Gaben to accuse Hale of hacking. I'm sure you all remember what happened after that.

So it shouldn't be too surprising then that Salem was extremely upset when she got another report from a Grimm at Beacon Academy that Saxton Hale and the same army of robots that the mercenaries used to try and save Beacon suddenly _**RETURNED**_.

She was already very displeased with learning that our heroes had reached Mistral and Cinder's cowardice, but now she was just plain angry with a fury she hadn't felt in thousands of years. So angry was she, that she had to break the fourth wall again and summon a portal so she could speak to him. A swirling black and red portal appeared before her, and she stepped in.

* * *

 **BattlePC**

However, she soon realized that things were different this time around. Namely the bigass giant PC that was Gabe Newell's personal battlestation and flagship/headquarters of Valve Incorporated she found herself in front of. Last time she spoke with Gabe and Monty, they were just floating out in the Void. Skipping ahead of her getting cleared to go inside and such, she found her way to Monty's office where she barged in.

"Monty, what is the meaning of this?" She demanded right away as she entered, ignoring how Monty's office looked near identical to what his workstation in real life looked like.

"It would've been nice if you knocked, you know..." He sighed, looking up from his work. "And I thought you said you were only going to break the fourth wall once."

"Why is Saxton Hale back in Remnant?" She asked stenrly, ignoring what Monty said.

"Oh, that. Gabe and I cleared him of his ban when he promised us that he wasn't going to hack again, but then he kinda proved he wasn't hacking to begin with."

"How? You've seen what he can do! No normal Human being without any powers should be able to do that."

"Yeah... well maybe not in Remnant, but pretty much anything can happen in the world he's from..."

"Then why did you allow him to get banned in the first place?" She asked curiously. It wasn't like she was objecting to him getting banned or anything, but it did make her wonder why Gabe and Monty even agreed to ban him if they knew he really is just that strong.

"Gabe's not really that in touch with the side characters in Team Fortress 2. The only guys he really knows anything about are those mercenaries, and I'm sure you heard about those guys. Of course I wouldn't know anything about Team Fortress 2, so I just went with whatever Gabe wanted to do with his characters. Look, if you want to argue with anyone about that Saxton Hale guy, go talk to Gabe. He's technically his property and has more say in who gets banned."

She silently nodded and stood up. Without saying a word, she walked to the exit.

When she did find his office, she found that there was already some people inside it talking with Gaben and she had to wait outside until they were done. It sounded like there was a heated argument going on inside with multiple men shouting over each other, but Salem didn't really care about any of it and paid no attention to it.

Salem sat down on a chair and patiently waited for her turn, thinking about the situation back on Remnant in the meantime.

Her current strategy is to weaken and thin out the forces of the Mistral huntsmen and military using the White Fang to attack rural villages. Hazel managed to convince the entire White Fang to join her through promises of revenge against humanity, but also the much more serious threats of total annihilation if they didn't side with her. Starting tomorrow, the White Fang will begin raiding villages all over the kingdom of Mistral. The idea was that the Fang attacks will attract hordes of Grimm to these villages where Lionheart will play the part of a distressed headmaster sending huntsmen all over the place to respond to these threats. Due to the sheer size of the territory controlled by Mistral, there was no way there was going to be enough huntsmen to defend all the villages under attack and it's likely that many huntsmen will die trying to defend the ones they did get to. This strategy will be further supported once Salem manages to bring the Branwen bandit tribe to her side. She's certain that the bandits won't have too much difficulty joining her.

The one request that the White Fang asked was that they be allowed total countrol of the Faunus land of Menagerie. Salem didn't have any problems with that. One thing she did have a problem with was the state of Adam Taurus. He had been safely transported from Vale to Mistral after all this time, and he is currently going through intense medical treatment after Medic slashed his hand off and left him to burn to death at Beacon's cafeteria. From what Salem has heard, Adam's mind is shattered more than his body is. He's not the hate-filled bull he was before Beacon, and now he's a crazed maniac who cries himself to sleep in despair. Salem's going to have to meet him personally to fix that...

Anyways, Salem did agree to the White Fang taking control of Menagerie so long as they carried out the rest of her plans.

The next step of her strategy was obviously the attack on Haven Academy, but the presence of our heroes is very problematic. Salem didn't actually think Qrow and his merry band of foolish teenagers would make it to Haven, and of course that goes double for the sudden return of Team Fortress and ultra double with Saxton Hale also reappearing.

With the exception of Cinder who will no doubt be too afraid to effectively fight with the mercenaries around, she was confident that her other minions can take on our heroes in Mistral. What she wasn't confident in was if our heroes in Mistral had any of those teleportation machines Cinder mentioned they had with them. She had no confirmation that they did, but on the off chance that they did have Teleporters with them, then there was the possibility that Saxton Hale and that seemingly endless robotic army could aid Haven Academy against her forces. And Hale and the robots have proven just how effective they are at fighting the Grimm, just like what she saw when she got the report that Hale was fighting at Beacon earlier.

Speaking of Beacon, she was very concerned with the sudden appearance of the robot army and Saxton Hale leading the attack there. Other than what I mentioned above about the uncertainty if the mercenaries had Teleporters with them, the robot army was pushing her forces out of the academy. Despite the academy already having fallen and there being no relic there, the very important Grimm Dragon was still there and the academy was serving as a splended staging area for an eventual second invasion of the City of Vale.

If the mercenaries indeed hav teleporters with them, then the attack on Haven Academy may not go as well as planned.

Her attention returned when the door opened, nine disgruntled looking men holding weapons of various kinds in their arms leaving with Gaben seeing them out. Salem's eyes slightly widened in interest as she instantly recognized the men. The men themselves walked right past her without so much as a glance as they were too upset to really care about her, but she recognized them as the mercenaries of Team Fortress! A bit of irony and coincidence that they just so happened to be here right as she was thinking about them.

"Just be glad I'm letting you keep some stuff, guys..." Gabe told them as they exited, then turning his gaze to Salem. "Oh, you're that one lady who told me to ban Hale. Well if you're here about him, then I'm sorry to say but you can't get him banned again unless you have solid evidence that he's hacking." Shrugged the man.

Salem frowned a bit. She thought as much, but seeing Team Fortress up close like this gave her an idea of something to ask him.

"I am not here about Hale, no matter how bothersome he may be... But I am here to see if I can gain any support for my cause in Remnant."

"Eh, I don't know about that. Monty's got more of a say in that than me since it's his world. You can't go around the multiverse getting help if that's what you want. You'll need our permission for that, and we'll need to ask the owners of those worlds for permission ourselves."

"Oh? Then what about from their world?" She asked, motioning towards the mercenaries who crowded into an elevator that left just as she mentioned them. Gabe raised a brow at hearing this, wondering about what she could possibly want from Earth. "Surely they have some enemies from their world who would no doubt be interested in fighting _them_?"

 **(...)**

"DAMN IT! I can't believe that freaking fat bastard's only letting me keep three weapons!" Scout complained in the cramped elevator.

"Shut your yap, son. Be glad he's letting us keep any weapons..." Said Engie, referencing how Gabe agreed to let the mercenaries keep one weapon for each weapon slot, but Engineer and Spy were allowed extra items due to their PDA slots. The only other exceptions to the three weapons thing were Pyro and Heavy as they were given the weapons added from the Jungle Inferno update. So I guess the only winner here is Pyro since it easily got the most weapons out of everyone.

"Yeah, sure I guess..." Groaned Scout.

The team remained in grumpy silence for a few minutes as the elevator kept descending. The only reason why they were taking the elevator was because Gaben didn't take too kindly to them arguing with him and didn't feel like just whisking them back. Apparently this new BattlePC built off of the trillions of dollars generated by Steam users had a portal hub that made travel to different universes easier, and Gaben told them to use that instead.

Then the elevator suddenly slowed down to a stop, and it wasn't at their intended destination. Which is normal since the elevator just stopped for someone else to enter. Who entered the elevator though instantly made the mercenaries cringe.

"Ah, man! It's you guys! Hey! It's me, Ellis!" It's fucking Ellis. The redneck from Savannah, Georgia in the universe of Left 4 Dead. "Ah shit, fellas! Lemme squeeze in there!" Smiled the dude as he happily squeezed in with the mercenaries, not noticing that Demoman was rapidly pressing the button to send the elevator down.

"Never thought I woulda seen you guys 'round here! Shit, this reminds me of that time I met my buddy Keith in an elevator at the mall just like now! Except he was with his girlfriend, right? And it was kinda weird since I ain't seen her before and she didn't talk much, but I didn't mind much cuz she was Keith's gal. But then Keith started letting all these folks in since he was such a nice guy, and it turned out that elevators had like carrying capacities 'n shit! Man, I swear I'm telling you the goddamn truth that I nearly shit myself when the elevator door closed and it felt like we dropped..."

And so Ellis continued to drone on about his stories as the elevator doors closed. Ellis was a nice guy, no doubt about that, but the problem was that this guy did not know when to shut up. The mercenaries didn't mind Ellis so long as he kept his mouth shut, but he never fucking did!

So the elevator ride continued on for another five minutes until it stopped, much to the mercs' relief as they were beginning to die from Ellis' many stories.

"-and then I told Nick to eat some shit, and he was all like - Oh..." Went Ellis once he realized this was where he got off. "Well damn fellas, looks like this here's my stop!"

"Yeah. Yeah it does, son..." Engie who was the only other southerner besides Ellis groaned. Sure Engie was a Texan and Ellis was from Georgia, but they're still considered southerners. Doesn't mean Engie can't get annoyed with Ellis though. "Now get goin' before I damn well shoot myself."

"Oh, okay..." Ellis said sadly as he stepped out of the elevators. Remember that TF2 happens to be a videogame played in the world of L4D like it is in real life, and Ellis loves playing TF2 as Enginner. It's kinda upsetting to have your favorite character be upset with you. But then, what if Ellis is your favorite character in L4D and his favorite character happens to be your favorite character in TF2? I'd say that's favorite-ception. "Alright, but hey! You're still from my favorite game ever, right?"

"Yeah, there's a videogame about us and crap." Scout groaned as all he wanted was for Ellis to leave already.

"Cool! Cool... If you fellas need any help with anything, you know who to holler at. It's the least I can do after y'all saved my ass." Ellis said, referencing that offscreen adventure Team Fortress had when they helped the survivors escape when the portal they made first became active.

Ellis waved them goodbye as he ran to join up with his survivor buddies who the mercs remembered as Coach, Rochelle, and Nick. Now with Ellis gone, they could continue the rest of their elevator trip down in genuine peace. It was looking to be a realy loooooooooooooooooooong trip as the BattlePC was strangely a lot bigger in the inside than it looked from the outside.

The elevator stopped again, and the mercs were honestly pleasantly surprised to see who entered the elevator with them. The legendary Gordon Freeman of the Half-Life series who if you distantly remember was also part of the mercenaries' off screen adventures.

"Oh, I remember you." Sniper began. "How'd that business with the Combine turn out, mate? Didja give 'em a good beatin' after Gabe kicked us out of your world?"

Gordon grinned and nodded proudly, earning a pat on the back from a cackling Sniper.

"Hehehe... good man."

"Too bad I wasn't there to help you, otherwise those alien pansies would have to face the wrath of freedom!" Laughed Soldier loudly. "Heh, good thing you were there to give them America's blessings, fellow patriot!"

Gordon grinned and nodded once again. Yeah, this man's not much for words. He didn't exactly say a lot when he first encountered the mercenaries either if you were wondering about that, but the mercs didn't mind his lack of speaking much.

The elevator stopped yet again, and this time in came two GIGN soldiers from Counter-Strike both equipped with M4s.

"Bonjour messieurs." One of the soldiers greeted as the GIGN were French if you didn't know beforehand. Spy nodded and greeted them back in French. They may not be from the TF2 universe, but they were still fellow Frenchmen. Fun fact, the GIGN were also formed in 1973 in real life which is the current year TF2 takes place in. Of course these two were modern GIGN, but still. Both stepped into the rather spacious elevator and pressed the button to what level they wanted to get to.

"Hold the elevator please!" A feminine voice called out.

It was a young girl who was probably about Ruby's age who entered the elevator. She had black hair, red eyes, and she was wearing a school uniform consisting of a white collared shirt with black tie and black skirt. The uniform seemed to be too small for her as her belly was showing and the skirt was almost too short as it left a lot of her thighs showing. If you couldn't guess who it was, then it's Filia from Skullgirls!

The adults in the elevator didn't really mind her appearance though and they stepped aside to let her squeeze in.

"Thank you." She greatfully said as she also pressed the button to where she wanted to go.

The adults didn't mind the girl so much, but what they did mind was on the back of this girl's head. There was literally a big mouth full of pointy sharp teeth, and it clearly had a mind of its own even though it appeared to be made out of her hair. The thing had it's own pair of red eyes that were much fierce than the sweet girl it shared the head with, and it was glaring at the adults behind her.

Medic being the curious man he is about this kind of thing, adjusted his glasses as he leaned closer to examine it.

"Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer..." The thing answered in a gruff male voice. Medic grinned in delight at discovering it could talk, but the other adults recoiled back in surprise. Especially the two GIGN dudes since Counter-Strike is a very normal world in comparison to TF2. Gordon nearly pulled out a Crowbar and wacked her on the head for he thought it was some kind of alien (and you know Gordon has bad experiences with aliens, Black Mesa incident and Combine and shit...), but he was quickly stopped when Demoman grabbed his hand.

"Samson!" The girl scolded her freaking hair. The thing now known as Samson muttered to himself softly, continuing to stare back at the adults.

There was silence for another couple of minutes as no one in the elevator said anything. The only sound that broke the silence was the young girl beginning to softly whistle and lightly tap her feet.

"Hi there." She said, giving a friendly smile to the strangers behind her. "I'm Filia. How are you all today?"

"We're doin' fine, little lady." Engie lied, forcing a smile of his own in return.

"That's good." She smiled, temporarily going quiet again for another few seconds. After that though, she quickly resumed friendly conversation with them.

The adults in the elevator weren't really interested in much conversation, but this young lady was certainly interested in meeting new people. The GIGN soldiers with them didn't know English that well, and you already know Gordon Freeman is not much for words. It was mostly Team Fortress she spoke to in the elevator ride down. It wasn't really a bad thing though as Filia's sweet attitude and kind personality was more than enough to get the mercs to like her, and it was surprisingly even making them feel a little better about losing most of their new weapons. In a way, this girl reminded them of Ruby if Ruby was a lot less shy, a little taller, was much more developed (if you know what I mean), and had a talking parasite that replaced much of the back of her head.

* * *

 **The writing spirit is very slowly coming back after so long of feeling down, distraction by video games, and other major causes of writer's block I don't really feel like going into right now, but let's get to some talking topics.**

 **I think I realized another major reason why I'm not feeling much into writing anymore, and that's gonna have to be RWBY itself. I may have touched on this a little in the past, but here's my thoughts after thinking about it this past month. You see, this story was first written when my love for RWBY was at it's height and that was the summer after Volume 3 ended. I've already been loving TF2 for years before RWBY and it has not gone away at all up to this day, but the same cannot be said for RWBY.**

 **I've been playing a lot more TF2 these days than I have since when I first discovered the game, and I've been keeping up with RWBY all the way up to the end of Volume 5. What often happens when I play TF2 (despite it being a big reason why I haven't been writing) is that I think of stuff I've seen and imagine new ideas when I can. Now I still have trouble coming up with new ideas and writing since writer's block is still present, which is why I feel like I'll never be the same again, but whenever I think about RWBY volume 5 I can't help but think "what happened?" I can barely remember a single thing from Volume 5 despite watching the episodes within hours of them coming out, and the simple and sad truth is that I'm not interested in the series anymore.**

 **That is to say I'm not interested in the series past Volume 3 because thinking back on it, I actually barely remember Volume 4 as well. I do remember enjoying it a little, but even back when Volume 4 was airing did I feel like I was losing interest in the series.**

 **To put it simply, I thought Volumes 4 and 5 were lame with Volume 5 being particularly boring, and that I was only watching them to see how the series will end. Then I asked myself how come I went through with following the events of Volume 4 anyway if I didn't like it that much? Well, I answered that this was back when I was my old happy self and I promised to follow through the events of RWBY as the then new Volume 4 aired, and it was also because due to my love for RWBY that I was blinded into following Volume 4 despite being aware that I didn't like it as much as I would have hoped even back then. I even remember when I was writing the chapters that took place during the events of Volume 4 that I wasn't really having that much fun following the current story, and this is one of the major reasons why I was losing steam back then.**

 **I'm not going to go into a full on discussion or review about what I think of RWBY's current state as that's not what I'm here to talk about, but I may share my full thoughts next chapter.**

 **Anyways...**

 **This writer's block is still here. It's not quite as bad before, but it's still happening. You may notice that it's been damn near enough since I posted anything new except for a random writing exercise about the Great War of Remnant, and that's because my mind is still very conflicted on what to write. I don't know what should stay and what should go and I'm afraid of crazy new ideas like I used to. You know, back in the day when I said 'FUCK IT' and wrote whatever I wanted. You see that whole part that takes place in the BattlePC above? Work on that began _three_ weeks ago. Again, I may talk more about it next chapter as it's been a while since I told you guys how I feel these days.**

 **Just know for now that I still intend on fully returning to writing one of these days.**


	64. The Deal

**BattlePC**

"A pleasure doing business with you..." Gabe smiled brightly as he counted tons of stacks of lien Salem handed to him. Apparently any form of payment works for Gabe Newell. Salem was somewhat upset with sourcing out a sizeable amount of the funds that were intended to supporting the White Fang, but she figured it would be worth it with what Gabe's allowing her to do in return for the money she's giving him. "The portals will be down until whenever you return to Remnant."

"Thank you, Gabriel." Salem smiled genuinely,

"Oh, no. My name's just Gabe. Not Gabriel. It's not short for anything." He corrected her.

"Well thank you then, Gabe." Salem uttered out before promptly leaving in a portal to TF2 Earth Gabe opened for her as said man contacted Monty. In a rather normal way too as all he did was pick up a regular looking office phone and dialed his number.

"Hey Monty, I'm temporarily letting that woman go to TF2 Earth. Are you alright with that?"

"Yeah." The man in question responded lazily.

"Okay, thanks." Gabe then hung up, continuing to snicker over the money he just scammed off of Salem. "Every time..."

* * *

 **Haven Academy**

Everyone had gone to bed not long after midnight passed. Teams RWBY and JNPR got their own rooms despite the rooms in the staffhouse only having one bed each, and Qrow had a room with Oscar/Ozpin all to themselves. They discovered Team Fortress was missing at around this time, and assuming that they gone out to a tavern to have a party now that Medic was here, the living room was left all for them whenever they came back.

Ruby was the first to wake up out of anyone in the house, rising with a cute yawn. Rubbing her tired eyes, she looked around the single bed room to check on her teammates. Each room only had a single large bed in it, and so Weiss and Blake slept on the floor in sleeping bags while Ruby and Yang shared the large bed since they were sisters. It's fine. Yang was still knocked dead asleep, snoring a little loudly with her hair in a mess. Weiss was also still asleep but Blake was beginning to stir awake. The little red reaper couldn't help but smile. It was just like when they were living back at Beacon together as a team. Except there's only one bed, but still.

She uttered the tired kitty cat a greeting while getting out of bed to get some coffee. Ruby couldn't possibly feel any better than what she's feeling now. Nothing but pure happiness filled her soul as the gang was all back together again! Well, not _quite_ everyone, but this is still way better than Team RNJR soloing the bad guys without any of their friends to back them up. Especially with all the mercenaries suddenly coming together, that one awesome dream she had was coming true!

"Guys?" Ruby called out as she walked downstairs, still a bit sleepy.

The living room was completely empty. It seemed like the mercenaries didn't come back last night. She got a little worried at seeing this. Ruby was the one to check on them before going to sleep last night, and she noticed that curiously they left behind the crates they got but not any of the new weapons. That part made her a little grumpy at them not wanting to share their new toys, but she guessed they just put them away in whatever the Hell they put their stuff in.

Shrugging, she guessed they must have partied themselves to sleep at whatever tavern they went to and are drunk off their minds. Speaking of drunk off their minds, her dear Uncle Qrow brought some stranger over last night as I'm sure you're aware. Apparently, they were out all day looking for any huntsmen willing to help and Qrow just happened to meet one of these huntsmen in a bar before coming home last night. Qrow getting drunk wasn't weird in the slightest, but Oscar was. This kid who was actually younger than even Ruby herself is apparently Headmaster Ozpin. They didn't believe it at first, but then Ozpin literally took full control of Oscar's body and began speaking and acting flawlessly like their old headmaster.

What followed was a long and confusing explanation by the Ozpin possessed Oscar about how he was able to do this and what the purpose of all his actions was. The teens (most of them anyway) already knew a lot of this due to Qrow telling them, but hearing it and more from Ozpin himself was like being told a much more complicated version of something that already was complicated to begin with.

She sighed, already in the kitchen and making coffee for her and her team. Thinking about what she was told last night still hurts her head. Shaking it out of her mind for now, she went back upstairs with the coffee.

"Hey guys..." Ruby smiled as she entered their room, seeing everyone was just about waking up now. "I made coffee for all of us."

" _Awesome..._ " Yawned her sleepy sister, her eyes still closed even as she sat up in bed. She gave Ruby a loving smile when she got her cup handed to her, muttering out a thanks before letting out a loud yawn.

"Ugh... I forgot what it was like to sleep in a room with Yang in it..." Grumbled Weiss, shooting the blonde a glare. Though in a way, Weiss missed it. It was just one of Yang's quirks that she grew used to back when they were living together at Beacon. "Thanks for the coffee, Ruby."

"Don't mention it!" Beamed Ruby with a bright smile.

Last to reciever their coffee was Blake, the catgirl mewing a little thank you as she got it.

"The guys aren't back yet." Said Ruby as she set the tray down and sat on the bed with her older sister. "I wonder where they went... Do you guys have any ideas?"

"Probably went to some place to party and get drunk again..." Yang shrugged. "Especially since Medic's here."

"That sure sounds like them." Blake added.

"Or they could be on some crazy adventure right now." Said the heiress.

"Heh, like going out into space?" Chuckled Yang.

"Yeah..." Sighed Ruby, shaking her head while softly smiling at their antics. Who knew a bunch of grownup men would have wackier adventures than Team RWBY themselves? "Ugh... I still wished I could've been there when they took you to space..."

"Yep. Space was pretty great. You know, if you can get past actually _getting_ to space. That part kinda sucks..." Yang said, shivering a little as she remembered how fast they had to travel to escape the planet's atmosphere and achieve orbit. She swore her eyeballs were moving to the back of her skull from how fast it was.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Asked Weiss. They weren't students of this academy and didn't need to attend any of the classes. It just felt weird since this was usually about the time where they would be late for class.

"Well, I was supposed to go to Professor Lionheart to tell him about the White Fang. That was before Sniper basically kidnapped me and we all... you know..."

"Eh, I don't think you need to tell him. You already told my uncle and Oscar- er Ozpin, and uh... I'm sure they'll tell him when they see him today. Hey, what do we even call that kid? Are we supposed to call him Oscar or Ozpin?"

"I guess it depends on who's talking at the moment." Shrugged Weiss. "I still can't believe that Ozpin got reincarnated as a teenage boy, and why he chose someone so... so..."

"Normal?" Added Blake.

"I was going to say something more like 'shy', but normal definitely works too."

"Ugh, don't remind me. I thought it was pretty cool at first, but then Ozpin started talking about curses and stuff and then it started to hurt my brain..." Whined Ruby, deciding to quickly change the subject before her head started to hurt again. "Maybe we should just hang out today? Like we did back in Vale?"

"That sounds lovely." Smiled Blake.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to explore the city. You in on this, Weiss?" Asked Yang.

"Sure." Nodded the heiress.

"Alright! Operation Hang Out is a go!" Ruby cheered, quickly running out the door to ask Team JNPR if they wanted in. Coincidentally, their room happened to be right across from Team RWBY's like it was at Beacon too. Her teammates got a good laugh at seeing Ruby being, well, Ruby again. Blake and Weiss both missed Ruby's fun innocence so much. Yang was no exception, but it was even more heartwarming to her since seeing Ruby happy simply filled her heart with joy.

* * *

 **Somewhere in Hawaii , TF2 Earth**

Poor Olivia Mann. Left behind while her father went to oversee preparations for an invasion of Australia in his isolated island headquarters.

That was over a year ago. Now Olivia lives in a mansion refurbished to look like a giant dollhouse with nothing but huge stuffed animals and dolls as well as a small army of robots Gray left for her. These robots serve as the staff and caretakers of the place and follow Olivia's every order. She doesn't go to school and spends her days in this big empty mansion with nothing to do despite all the Mann Co. assets and money she inherited from her father.

Wait. What do I mean by Mann Co. assets? Well, that's something I neglected to mention back then.

Yes, Team Fortress did defeat Gray Mann and regained control of Mann Co. HQ., but they didn't _completely_ regain control of the entire company. Though Gray Mann never thought he was actually going to die, he still named Olivia the heir to the company if he somehow did end up dying (which he totally did). Yeah, Gray knew that Olivia wasn't capable of running the company in any way whatsoever, but he did more to specifically spite Saxton Hale than anything else. That's why he kept the stupid but awesome policy of "defeating the CEO to gain control of the company".

A year later, Saxton Hale and Miss Pauling were able to regain of the majority of Mann Co. facilities around the world. Then we go to Olivia and she still has control over the company that her father owned before fully taking over Mann Co. Which is Gray Gravel Company for those of you who didn't know this. Oh, and all the money from Mann Co. she took as well.

One more time for clarity, Olivia is technically still CEO of Mann Co., but is only really still in control of the assets belonging to Gray Gravel Company and the dollhouse mansions she bought when Saxton Hale said screw you and had everything that wasn't part of Gray Gravel Company return to his control. He's perfectly fine with not having Gray Gravel Company because fuck Gray Mann.

So as you can imagine, Olivia's been pretty lonely since her father's death to now. All that money doesn't do anything but sit there, and she's real bored of the robots since she's played every game a child her age can think of with them in the year since Gray's death. The only thing she really does here is watch TV all day with her legions of toys and robots, and she doesn't even spend her money because she doesn't even know what to spend it on.

However, today was going to change all that. Olivia was walking down the hall leading to the big playroom when she discovered someone waiting for her within.

"Huh!? Who are you!?" She cried out in total surprise at seeing an unnaturally pale lady in a black dress.

"Hello, Olivia." Salem said to the girl, having a friendly smile on in an attempt to ease the surprise of her unnatural appearance to the Human girl. "I am Salem. This mansion you live in is rather... grand."

Olivia's weary face slowly changed to a look of pleasant surprise.

"Really? Do you really think so?" She asked with childlike wonder.

"Yes." Salem said. "I think it's rather lovely."

" _Awwww... you don't say..."_ The child cooed, blushing a bit. It's been so long since she's last spoken to a person, and someone so nice at that!

Salem kept the friendly smile on, trying to make herself looking as nice as possible to this child. Gabe told her that this Human child was apparently one of the mercs' few enemies left, and despite wondering how exactly this girl was even a threat to the mercenaries, she soon found out that she actually posed a threat to Saxton Hale. That was more than enough to convince her that coming to this new world was worth it, even if she questioned it harder how exactly this _ten year old_ was supposed to threaten Hale. Any help is better than no help she supposed.

"Hey, do you wanna be my friend?" Olivia asked excitedly.

"Why of course I do, my dear!" Played along the Queen of the Grimm. Olivia got so happy that she immediately gave Salem a hug without any hesitation. She's finally got a friend! "But... I must ask, do you miss your father?" Questioned Salem, instantly killing Olivia's excitement. Slowly, Olivia broke away from Salem and stared at the woman's eyes.

"Yes..." She said softly, tears beginning to swell at her eyes.

"Oh... do not cry..." Said Salem, kneeling so that she was eye to eye with the child. Olivia quickly broke down and started bawling, throwing herself onto Salem and hugging her tightly as she cried. Salem remained quiet for a couple of minutes, allowing the girl to cry it out until she was ready to listen. "Don't cry, Olivia. I know just how to cheer you up."

"I-ice cream?" The child whimpered.

"Well, yes. But what if I told you that I can help you find those who killed him?"

Immediately, Olivia stopped crying and looked at Salem, her attention fully on what she had to say.

"Yes. I can help you get your revenge. I just need you to help me as well..."

"ALRIGHT!" Olivia bursted into cheers, surprising Salem with the instant mood change. "I can't believe I never thought of getting revenge before! I was so focused on eating ice cream when daddy died that I must have forgot! Ohhhhh, I can't wait! I GET TO KILL THE PEOPLE WHO KILLED DADDY!" The little girl squealed in delight.

"Yes, yes you do." Smiled Salem even though she was caught off guard by this level of enthusiasm.

"What do I have to do!?"

"Well, how about you start by telling me what... skills, you possess?" Asked Salem since she didn't know a damn thing about this kid. She didn't see Olivia as anything more than just a little Human girl if I didn't make it so mind-numbingly clear.

"Skills?" Blinked Olivia in confusion.

"Yes. Do you have any fighting experience, powers, abilities, or anything that may be useful?"

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..." She ummed, tapping her chin as Salem patiently waited. "Ummmmmmm... Hmmmmmm... Not really..." She shrugged, but then she had a realization immediately afterwards. "OH! BUT I ONCE BEAT SAXTON HALE IN A FISTFIGHT!"

Salem was legitimately surprised by that statement, and she was going to ask her to elaborate when Olivia cut her off and kept going.

"A-and, and, and I got bajillions of dollars I can use to buy super weapons and armies and stuff like the shows on TV!" She beamed, pointing at the television which happened to be showing just that. A spy movie with a mastermind villain who controls an army of minions and high tech stuff.

"Oh? Is that so?" Salem went, a legitimate smile actually forming since this changes EVERYTHING. She wasn't expecting this little girl to be such a powerful new ally, though she still needed to see proof of course. Olivia gave a proud nod and yep for an answer, crossing her arms from how proud she was for thinking of that idea. "So... you're saying that not only can you defeat Saxton Hale, but you can also bring an army of mercenaries as well?"

"Yeppers! And I got a bunch of robots my daddy left behind too! All I got to do is turn them on and they'll do anything for me!"

For the first time in millenia, Salem was actually pleasantly surprised in a big way. Not only can she use this little girl to deal with Saxton Hale, but also she can make use of the massive pool of resources she's bringing to her cause.

Destroying her enemies may have just gotten a lot easier...

"Come on! I know where the nearest black market is!" Chirped Olivia, grabbing Salem by the wrist and rushing out of the house with the Queen of the Grimm following close behind her.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

" _HOLY SHIT, RUUUUUUUUUUUUN!"_ Was something that flashed in the minds of every Grimm as soon as they realized who they were fighting. These creatures attracted to fear are ironically feeling fear themselves as Saxton Hale himself plowed through them like a fucking lightsaber through butter as a hot knife is for children, not men. On top of this, there's a huge army of robotic units facing off against them just like at the first battle of Beacon, and this time there's no guarantee that the Grimm will win this time.

What's worse for the Grimm was that there was still more robots marching in from Patch, and the whole VDF and huntsmen force led by Glynda Goodwitch was assisting them in full force. So tide turning was the sudden incursion of the robots that the VNN dispatched Cyril Ian over to report this to the whole kingdom. In fact, the robot army was so exciting to the citizens that practically half the city was already crowded at the security line watching the battle from a safe distance, cheering the good guys on.

"This is Cyril Ian reporting live from Beacon Academy where the mysterious army of robots is fighting the Grimm alongside Professor Goodwitch's forces. You can see the battle unfolding from right behind me, and let me tell you that I've never seen anything like this before. Also, you can see an absolutely massive crowd of-HEY!"

In a funny repeat of events that happened almost a year ago, the exact same guy who stole the mic from Cyril during the Vytal Festival shoved him and took it again! The camera man let out a surprised gasp but what was forced to focus on this dude instead when he grabbed the camera while screaming into the mic.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! YEAH! YOU SEE THAT!? THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" The dude screamed with the excitement of a frat boy, pointing at the violence happening behind him. "SEND THEM BACK TO HELL FOR WHAT THEY DID TO US!" Then he ripped his shirt off to reveal that he had the letter 'V' painted on his chest just like last year, and then his same bunch of buddies stood side by side with him where the letters on their chests spelled out 'VALE' in all caps.

"VALE! VALE! VALE! VALE! VALE!"

Cheered the crowd alongside the dudes for the entire kingdom to see. For the first time since the Vytal Festival, the spirits of the citizens were at an all time high. No longer were the people all worried for their future as the robot reinforcements began pushing the Grimm out of the academy, meaning Vale should be secure from any possible attacks should the Grimm breach again. And then after the Grimm have been pushed out of Beacon, then they can both reclaim and support territory attacked by the Grimm.

Cyril Ian didn't even try to fight the guy this time, only smiling along with the rest of his fellow citizens as he peacefully took the mic back from the dude. The smiling news reporter was going to say something, but then the crowd gasped and shouted at something, drawing his attention where he also began gasping and shouting. The cameraman also joined along when he focused on what was happening.

Breadzilla has also returned to Beacon, and he was not alone. The villagers of Mannlich who tamed him came screaming battle cries into the fight as they also engaged the Grimm alongside the robots and other friendly forces here to assist their hero, Saxton Hale. All the while the citizens of Vale watched and cheered their hearts out as the battle raged on like hellfire.

This will go down in history as the Second Battle of Beacon, and unlike the First one, this one is a total victory on the part of the side of good. The air force of the VDF took total control of the skies with the flying units of the robot army assisting them, the combined ground forces utterly annihlated any opposition the Grimm put up through sheer overwhelming firepower and brute force, and this time the Grimm were running away instead of constantly pouring in like last time.

The elder Grimm were ordering every single one of the younger inferior Grimm to run away since this fight wasn't worth it. The eldest among them being the same ancient Alpha Beowolf Saxton Hale faced long ago. He was so ancient that he had knowledge on par with the likes of a general, and as such he knew when there was a situation he couldn't win. Such as when he ran away from Hale like a bitch last year, but to be fair that was part of a trap to get Saxton Hale banned so take that as you will. Speaking of which, he couldn't believe that muscle bound manly motherfucker is back! Salem said that he was gone for good, but clearly she was completely wrong if he's back here.

"Hahahaha! Run away, you bloody cowards! I'll only come huntin' for ya later!" Hale mocked, laughing heartily as all the Grimm began retreating from the utter massacre without a single hope of victory.

The Alpha Beowolf stopped in it's tracks and stared back at Hale, staring in disbelief as the man stood on an enormous pile of fadgin Grimm of all kinds that he slaughtered with his bare manly hands. Continuing his victory laugh, Hale somehow sees the Alpha even with all the Grimm fleering around it, smiling as he recognized him.

"What's up, chap?" He shouted over to the Beowolf, grinning his signature grin whilst pointing at him. "Why don't you let that woman know that I'm coming for her? And tell her that she best be ready for a fight because I sure as Hell am! I'll be counting on it!"

The Alpha snarled, and then promptly ran off with his tail between his legs as the sound of Hale's victorious laughter echoed over the mass retreat.

* * *

 **BattlePC**

So now let's see what Team Fortress was doing while all this was going on.

Do you remember last chapter when I mentioned the inside of the BattlePC was a lot bigger than it looked from the outside? Well this thing had an interior the size of a large city. However, this wasn't the reason why they didn't go back to Remnant last night. No, they found the portal hub with little trouble, but what kept them from coming back last night was that the machine holding the portal to TF2 Earth was temporarily out of commission for "no reason" as described by a BattlePC worker when they asked him about it. They planned on taking this chance to circle back to their world and reconnect with their allies since Medic lost the Teleporter he brought with him on his way to Mistral. This served to only make them more upset than when they lost most of their new weapons to Gaben earlier.

It was either they camp out in the portal hub and wait for it to be active again, step out the BattlePC and take God knows how long to find their world by themselves, or just go back to Remnant and miss this chance to go home altogether. Wait, actually, they couldn't get back to Remnant either. In fact, they couldn't go to any world. All the portals leading to other universes here were down. Probably should have started with that, but eh.

Funny thing is that coincidentally, all these portals were also offline for "no reason" according to the same guy they asked about their world's portal. That's all this guy knew about the situation other than it shouldn't be down for more than twenty-four hours.

This is where we find them camping in front of the deactivated portal to TF2 Earth now, but they weren't alone.

It seems like the BattlePC is so much more than just a huge mobile battlestation that served as Gabe's fortress and Valve's HQ in the Void. It's... it's more like this place is the physical emobdiment of Steam itself. Now what does this have to do with them not being alone? Well check this out and see if you can understand.

Our nine crazy mercenaries were stuck in the portal level with other people who had somehow found their way here. Vast majority of them had no idea how they got here, just to let you know. Example being Ellis when he claims that his buddy Keith sent him visions of "holes that led out into this bigass Void n' shit."

And also, fair warning as the mix of characters here is a strange bunch.

There was the GIGN guys from Counter-Strike, Filia from Skullgirls, a few clone troopers from Star Wars: Battlefront II, Ellis and his crew of survivors including the L4D1 survivors, Gordon Freeman from Half-Life, Chell from Portal, some WW2 era American soldiers from both Day of Defeat and Company of Heroes, Neptune from Hyperdimension Neptunia, Taokaka from Blazblue, and a whole bunch of other characters I can't name here or else it will be too much to list.

Currently they've been playing poker with some of these guys they've met for a couple hours. At least they think it was a couple of hours. Time is just... very complicated/confusing in this place. Any watches or some other device used to track time didn't work here, or rather it never counts up or down and it just stays stuck at whatever time it was when they left their worlds. What if a couple of hours did pass in the Void but that equals like five hours in Remnant time? The mercenaries wouldn't know, and neither would anyone else with them for that matter. Fuck man, I don't even know.

They've never been in the Void for this long before.

* * *

 **Yeah so I finally got it out after like another month. I'm sorry guys. It has been a hard crawl towards trying to write again, but I'm getting there. I said a lot about it already previously and that can be found in the V2 if you want to see the reasoning why I haven't been writing so much over these past few months. I need to somehow renew interest in writing and stuff. I'll talk about this some other time, but there's something else I need to address.**

 **It's RWBY itself.**

 **I do not like the show nearly as much as I used to. I still like Team Fortress 2 a whole bunch, but my opinion on RWBY has gone down real bad. So it started when I rewatched the entire show from Volume 1 to Colume 5. Or rather that was supposed to be the plan but I never got to it since I did not have the resolve to do it. I did however watch Volume 5 as it was being released though, and I am severely disappointed. In my opinion Volume 5 was fucking stupid for the most part and I didn't enjoy most if not any of it.**

 **I will quickly list off reasons why I didn't like the Volume before explaining my current opinion of RWBY. These are also in no particular order.**

 **(...)**

 **. The fucking character shorts misleaded the shit out of me as I thought this Volume was going to be full of character and awesome story.**

 **.The actual bandit tribe is fucking lame and Raven is just as bad. Not bad as in "ah man she a bitch", but bad as in she is just so fucking stupid with a dumbass plan and she is just as lame as the rest of her retarded tribe (no wonder why Qrow left them).**

 **.The fight scenes for the most part are a downgrade from Volume 4.**

 **.The finale was even more underwhelming than that of Volumes 3 and 4. I expected an epic final fight but it amounted to characters standing around and barely fighting for most of it, and it was constantly cut away from so that we didn't see most of it anyway. Raven VS Cinder was cool I guess but I didn't care about it much after every other reason you will see here.**

 **. Adam runs like a fucking bitch after missing a slow ass slash at Blake who hit him once.**

 **. Adam brought like eight guys with him instead of taking the whole White Fang which he now controls just in case they were attacked**

 **. Blake's entire army arrives in Mistral in like less than a day. I think it was said somewhere that Blake's story actually takes place a few weeks or days before everyone elses, but the show should have made that clear.**

 **. Adam taking control of the White Fang is severely disappointing because he doesn't fucking do anything with his new resources. Maybe he will in the future, but this Volume makes Adam look extremely incompetent and dumb after four volumes of buildup for this fucking guy.**

 **. The villains are not really threatening no matter how much Qrow says they are.**

 **(...)**

 **And those are just quick rapidfire reasons that I can remember of why I didn't like the volume. I could probably list more but that requires me to actually rewatch this shit and be reminded of the problems.**

 **Volume 4 I already didn't like for reasons similar to this Volume except not as bad, but Volume 5 dropped my opinion on the show even further. That and looking back on it, RWBY actually wasn't that great to begin with. This show is one of those things where the fandom makes better content than the actual show itself. I find it more interesting to read fanfiction and look at fanart of this show than actually watching it. Volumes 1-3 were okay and that was good enough for me to watch it, but then Volume 4 rolled up and I started to waver. Then, Volume 5 is where I started to dislike the series.**

 **As in, the show itself. Like I'll still be a part of the RWBY fandom in the sense that I will be looking at stuff made by fans and shit, but I will most likely not enjoy the show anymore at the way things are heading. If anything I'll only watch RWBY from now on only to see how it ends.**

 **I'm not gonna go too in-depth with why the show isn't as good as I thought it was, but this is just to let you know how I feel about it these days.**

 **So...**

 **You're free to tell me how you feel about the show and stuff or comment about anything else really.**

 **I hope to see you guys soon in another update, and hopefully I'll be feeling good about writing again enough for me to do it more frequently.**

 **Oh, and I'll talk about V2 now while I'm here. The thing about V2 is that it wasn't really a rewrite even though that was it was intended to be. It ended up becoming a completely different story with the only thing it has in common with the original was the crossover part and most of the beginning portion is similar. So with that said, if I will be continuing V2, it's name will be changed since it's not really related to this story. I'll talk more about V2 in a future update.**


	65. Recruitment

**Hawaii** , **United States of America,** **TF2 Earth**

This other world confused the Hell out of Salem to no end. Her only exposure to it before actually coming here was seeing the mercenaries of Team Fortress in action, and despite their crazy ways she thought that they weren't fully representative of what the people of this world were like. It's the simple concept of don't judge an entire group on the actions of a few, and much less for an entire new world.

Now she wasn't so sure about that...

Olivia Mann dragged Salem over to the local black market as if it was a regular supermarket, and it kinda was like a regular supermarket. One would normally expect a black market to be a hidden network of illegal dealings away from the eyes of authorities, but no. This place looked just like a Walmart except if Walmart was a place that sold illegal stuff and a place for guys like terrorists, mercenaries, hitmen, assassins, and anything similar to those occupations hanged out at.

Currently, Salem was calmly walking down a weapons aisle with Olivia who was pushing a cart full of weapons along. The Queen of the Grimm was still somewhat put off by the girl's high enthusiasm. She understands that revenge is a huge motivator for most people, but even she felt that this little girl was being way too childishly enthusiastic about this.

Eerily similar to how Ruby would, Salem watched as Olivia ran all over the place picking up anything that caught her eye.

"Ooh! I want to get that ray gun! A-and I want to get that tank! And - OOOOOOH! I WANT THAT BIG MACHINE GUN! AND THAT MAGIC-"

"Olivia, dear..." Salem began, reaching out and gently holding her back. "While all these weapons are certainly impressive, I believe you are forgetting that we need _people_ to give these weapons to."

"Oh..." The girl blinked, realizing her mistake.

"...which is why I feel that instead of using your money to buy weapons, we use it to hire the services of mercenaries. It will be a much more productive use of your money, I assure you."

"Smart thinking, Ms. Salem!" Beamed the little girl before she suddenly ran ahead and over to a central gathering area of sorts. Salem followed Olivia at her own pace, abandoning the shopping cart as she watched Olivia struggle to drag a crate full of Soviet grenades into the middle of the floor, climbing on top of it where she then cleared her throat. "Um, excuse me!" She shouted, gaining the attention of all the scum here.

Salem stood back with the crowd, watching to see how Olivia will handle this.

"Hi! My name's Olivia Mann, and I own this place!" Well, that certainly caught Salem off guard. She didn't realize Olivia owned this place, but that maybe because she doesn't know that Olivia owns Gray Mann Co. Otherwise she would have noted that this place was called ' _Gray's Black Maket_ : _A Subsidiary of Gray Mann Co.'_

"My friend and I are going to find the guys who killed my daddy, and we need help!" Announced the girl.

"What's in it for us?" A gruff-looking outlaw asked, glaring at the little girl.

"I'll give you a bunch of money if you help me." Olivia answered, noticeably trying to straighten herself out and behave professionally like her father before her. However, the ruffians here were already losing interest in this little girl, not believing she actually had any meaningful amount of money. Salem decided to step up as it was clear that this rough bunch of people aren't going to take this little girl seriously no matter what she said.

"May I have your attention..." Salem began, everyone looking back at her and immediately noticing her pale skin and overall unusual appearance. "As the girl here has said, we require your services for an indefinite amount of time." She paused, watching the crowd. "You will have to travel to my world where you will follow our every order."

"What is this about travelling to another world?" Asked an Asian man who spoke in a very heavy Vietnamese accent.

Salem reached in her robes and pulled out a scroll, placing it on the ground where it projected a holographic map of Remnant.

"This is Remnant. It is a world where the majority of civilization is restricted to four kingdoms. There is much more to explain but know that this is where you will be heading should you join us."

"And just how in the Hell do you expect us to get there?" A female bounty hunter asked, noticeably looking skeptical at the thought of another world. Salem also saw how she was beginning to lose the crowd's attention once she got around to mentioning Remnant, but that was of no concern.

"Olivia, can you bring me one of those Teleporter devices?" Salem asked the girl.

"Sure thing, Ms. Salem!" Olivia smiled brightly, running throught the crowd of trained killers and murderers where she disappeared for a second. She quickly reappeared again with a Teleporter that was a different model from the ones that Team Fortress used. It also had a price tag on it that said it was worth $500,000. "I got it!"

"Excellent." Smiled Salem as the girl placed it down.

Then the Queen of the Grimm reached into her robes once again and revealed a white dust crystal. She paid Gabe money not only to allow her to come to TF2 Earth and prevent Team Fortress from going back for a little while, but she also paid him to open up a direct connection from TF2 to Remnant. Gabe refused to let Salem use the BattlePC though, but because of his obsession with money, he was willing to tell her how Team Fortress got there to begin with so she could have her own portal back and forth instead. Being told that all she had to do was have the dust touch the teleporter and nothing else, she simply placed it on top of it and took a few steps back.

Despite it being a different model of Teleporter, it seemed to work nonetheless as the Teleporter immediately activated by itself and experienced a surge of energy from the crystal. Soon, it opened a bright white portal that led to the Void. In awe, the crowd of criminals had a complete change of heart and were now fully interested in what she was offering. Salem couldn't help but allow her lips to form into a genuine small grin.

"You will each be paid handsomely by my little associate for your service, and you will also be allowed to pillage and loot to your heart's content while in Remnant."

That last part got the crowd of criminals riled up. They had no connections and ties to that world. They can literally do whatever they want and not have to worry about anything at all! In their eyes, Remnant was a frontier with endless possibilities. A very appealing opportunity for these low lifes to take...

"But most importantly, you will be paid far more rewardingly if you manage to kill these targets." Salem's scroll then switched from showing a map of Remnant to showing the faces of each of the nine mercenaries of Team Fortress. She decided to leave Hale out as Olivia will deal with him.

To her surprise, everyone began wildly murmuring and shouting upon seeing the pictures of the team. At first Salem assumed that this was because Team Fortress had a fierce reputation as the best mercenaries in this world, but that assumption was shattered when they also began laughing as well.

" _Those_ guys!?" Someone scoffed. "You're gonna pay us a ton of money just to kill those losers!? They're the laughing stock of the mercenary world!" He cackled uncontrollably. The rest of the crowd also laughed and shouted out things about how bad the mercenaries of Team Fortress was, and this surprised Salem as she thought they were deadly fighters with years of experience. Clearly, these people didn't seem to think so.

"Hell, this is gonna be the easiest job I've ever taken! Lady, you got yourself a deal!" Said a man who spoke in a Cajun accent, shaking Salem's hand enthusiastically.

And so practically the entire black market was willing to join Salem and Olivia. Both partners looked to each other and grinned with Olivia being the most excited that all these people are going to help her get revenge. Even if their motivations were solely on profit and shit.

"Olivia, I will leave you in charge here. I have my own matters to take care of in Remnant." Salem told the girl, taking another teleporter and leaving the one she activated for Olivia. "You will have three days to mobilize your army for an invasion of Remnant."

Olivia grinned enthusiastically, giving a salute. "You can count on me, friend!" She beamed, but then she gasped and switched to a more professional atitude in an attempt to mimic her father. "I mean, yes Salem. You have my word."

"Good girl..." Complimented Salem, patting the girl's head before opening her own portal back to her palace in Remnant. This was the last time Monty and Gabe were willing to let her do this. Anymore opening of her own personal portals and she'll have to pay an unreasonably high price in cash that she most likely couldn't afford.

* * *

 **BattlePC**

Right, so for the last who knows how long, the many characters from multiple series on Steam have been trapped in the portal level of the BattlePC. No one wanted to risk going outside into the Void as they had no idea what could be waiting out there for them. The only people here who've been out there was Team Fortress. As a result, the only thing any of the characters can do here is either stand around and wait, or interact with the other characters here.

This is how Team Fortress ended up meeting and befriending (to various extents) people from dozens of different universes. They were already friends with Gordan Freeman and the entire Left 4 Dead cast of survivors, but now check out this list of new acquaintances. Filia (and Samson) from Skullgirls, Neptune from Hyperdimension Neptunia, Chell from Portal, a bunch of other CTs from Counter-Strike, Luke Skywalker, and young Isaac from _The Binding of Isaac_. A decent sized group of friendly individuals, some more friendly than others, but still accepting of the mercs for the most part.

Something I neglected to say last chapter was that it seemed like Gabe purposefully designed this portal level of the BattlePC to double as what is basically a shopping mall. It comes complete with a huge food court and stores that sold merchandise of the various games that are on the Steam platform. Do you have any idea how awkward it was for Heavy when he and the gang found a store selling action figures of themselves? It's like Gabe is trying to maximize profit off of these characters by having them buy their own merchandise as well. There's even merchandise of RWBY characters here, and it was infinitely more strange for the guys to see little PVC figures of the kids they know in that world.

Wouldn't be too surprising considering money is everything to that man... Oh, and speaking of which, Gabe's voice started ringing through the intercom system of his massive BattlePC.

"Attention, everyone. This is Gabe Newell speaking. The portals are open again." He announced, the portals all activating as soon as he finished that sentence. "Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna head home and go on vacation with my family."

The opening of the portals was a relief to all the characters, and they immediately said their goodbyes to whoever they've met and rushed home. Team Fortress was no different as they waved their own party of friends farewell before deciding to enter the portal to their world.

"Portal's open! Let's get goin' fellas!" Engie yelled excitedly, noticeably wearing a t-shirt that had an image of himself relaxing on a Rancho Relaxo. Get one now from the Steam store for only ten bucks! Advertising aside, the mercs were busy picking their stuff up when they noticed that Gordon Freeman and other Valve characters weren't leaving for their portals.

"What's the matter fellas? How come you ain't going home?" Scout asked them.

"Well, our world's kind of a shitshow." Francis shrugged. Team Fortress couldn't deny that. The Left 4 Dead universe is currently experiencing a zombie apocalypse where half of the United States has fallen. The mercs helped the survivors escape from the zombies, and Medic managed to cure the carriers of the virus rather easily. However, he obviously couldn't do that for everyone else infected for the simple reason that it's far too late to contain the infection now.

"Yeah. Staying here is way better than going back there." Said Louis before turning to Gordon and addressing him. "And Gordon is just stuck here because we're never getting Half-Life 3." Which is something Louis knows because not only is Team Fortress 2 an actual game played in the Left 4 Dead universe, but Half-Life and Counter-Strike as well. Gordon ended up nodding in agreement even if he still didn't completely understand himself.

"Yes." The physicist said.

"HOLY SHIT, HE DOES TALK!" Louis and Ellis both screeched in unison as they were the only ones in their crews who played videogames, staring at Gordon as if they seen a ghost.

"Uh, yeah. Of course he bloody talks. Why wouldn't he?" Sniper asked.

"It's just that he don't speak at all in any of his games." Answered Ellis, still wide-eyed. Gordon shrugged in response as he had little idea of what Ellis was talking about. To him, he spoke all the time in his series but apparently the games have him not talking at all. He didn't understand why but he was ultimately indifferent toward it.

"Ah, I see. Any of y'all like to join us then? You're free to come along if ya like." Engie asked.

"I'd like to go." Gordon said, stepping up. He might as well as he's got nothing better to do until fucking Half-Life 3 comes out.

"And we'll be here if you ever need us, fellas." The venerable old Bill assured them. "I may be old, but I still fought through a goddamn zombie apocalypse and lived. Thanks to you boys of course."

Team Fortress nodded and soon went on their way. All walking through the portal to to their world with Soldier being the last to enter. But before entering, Soldier stopped just short of it as he suddenly remembered something. Glancing back at the war veteran, Soldier saw Bill's head of white hair complete with beard. Soldier gave Bill's hat away to Ironwood a while ago...

"Mr. Overbeck! I will make it my life's goal to find your hat and return it, sir!" Soldier declared, standing straight at attention and saluting Bill. You know, even though Soldier was never in the army and Bill was a member of the US Army 1st Special Forces Group during the Vietnam War. As in the Left 4 Dead universes' Vietnam War. The TF2 Earth's Vietnam War is different, but that's a story for another day.

Anyways, without further delay, Soldier ran into the portal, leaving Bill to wonder what exactly did happen to his hat.

* * *

 **Salem's Palace, Grimmscape**

Now she's returned to her palace in Remnant, feeling quite confident and pleased with the success of finding allies against her enemies. As soon as she returned, a Seer Grimm immediately entered the room and sought her out. It had news to report, and half of the news pleased her further while the other half somewhat disappointed her.

The good news was that Cinder was successful in convincing the Branwen tribe to join her side just as she expected them to. Raven Branwen's a smart woman. She wouldn't risk the total annihlation of her people at the hands of Salem unless she was 100% suicidal. She didn't leave Ozpin's inner circle for no reason. The bad news was that the City of Vale was able to recapture Beacon Academy with Saxton Hale's help, but that wasn't so much of a surprise all things considered. Still, it disappointed her a bit, but it was otherwise fine as now she had someone who can deal with Hale whenever he pops up again.

That and the unexpectedly massive boost in resources and manpower she has now. An entire army of well-equipped professional killers and fighters who have absolutely nothing to worry about when it comes to causing havoc and chaos in Remnant. She couldn't have possibly asked for a better army, especially when she considered what forces she did have at her disposal before getting Olivia's help.

Salem was no fool. She was well aware that the vast majority of her unending hordes of Grimm were pushovers who got slaughtered in the dozens by huntsmen, and the White Fang wasn't much better with most of them being simple fanatical terrorists who aren't as skilled or trained as the professional soldiers of a kingdom like Atlas. If the mercenaries were considered bad by the other mercenaries of their own universe, than she can only imagine what these other mercenaries can bring to the table against her enemies.

The jellyfish-like Seer Grimm began glowing a faint yellow and let out a gurgling sound, alerting Salem to draw her attention back on it once more.

"Salem, it's Hazel." Said man appeared on the surface of the Grimm in much a similar way to how one would see their reflection on a crystal ball.

"Hello, Hazel. I trust that Sienna Khan is mobilizing her forces?"

"They're preparing their airships as we speak." Hazel answered.

"Excellent. And what of Adam Taurus?" Right as she asked that, a horrible shrieking erupted behind Hazel. Salem watched as Hazel lazily looked over his shoulder towards the source, staring uncaringly for a bit before turning back to Salem.

"He's alright. Sienna was reluctant to bring him in and give him help, but I told her that you would have thought otherwise. They're doing the best they can to heal his wounds."

"Hmm... but obviously not enough..." Salem hummed. "I think it's time that Adam Taurus and I formally meet..."

* * *

 **Mistral**

This city is way different from Vale, or any of the other kingdoms for that matter. All of Team RWBY has never been here before and have only heard and seen things here and there. Team JNPR on the other hand have been here before. Jaune's been here on family trips, Pyrrha is from this kingdom and has visited the city before for tournaments, and both Ren and Nora found themselves here sometime after leaving their destroyed village. Pyrrha became the guide for the whole group as she was most familiar with its layout, and so far the day has turned out to be a rather fun and relaxing experience.

Unlike Vale, Mistral is a far more 'traditional' city. The city has a mystical wonderous sort of feel to it because of the breathtaking views of provided by any of the mountains and hills it's built on. This and the old timey almost classical Asian feel of the city. Most of the city is not modernized like how Vale is and it retains a lot of its ancient architecture back from the days of the kingdom's founding. Adding to the ancient feel of this city, there's not as many cars here as the streets are too narrow for traffic. People walk around the ancient streets and visit the open air markets like how their ancestors did for centuries. There was some modern aspects though. Things like airships and trains still run through the city, but they also have a distinctive older feel to them than the futuristic vehicles in Vale. There's also modern holographic displays and scrolls, but that's to be expected as that was a world standard.

And despite the world being in some of the darkest times it's seen since the Great War or even the Faunus Rights Revolution, the city doesn't feel like it's concerned with anything. People here go by their lives as if they weren't worried about a single thing. Now this somewhat put the teens off as the tragedy in Vale is a terrible thing, but of course feeling obsessively depressed is going to attract Grimm and bring problems to the city. The teens really couldn't complain. The vibrant and peaceful environment of Mistral is a much welcome change of pace from the usual dark and grimness that they've been through these past few months.

In fact it's so peaceful in this city that it's nearly enough to make them forget that the world is at unease these days.

Too bad that they were going to be reminded of that very quickly though...

The teens were dropping by the city's harbor looking for a noodle place to eat at when they noticed a smoking ship sail into the harbor. It was a fishing vessel, and it was not much bigger than the ship Blake took to reach Menagerie. However, despite not being a cruise ship like the one Blake was on, this ship was packed with far more people on it.

"Guys, look!" Jaune alerted the group to it. Of course they already saw the ship as the were right at the watrerline, but the truly alarming thing was that the ship was not slowing down.

"Why isn't it slowing down?" Nora went, staring wide eyed as the heavily damaged ship was on a collision course for a pier.

The people on the pier quickly evacuated and all of them got out just before the ship rammed through the peer. The collision rocked the ship and made caused the wooden platform to explode into hundred of shattered wooden boards, and some people on the crowded ship even were thrown out into the water by the impact.

Without any further hesitation, Ruby ran towards the ship to see if there was anything she could do to help while her friends followed behind. Other civilians ran as well to help the people on the ship get off of it as well as to fish the ones who fell into the water out of it.

One person stumbled off the ship with blood all over his clothes and Ruby went to see if he was alright.

"Are you okay!?" She asked with great concern, staring at the blood. "Are you hurt somewhere?"

"I'm fine." The man went, standing up with Ruby's help. Her friends looked on worriedly, but it was around this time where they realized that the man was completely unharmed just as he said he was. That blood was not his own.

"What happened to your ship?"

"We were attacked by the Grimm." He answered ominously. "But before that, the White Fang attacked us."

"The White Fang!?" Blake shouted in disbelief, her heart dropping at hearing that the Mistral branch was already becoming more violent.

"Yes. We're from a town on the coast north of here. They got past our defenses and killed our huntsman before leaving the Grimm to finish us off..." He said, looking back towards the burning ship he just got off of. "We're the only ones who made it out of a town of five thousand people..."

"This isn't good... we have to get back to Haven and tell the headmaster what's going on." Said Blake seriously. The catgirl was instantly reminded of what her goal in Mistral was to begin with, and she only wished the reminder wasn't so tragic.

The others agreed and rushed straight back to the academy, cutting what was supposed to be a fun day of hanging out terribly short.

* * *

 **IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to what I did months ago where I wrote a bunch of shorts to fill the wait for Volume 5 before removing them when it came out, any reviews from people who had accounts cannot be placed on chapter numbers they reviewed back when the shorts filled that space. If you have a fanfic account but are unable to post a review to this, just log out of your account and post it as a guest with your name or PM me.**

 **Yeah so the writing spirit's slowly coming back, talking about how I'll make a full return and shit, yeah yeah yeah.**

 **But I do think I will come around to it. I feel better these days than I did a few months ago. These past couple months the updates are taking like weeks to a whole month to happen and some stories just have not been updated at all, but I have been taken steps to drastically erase the shit out of this writing block. Here they are.**

 **Step 1) : Fully discuss why I don't like RWBY anymore and how that is a major factor to why I don't write much. I kinda talked about this last chapter but I didn't really fully explain myself.**

 **So if I didn't make myself clear last chapter, I don't like RWBY volumes 4 to 5, but to be absolutely honest the show was never really that good. But volumes 4 and 5 have completely dropped me.**

 **Let me take a step back and explain my history with the series.**

 **Now this was back in a time when I was new to this kind of thing. I didn't really watch any series of any kind except for 2000s era cartoons, but I was too young to truly appreciate and understand the stuff that I was watching. I know there's some contention over if RWBY is an anime or not but for the purpose of the discussion I will consider it an anime. The only anime I have seen before RWBY, not including Pokemon and other Japanese shows dubbed in English for 2000s western audiences, is Soul Eater and to me I found Soul Eater to be fucking amazing. This was about six years ago and I may need to rewatch it, but I still think Soul Eater is good even though I know more about the finer aspects of writing and production now.**

 **So most of what I actually watched were YouTube videos. This was the early modern YouTube days where a lot of the big YouTubers now were showing up and rising in popularity, while the older ones were beginning to wane and disappear from relevancy. A lot of what I watched back then was gaming video lets plays, and I found Roosterteeth as one of them. From here I followed RoosterTeeth closely because seeing a company full of guys and gals who treated each other like family and friends was a pleasant experience for me. This is also how I discovered Red VS. Blue but I never really got around to watching it, and of course this is how I discovered RWBY.**

 **I distinctly remember seeing the first trailers and thinking "this reminds me of Soul Eater." So when the first volume came around, I watched it, and even then I recognized a lot of problems with the show. The most obvious ones being the voice acting and awkward animation in some places. I was coming out of middle school and heading out to high school around this time, and I wasn't really as smart or as knowledgeable about storytelling as I am these days. I'm not saying that my stories are like amazing pieces of work, but what I'm saying is that I now understand and respect what goes into writing and production that makes things so great.**

 **Anyways, I continued to watch RWBY throughout volumes 1 to 3 and enjoyed it the same way one would "turn off their brain" to watch a series. It's one of those things where you just watch or do something and enjoy it just because of something like the flashy fight scenes and stuff. Now even as far back as volume 1 did I recognize that the voice acting and animation was really rough, but it has improved as time went on. However, by the time Volume 3 came to an end, I was beginning to question the show as I started learning about writing. This was also the time where I began this story and for a while it was blast and I enjoyed the show more for its fandom and sense of community. I would like to point out though that the toxicity of the shipping wars and other undesirable parts I have avoided.**

 **Come Volume 4 and it got me fucked up. I was still in the phase where I liked the show enough just to keep following it, and that's why I wrote this story following through with Volume 4. However, my faith in the series was waning as I ended up not enjoying Volume 4 too much. That's why I had an issue writing the chapters of this story that take place during Volume 4. I ended up sticking with the series hoping that Volume 5 would be much better and blow me away, but it ended up being the complete opposite.**

 **Volume 5 is the worst thing I have ever seen. Not necessarily because it looks terrible, but because it is a severe disappointment. It has let me down and somehow downgraded even further from Volume 4. An absolutely disgusting plot that can be summarized in these next few sentences.**

 **Blake and Sun camped in Menagerie for two volumes doing fuck all before the White Fang do a lame ass attack on her parents. Adam is a pussy now who runs from one hit. Raven is a horrible character not only because she's a bitch but she's also really fucking stupid. So much talking, and action scenes so bad that it legitimately makes me question what the actual fuck kinda drugs was the director/writers on when they saw this and thought it was okay.**

 **RWBY is not the same. It may never been as good as people said it was, but now it is horrible and not even watchable. What separates these volumes from the first three was that you can feel that there's genuine love and dedication put into the project by its creator and his small team to make his dream into a reality. Come Monty's death during the production of Volume 3 and you can feel that things are already different, but it becomes painfully clear in Volume 4 and especially in Volume 5.**

 **This is already a lot but there is a lot more about the series that I can talk about. If you have any comments or opinions about this, please do talk about it. I would love to discuss this with you so PM me or even leave a review talking about it.**

 **Step 2) : Writing something else. Instead of actually writing the chapters for this story, I have been writing other things such as spin-offs to this and it feels good. I also want to get back to writing my other stories, but I will show you the shorts I made at the end of this.**

 **Step 3) : Talking to people. I feel like another reason why I haven't been writing much is that I haven't been getting a lot of social interaction on this site as much as I used to. I don't get messaged so much anymore and I can barely read reviews because I don't really feel good about them no matter what they say. I still read reviews but I probably won't look at them more than a couple times and I don't really feel like responding to them anymore. Maybe I'll start responding to reviews again next time, but what I'm getting at is that I actually liked to talk to you guys you know. Getting reviews is one thing and they're good for the mosy part but I also like getting to talk to you guys and discuss things with you. This should definitely get me to feel much better.**

 **(...)**

 **Yeah so those are the steps I'm taking. If you want to know how I feel now about writing and more specifically about writing this story, I feel kinda indifferent. Like I don't feel the excitement and love I did when I wrote this story back in the day, but there's a lot of factors that contributed to that. Such as me not liking RWBY anymore, and that's why I'm not following Volume 5 for this.**

 **Instead I'm doing my own thing like I should've back before Volume 4. To properly understand how bad the series' has got me fucked up, that's a major reason why I wanted to make V2 and start all over again. It was supposed to be a rewrite, but it ended up being something different with little in common with the story that it is spawned off of. I may not scrap V2 and simply change it up where it's its own story separate from this one. I dunno. Say it takes place in a different timeline or some shit. Let me know what you think about that or V2 in general, but I have something else to say.**

 **So some of you may remember a long time ago that I mentioned the concept and idea of the multiverse and making a multiversal crossover between a bunch of different series. That idea has been adapted somewhat in V2, but in this story it has evolved into the BattlePC. If you haven't been paying attention or don't understand it, the BattlePC is the embodiment of Steam itself. Any game or show or what have you can go there and interact with each other as clearly seen when Team Fortress hanged out with all those characters.**

 **Where V2 might become a standalone story with little to do with this one, it's possible that I might make a new story that acts as a sequel to this one based on the BattlePC. Nothing is final until I do it of course and I'm free to hear opinions.**

 **But as a demonstration of sorts, one of the shorts I was talking about involves a 'what if' scenario where the BattlePC was encountered much earlier and reinforcements from it arrives to help our heroes during the Battle of Beacon. The first part of it describes the initial battle and follows the fight in the skies for the rest of it, and if there's support for this I'll continue writing it and showing the other sides of the battle. All for a demonstration, kind of like a proof of concept if you will, about what would it look like if I went through with a multiverse story.**

 **The second short is something that was supposed to appear long ago as part of the chapters to fill gaps until Volume 5 came, and it was called "Soldier's War Stories" which I swear are completely true nothing about is fake. I will show that one next update as putting it here will make this entire update too damn long.**

* * *

 **First Short: Demonstration of the multiverse idea. Details an alternate Battle of Beacon and follows the air battle until whenever the other parts are released to show the rest of the fight.**

 **Reinforcements at the Battle of Beacon!**

The Battle of Beacon wasn't going well for the huntsmen. Cinder Fall's army of hijacked combat androids, the White Fang, and the Grimm relentlessly attacked students and teachers alike without any discrimination or remorse. Most weren't able to fight back since they couldn't get to their weapons, but even the few students who were able to get their weapons didn't bother with engaging the enemy and ran. The ones who did bother to fight back valiantly held back the enemy to give the others time to escape.

Among the few who fought back were the students of Teams RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, SSSN, and many other brave students and professors willing to hold the enemy back. However, they were beginning to waver and tire out. There was too many enemies coming in to hold back, and soon they'll be overrun unless they retreat or they get reinforcements.

Reinforcements are not likely as the majority of the Atlesian military and professional huntsmen are tied down fighting the Grimm in Vale. The students and staff at Beacon have no one to help them but themselves.

Not like a friendly army will miraculously drop out of nowhere to help them, right?

Well, if Team Fortress didn't appear in Remnant, then probably not. But they di though, and what do you know, a friendly army did appear! A large interdimensional portal opened up near where the tired teams were making their stand. Now if you remember the canon version of this scene, an army of robots designed to resemble the mercenaries marched out of there and out to battle. This time around it still happened, but now there was so much more help than just the robots.

Out that portal came several characters that none of the teens have ever seen before, and all of them were arriving from the BattlePC. When Team Fortress stopped by the BattlePC with their army of robots, they called upon any one who was willing to help them fight at Beacon.

They were not disappointed.

Out of that portal came not only the mercenaries and their robot army, but also the various alies and acquaintances they met aboard the BattlePC. Characters from all manner of series came to help them no matter how different they may be or strange the combination.

Among the many characters who joined the fight had his T-65 X-Wing being towed through the portal by Sniper's Camper Van. It was none other than the legendary Jedi Luke Skywalker with the trusty astromech R2-D2 acting as his co-pilot.

"You're good to go, mate!" Sniper called to Luke once the X-Wing was pulled in far enough for it to take off properly, running back to detach the tow cable from the starfighter. Luke gave the Australian man a thumbs up and a nod, closing the canopy of the X-Wing and prepping the systems for flight.

"Alright Artoo, let's get in there and give these people a hand." Luke said as he flicked buttons, Artoo chirping eagerly in agreement.

The starfighter began to rise as its repulsorlifts were activating, Luke raising it just high enough for him to take off safely where the fighter's engines let out a scream as he blasted off. Once they were the air, Luke and Artoo saw right away just how many enemies were in the air. They may have been beasts with few ranged attacks for the most part, but the sheer number of them was somewhat intimidating. Artoo especially was a little worried with the concerned electronic whines he made at seeing it himself.

"Take it easy, buddy. We can take these guys." Luke assured the droid, preparing for aerial combat. "Lock s-foils in attack position... we're going in!" Shouted the Jedi, the wings of the starfighter splitting to form the signature X shape that it is famously known for. Artoo made an excited electronic shrill as the fighter sped forward and attacked the Grimm, the four laser cannons letting loose lances of red laserfire onto the unsuspecting flying Grimm.

Back on the ground, the mercenaries of Team Fortress were organizing their allies while their robot army rushed into battle against the Grimm. The tired defenders of the academy look on in awe and wonder at the sudden reinforcements, hardly believing it to be true when it's happening right in front of them. Team RWBY themselves were double awed when Ruby appeared through the portal with all these strangers.

" _Whoooooaaaa..._ " Ruby cooed with stars in her eyes at the sight of the X-Wing taking off in combat.

The girl was with Team Fortress when they entered the BattlePC to ask for help, and as such she was absolutely amazed and confused. Amazed because something that like would exist in a place between worlds, but confused for the exact same reasons. She ultimate didn't question it much because it's likely that she wouldn't get any answers to them, but also because she's getting free help goddammit. This was just beyond even her imagination! Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought that something like this would happen, yet it is now and it is absolutely exciting for her!

"Ruby!" Her entire team called out in unison as they ran to her, happy to see that she was alright. Her sister threw herself onto Ruby in a big bear hug

"Ugh! Owwwwwwwwww, Yang! You're crushing me!" The poor leader cried, desperately trying to squirm out of her older sister's loving grasp.

"What happened to you? And who are all these people?" Weiss asked as she and the rest of the teens met up with them, Engineer setting a Dispenser down for them to rest up with.

"Uh... wellllll..." She trailed, not exactly sure how to explain this as she didn't really know either. "Do you remember that Void place where you go to when travelling between worlds?" Her friends that knew she was talking about nodded their heads and awaited to hear more. "Some guy named Gabe built a giant computer there and is using it as like a hub for all those different worlds to connect or something. I don't really know." Shrugged Ruby sheepishly.

"Different worlds? So all these people are not just coming from the professors' world?" Blake asked in wonder.

"Uh, yep!" Ruby chirped, turning her head to see the mercs and their allies gather around them. "Come on, let's join them!" She called, excitedly rushing over with the rest of her friends following. She wandered in just in time as the mercenaries were talking about their battle plan while the robots held a defensive line to protect the dockside cliffs.

"Alright everyone, listen up." Spy began, opening a map of the academy. "Our first objective is to ensure that the students here are evacuated safely. That means pushing these monsters back far enough for any students trapped back there to be rescued..." He said, Luke's X-Wing screaming above them as he shot down a couple Nevermores with another couple of such creatures following close on his tail.

" _This is Luke Skywalker. I'm doing my best to keep them away from the docks but I'll need help_." The voice of the Jedi sounded off on the radio, which the mercs took the time to connect everyone to.

"...and that also means establishing control of the skies... and control of the water." He paused again, craning his neck to look out to the huge river that led from Beacon to Vale where even aquatic Grimm were attacking the various boats and ships out on the water. Boats and ships full of evacuating people when they couldn't get a ride on an airship for one reason or another.

"Good thing we decided to come along, huh?" A young girl wearing a sailor uniform no older in appearance than Ruby said. This girl was the human embodiment of a WW2 Fubuki-Class Japanese Destroyer, and her name is also Fubuki since she's the first of the class. With her were several other Kanmusu from KanColle coming from the BattlePC, deciding to help as it was only right for them to do so. Truly is convenient that the KanColle anime is on Steam, and that apparently counts to being connected to the BattlePC.

"Yes indeed. I suggest you get down there as soon as you can. Those people aren't going to save themselves." Spy told them. Fubuki and the others nodded and rushed for the cliffiside. "As for the rest of us, the robots will help us push into the academy so we can evacuate anyone trapped within. Does everyone understand?" He asked to which they all agreed. "Good, and once all the students are evacuated, phase 2 will be war." He said ominously, letting that sink in real quick. "We will fight until this academy is free from every single one of those creatures."

"Hell, I ain't got any problem with that. Shoot the shit out of a bunch of monsters. What more can anyone want?" He smiled, bringing his shotgun up eagerly. The rest of their allies agreed just as eagerly, ready and willing to save lives and kick ass.

 _"I still need help up here!"_ Luke reminded them all, flying over them once again to reveal that dozens of flying Grimm were hot on his tail. He was really the only one among them who had any means to dogfight with the Grimm. Until even more help from the BattlePC arrives, Luke's alone in the sky. The best thing the people on the ground could do was offer anti-air support.

Which was exactly what Engineer got to work doing when he placed down Sentry Guns to act as air defense and take some pressure off of Luke. With their support they can at least keep the Grimm from attacking the evacuees from the sky.

While they were doing this, the rest of the allied forces moved up to join the robotic army and push the Grimm back. The students resting up were continually amazed with the fact that the mercenaries gathered an interdimensional force just to save them. Clearly the mercs must have cared about the school a lot more then they were letting on. Though they appreciated the help, the majority of the students who stayed behind to hold the Grimm back earlier were deciding to evacuate now as they were worn out from the intense fighting. Nobody could really blame them for deciding to leave now. If you're brave enough to hold out and save others until reinforcements arrive, then it's perfectly understandable if you want to pull back and rest.

Team RWBY and company were not like that. They're brave enough to hold the enemy back alone and keep fighting even with reinforcements here to relieve them. Well, most of them that is. Teams NDGO and most of the other Vytal Festival contenders decided to leave as well, leaving Team SSSN as the only non-Vale team alongside Team RWBY and friends.

"What about us? What can we do to help?" Ruby asked the mercs eagerly as they were about to leave for battle.

"You?" Sniper began, looking over the worn out teens. He can see it in their eyes that they were willing to keep on fighting, all the mercs could see that, but the teens all looked like shit after battling against the Grimm alone. Their willingness was something the mercs could respect. "Well if you wanna keep on fightin', come right along with us then!"

"Aye. The more the merrier, lads." Demo agreed, the others agreeing as well to the joy of the teens.

"Haha, yeah! I like your spirit, maggots!" Soldier cheered. "Come on, gentlemen! Democracy isn't going to deliver itself into the Grimm! _ATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCK!_ "

Roared Soldier with a fierce battle cry, leading his team and their allies to battle. Team Fortress alongside Team RWBY and the other student teams took the center of the line of battle while their allies and robotic forces either went to support the flanks or assisted them. There was no artillery support to speak of as the Americans were still in the process of moving their heavy equipment from their worlds and into the BattlePC, only able to send in infantry for the time being. Air support was extremely limited with Luke being the only one in the sky to provide any. The only other ones capable of providing additional air support were planes launched from the KanColle girls, but they were focusing exclusively on protecting the water right now.

Additional reinforcements will be arriving by portal soon, both from the BattlePC and from TF2 Earth. Robot forces were still moving out of the portal in a constant stream but the units like the fliers and giant robots haven't arrived yet. As for the BattlePC, more help was supposed to come in the form of a second wave of reinforcements. This second wave is made up of any further characters volunteering to help. Alongside any potential new volunteers were those who already did but stayed behind to gather themselves before heading out. Such as the Americans mentioned earlier as they were moving in their vehicles and equipment to join the fight soon, and more help from Star Wars as Rogue Squadron was mobilizing to assist Luke alongside other elements from Star Wars.

Until then, the ground forces were left with the job of pushing the Grimm back and holding them there. It was true that Spy's plan was to push far enough to evacuate every one, but they needed more forces if they wanted to win the battle and save the academy altogether.

For now, the allied forces aiming to save Beacon consisted of Teams Fortress, RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, and SSSN. Joining them are the robotic army of the mercenaries from TF2, Luke Skywalker in his X-Wing, multiple Kanmusu from KanColle, thirty CTs from Counter-Strike from various factions, Gordon Freeman from Half-Life, the entire Left 4 Dead cast of survivors, at least one hundred WW2 soldiers (mostly American) combined from different WW2 games on Steam, and last but not least Squiggly and Filia from Skullgirls.

It was up to this force to save as many lives as they can until further help arrives.

However, the enemy they face is still great. They remain outnumbered one hundred to one and even outgunned in some areas. The Grimm horde was in their tens of thousands and was made up of Grimm of many different species, and only more were swarming in the school with each passing second. Though not necessarily allied with the Grimm, the terrorist faction known as the White Fang were also in the school battling against our heroes with their grunts, mechs, and airships.

Salem, despite none of our heroes knowing who she is yet, recognized that this unforeseen situation will require more direct control on her Grimm. Being the controller of all Grimm, she telepathically contacted every single one that the Faunus of the White Fang were their allies and will not be attacked. Same goes for Cinder who was still on her way to the Fall Maiden.

The enemy was unsurprisingly caught off guard at the sudden surge of reinforcements. Simply surprised that they were under attack by forces that were not of this world, and of the strange variety of them as well. Still, the enemy recovered from their initial shock and fought against our heroes with the intent to push them out of the academy as much as they do towards the Grimm themselves.

The forces of evil held our heroes at many disadvantages. The most obvious of which being that they heavily outnumbered them a thousand to one with the Grimm alone. Even the White Fang still outnumbered the heroes' forces if the Grimm weren't there. The other big advantage they had was total control of the skies. All Luke could do with his X-Wing was provide extremely limited air cover for his allies while the White Fang and Grimm maintained absolute dominance over the skies. The Fang managed to hijack two more Atlesian airships and were using them to rain destruction upon the native forces defending the city of Vale, but now they were being called back to help defeat our heroes. They didn't need to worry about the other Atlesian airships still owned by Atlas as they were busy fending off the flying horde of Grimm over the skies of Vale.

Said airships alone had enough firepower to wipe out the mercenaries and their allies by themselves.

The current situation of the battle was this: the Kanmusu were down in the water escorting the evacuating civilians to safety as best they can, while the others did the same but on the ground. The people evacuating by the water were safe for the most part, but those evacuating by air were highly vulnerable once they took off from the docks that the heroes were protecting. The only heroes who could give them the defenseless transports any form of help was Luke and warplanes from the Kanmusu, but they were already stretched thin with all the area they had to cover.

Luke in particular took it upon himself to save the lives of the people fleeing by air. He was a Jedi, and it was his duty to protect the innocent even if he was alone. The same applied to the Kanmusu down below. They were the defenders of the sea back in their world, protecting innocents from aquatic enemies, and they will do so here in this unfamiliar world as well.

Luke and the Kanmusu saw the Atlesian airships approach as they were the closest to it out of anyone else in the allied force. Through the Force, Luke sensed that something was off about the airships. He sensed much anger and hate coming within them, but that could have been because of the thousands of creatures of negative emotions swarming around the place. Plus those were the expected emotions of defenders getting overwhelmed aside from fear, but he wasn't sensing any fear coming from the airships. The Kanmusu dismissed the airships entirely as they assumed that they were friendly forces coming in to support them, but Luke noticed that the Grimm were not attacking the airship.

They all realized too late when the airships suddenly opened fire on the transports. A bright lance of laserfire shot forth from one airship where it completely obliterated one civilian airship, killing everyone inside instantly. The fiery remains of the civilian air vessel crashed down in the water below in a ball of smoke and flame, completely surprising and horrifying the Kanmusu down below. Then another laser fired, and then another, and then another until the revealed enemy airships began firing as quickly as the main laser batteries could charge. It was a massacre in the skies as the transports had no way of defending themselves. The only one who could save them was Luke Skywalker and any help the Kanmusu could give him.

" _Luke! What's going on!?"_ Spy yelled through the radio, obviously having noticed the exploding civilian airships. Four airships in all were lost to laserfire as the main batteries of the hijacked ships were recharging for another attack.

"The enemy's hijacked a couple of those airships..." Luke answered, staring in disbelief at the horror he was seeing. Then, his determination grew ever more solid. His Jedi instincts calling for him to save their souls. "Artoo, put more power in the engines..." He ordered the astromech, swinging his starfighter around and heading straight for the enemy airships. "This is Luke Skywalker. I'm going to take out those airships."

" _Go ahead, Skywalker. You're more help there than here anyway._ " Spy told him.

" _Give 'em Hell, partner!"_ Engie cried into the radio.

" _Send the cowards to Hell for Heavy!"_ The Russian shouted into the radio, having been enraged at the hundreds of defenseless innocents getting killed.

" _Ah shit man, I wish I got a starfighter! That would be cool as shit man! I could be helping you-"_ Ellis cried.

" _Get off the radio, Ellis." Sighed Spy._ " _Luke, you know what to do. We'll be fine down here."_

 _"_ Copy that. May the Force be with you." Said the Jedi, accelerating his X-Wing to max speed towards the enemy. Another transmission came in, and this time it came from the Kanmusu down below.

" _This is Akagi of Carrier Group One. Kaga and I will give you some help."_ The human aircraft carrier said. Luke looked out to either side of his cockpit and saw two squadrons of Japanese A6M Zero fighter planes form up with him, one squadron on each side. He saw the chibi pilots within give him thumbs up, and despite him finding it highly strange (as they all did in this huge sudden mashup crossover), he appreciated the help.

"All fighters on me! We got to stop those ships from firing again!"

The chibi pilots couldn't speak but they acknowledged Luke's orders and followed him to battle. Seeing the fighters coming in hot towards the airships, several aerial Grimm swarmed in to intercept them while White Fang bullhead gunships flew stuck close to the hijacked airships as escort. The majority of the flying Grimm weren't quite as fast as the fighters, but most of them did have some form of ranged attack. Such as the Nevermores with how they are able to shoot their massive feathers like they were giant blades.

"Monsters coming in hot! Open fire!" Luke called, letting loose with the four laser cannons on his X-Wing while the Japanese fighters opened up with their own weapons. Any Grimm in front of their field of fire were shot out of the sky near instantly, but as you all know they are everywhere. The skies are choked with thousands of black as night bodies of flying rage and hatred, and a lot of said flying rage was flying towards Luke and his escorts.

One squadron of Zeroes immediately broke off and engaged the monsters while the other continued to fly escort for Luke, protecting him from all attack. One plane even sacrificed itself by ramming into a Nevermore when it threatened to slam into Luke and kill him. The pilots of these WW2 planes may be just little chibi girls, but you got to give them credit for how brave they are despite their appearance. Luke certainly did since it was because of these chibi pilots that he was able to safely close the distance between him and the enemy airships.

"Divert power to the laser cannons, Artoo. I'm beginning my attack run." Luke said to which Artoo beeped in agreement.

Half of the squadron of Zeroes broke off from Luke to continue shielding him from enemy attack while the other half stuck with him to assist in the attack. The two enemy airships were flying side by side at a distance of about 150 meters apart, and Luke's group was closing in on the rightmost ship. The White Fang bullheads flying escort for the airships went to intercept him, but they themselves were intercepted by Luke's own escort. It actually wasn't that much of a competition. The bullhead is by no means an air superiority craft. It's a transport vessel that can serve as a light gunship with its autocannons, but that's it. The Zeroes absolutely destroyed the bullheads with no problem whatsoever, and they moved on to the much bigger threat of the Grimm swarm trying to stop them.

The hijacked Atlesian ships activated their anti-air systems in an attempt to shoot him down. Anti-air autocannons place across the ships opened fire on the incoming fighters but it was too late to stop their attack run. Flying at twelve o'clock high from the forward bow of the rightmost ship, the fighters strafed across the deck of the airship with all they got. The Zeroes let loose with their armament of machine guns and autocannons while Luke's laser cannons ripped through the ship. The deck of the ship was damaged with some fires spreading, but the overall effect was fairly low.

The Japanese planes didn't really have the firepower to effectively tackle the airship. Only Luke's X-Wing did.

"Everyone focus on those anti-air guns. I'll focus on taking these ships down." Luke said.

At once the fighters with him separated and began strafing the AA guns to destroy them. The Jedi circled back around for another pass, priming a proton torpedo for launch. The laser batteries of the enemy airships were almost fully charged for another attack, made evident by how a red glow was emanating from them. Luke clenched his teeth at seeing this. This level of evil is something he would have seen from the Galactic Empire back home.

Well he was a Jedi. It didn't matter what enemy he was facing, he can't give up. Through the guidance of the force, Luke fired one proton torpedo on the starboard battery of the hijacked Atlesian ship. This caused a catastrophic explosion as the charged up energy from the laser battey was released all at once. The ship sustained massive damage from this one explosion and began to keel over a bit towards the starboard bow. It remained up in the air, but the damage it sustained was so much that it led to the port side battery to go off target and completely miss a civilian airship.

"WOOHOO! YEAH!" The young Jedi cried in joy. Artoo shriked joyous electronic shrills and beeps with him. "Alright buddy, we're not done yet. We got to stop the other one from - WHOA!" Cried the Jedi when a massive lance of laserfire nearly missed him. Another beam came at him but was a near miss, and Luke saw that it was coming from the other airship. Apparently, seeing the other airship take so much damage from one fighter was enough to get the other one to focus its attention on Luke.

Whoever was in command of that other airship must have been a fucking idiot. You don't use your large main battery to engage small targets like fighters. Their too small, fast, and agile for you to hit with your often slow firing weapon. This kind of weapon is better suited against other warships. Not fighters. Luke supposed he should be thankful for this though. If that airship was firing at him, then it wasn't firing at the civilians. The civilian airships now didn't need to worry about the hostile ships, and for that Luke was glad that the enemy decided to focus on him instead.

Well, the airships may not be able to hit him, but he still had to worry about the Grimm choking the skies. Particularly the sea dragon Grimm that rose out of the water to chase after Luke. These things were a much bigger threat to him than anything else at the moment, and so he had to focus on evading the serpentine creatures and their yellow energy beams.

And it wasn't just Luke who had to deal with intensified enemy attention on him. The entire Grimm army was beginning to place heavy pressure on the heroes' forces. On one hand this meant that the City of Vale had less enemies for the defenders there to deal with, but on the other hand it meant the heroes' chances of getting overrun are getting higher and higher with each passing minute.

Additional reinforcements better arrive soon or else the heroes may need to evacuate themselves.


	66. Hostile Encounter

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: Due to what I did months ago where I wrote a bunch of shorts to fill the wait for Volume 5 before removing them when it came out, any reviews from people who had accounts cannot be placed on chapter numbers they reviewed back when the shorts filled that space. If you have a fanfic account but are unable to post a review to this, just log out of your account and post it as a guest with your name, or PM me if putting the effort into that is too much.**

* * *

 **Remnant**

Hello everyone. Before we continue any further, I believe a rundown on the current state of affairs on Remnant is in order.

All across the Kingdom of Mistral, chaos reigned supreme.

The first phase of Salem's plan sprung to action as the White Fang and the bandits of the Branwen tribe attacked villages and towns all across the territory of the Kingdom in a coordinated series of hit and run attacks. Settlements would be swiftly raided where the attackers will steal as much as they can and retreat before the Grimm arrive. From there the Grimm are likely to finish the survivors off. This is the most ideal use of the White Fang and bandits as they were not strong enough to face any kingdoms' military in open battle. Guerrilla warfare was the best way to use them, and that suited Salem's needs just fine. All she really needed them to do was cause as much destruction and damage as possible while also weakening the kingdom's defenses. The influence of Headmaster Lionheart will also be on Salem's side as he will be purposefully directing huntsmen to paths that will lead to their demise.

Salem planned on keeping this campaign up until Olivia's army comes to Remnant in three days. Until then, she decided to further boost her forces for the eventual invasion. Seeing how she was able to instantly gain an army of mercenaries through Olivia, Salem had the wonderful idea of recruiting another army of mercenaries but from Remnant this time. Once Olivia's army arrives, this secret war hidden in the shadows between her and Humanity will turn into an all out total war, so there was little point to remain being hidden for much longer.

The Kingdom of Mistral is well known for its black market and thriving community of criminals and other undesirables. As such, Cinder and Watts were ordered to gather this scum into another army of mercenaries in much the same way that Salem and Olivia did on Earth. Only this time these mercenaries are made up of people from Remnant, and that includes corrupt huntsmen.

The last two additions to phase one of the plan is to have Lionheart corrupt elements of the Kingdom's authorities. Having Lionheart on her side is a huge boost enough, but it couldn't hurt to have even more contacts weakening the kingdom from within. The other addition is to have Raven Branwen go around rallying bandit tribes across the kingdom to join her. The Branwen tribe was already widely feared and respected among the other tribes, and she's sure that they won't hesitate to joining Raven, especially with the promise of raiding to their hearts' desire.

If all goes right, then the White Fang will continue on with their guerilla warfare campaign, Raven will amass an army of bandits to further assist them in raiding, Lionheart will corrupt more officials and weaken the kingdom further, and Olivia's army will finally come in to mark the end of phase one. This means Salem will have four armies at her disposal. Olivia Mann's combined army of mercenaries and robots from TF2 Earth, Raven's combined bandit army, the entire White Fang, and the army of mercenaries from Remnant.

As of now, Salem is with Adam Taurus. Giving him the same form of 'treatment' as she did to Cinder.

Only three days from now will phase two begin...

Meanwhile, the rest of the world of Remnant remains largely the same as it has been for the last few months. Large scale communications between the kingdoms is still down, and the populace remains uncertain and fearful for their future. The Kingdom of Atlas has placed a dust embargo on all kingdoms and are recalling every Atlesian unit back to Atlas as the kingdom closes its borders to the rest of the world. Vacuo's borders remain open, but the kingdom is having trouble defending those same borders from Grimm attack.

Vale on the other hand is fairing so much better than the other kingdoms. The kingdom was able to successfully push the Grimm out of Beacon Academy and chase them away from the City of Vale altogether, raising the hopes and spirits of all the citizens within. All thanks to the help of Saxton Hale and his army of robots. From here the kingdom plans on going out and reclaiming all the lost villages and settlements within its territory from the Grimm, and eventually they will rebuild Beacon Academy once they've appropriated enough resources.

Alright, everyone good? Now, let's continue...

* * *

 **Haven Academy**

Teams RWBY and JNPR had just left the office of Headmaster Lionheart after telling him, Qrow, and Ozpin/Oscar about what they heard. Turns out they didn't even need to go and tell them since the news reached them long before the teens did. Should've figured since this kind of news would hit important officials like the headmaster of a huntsman academy first. They were ordered to leave them while they talked about what to do, and Qrow said he'll fill them in whenever he returns to the house.

Not sure if there's exactly a lot more to tell them. They got the gist of it when they got there. Reports are coming in from all over the city of refugees fleeing from their homes after a highly unexpected surge of White Fang attacks. There's no telling how many settlements are exactly under attack due to communication difficulties, but there's no denying that thousands of people are rushing to the safety of the city in the wake of these attacks.

Refugees were already moving into the city due to ordinary Grimm attacks, but this wave of White Fang attacks increased the amount of refugees a thousand times over. The sudden wave of attacks and the ensuing refugees caught the Kingdom of Mistral so off guard that it was chaos trying to scramble huntsmen and military forces out to both defend settlements and control the unruly horde of panicked refugees that only grew bigger as the day went on.

The teens couldn't feel more depressed even if they tried. They all came together again after so long only for this harsh cruel world to remind them that they live within it. This certainly ruined what was supposed to be a fun day out...

Even the student body here at Haven Academy gave them a sense of unease and dread. They were the only huntsmen-in-training who were not students of this school, and seeing the students of this academy going about their days as if everything was alright made them feel somewhat miserable. They used to be just like these Haven students, going to school, training to become huntsmen, and having good times with their friends. After going through the traumatic experience of Cinder Fall's attack on Beacon Academy all those months ago, seeing these students living their lives now doesn't feel right. Eventually, the news will spread to the students, but what the teens were much more worried about is a repeat of what happened at Beacon.

If that happens, then soon these students will be just like them.

Today wasn't completely horrible though.

"Man... what are we going to do now?" Jaune asked no one in particular as they reached the gate leading into the yard of their house. Nobody answered him anyway, all remaining quiet as they walked to the front door with grim looks upon their faces. They entered the house hoping that at least the mercenaries have returned, but they were left severely disappointed. The mercs were still gone.

"They're not back yet..." Ruby said dejectedly, beginning to feel very concerned.

"Don't worry, Ruby..." Her sister Yang put her metallic hand on her shoulder. "Knowing those guys, they're probably out there fighting the guys." She assured her.

This somewhat made Ruby feel better, but more importantly it made her determination rise. Thinking back to her amazing dream of her and all her friends banding together to fight the forces of evil, it erased feelings of despair away and replaced them with the same hope that she experienced in that dream.

"Guys..." She began, looking towards all her friends who had at this point spread across the living room and sat about. The girl took a moment to take in the faces of all her friends, people she hold close and dear to her heart ever since she met them all back at Beacon. "We can't just sit here and do nothing. We have to help those people as much as we can."

"Ruby... I know you want to help, but there's nothing we can do." Blake said sadly, feeling that this is most of all her fault since she felt responsibility of the White Fang was all hers.

"Then what are we supposed to do, Blake?" Ruby unexpectedly shot back, legitimately surprising the catgirl as Ruby's not known for blurting back like this.

Blake didn't have an answer to this. Her original plan upon coming here was telling Professor Lionheart about the White Fang's plans against Haven, but that's honestly all she had. She didn't even know where to start looking for finding information about the White Fang from there. Basically, she came to this city with only the determination of stopping the White Fang, but no plan to _actually_ do that.

"But... there's so many places being attacked." Weiss pointed out. "We can't be everywhere at once."

"That maybe true, Weiss. But we're still huntsmen. We can't just sit here and do nothing. We have to help in any way we can." She said with the determination and authority of a true leader, raising the spirits of her friends.

"But what about your Uncle Qrow or Ozpin?" Ren asked.

"Oh... uh..." Ruby stuttered, obviously forgetting about her uncle and Ozpin when thinking about this matter. "Well... I'm sure they'll understand. Right?" She smiled nervously, earning smiles from her friends. Even when Ruby was trying to be a leader did she come off as adorable. But in any case, they understood what she was trying to say and knew that she was right.

The world may be a dark place these days, but that's exactly why huntsmen exist. They exist to shine some light in this world of darkness, and the teens aim to do just that.

* * *

 **TF2 Earth. Waikiki Beach, Honolulu Hawaii. United States of America**

One thing the mercs failed to consider is that the portals don't always take you to where you want to go. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It's hard to really understand how they work and God knows if the mercenaries ever will. This became painfully apparent when they and Gordon Freeman popped into reality above some clear blue water, splashing down into it.

"Agh! Where the Hell are we!?" Sniper shouted, realizing like the rest of his team that this clearly was not the dusty desert of the Badlands.

"No idea, partner." Engie responded. "Looks like we landed in some tropical beach or somethin'."

The team landed in shallow water only about four and a half feet high. The water itself was salty so this is definitely ocean water, but it was also warm and pleasant to the touch. The climate was also pleasant with the sun shining its bright rays down for a comfortably warm feel to the air here. Looking around them, the mercs could see the shoreline and a city just beyond it. On the beach of the shoreline were hundreds of people enjoying themselves on the beaches of this tropical paradise. They waded inwards to the beach where they asked the first person they meet where they were.

"Hey, hey kid!" Scout shouted as he and the others ran towards the beach, approaching a little girl building a sand castle. There was a slightly older boy helping her build the sand castle, most likely her brother, and he also looked up and wondered what these soaking wet fully cloathed strangers wanted from them.

"Yes?" The girl responded politely.

"Do you know where we are?"

"Hawaii." She answered simply.

"Hawaii?" Scout blinked, looking towards his teammates who were wringing the water out of their clothes. "Aw crap, fellas... That portal musta sent us to a different world!" Said Scout. His father shook his head at Scout's sheer unintelligence. The Boston kid doesn't know that Hawaii is part of the United States...

"Do you know where in Hawaii we are?" Spy asked the child, shoving Scout aside. The little girl shook her head, but her brother was thankfully able to answer.

"We're in Waikiki Beach, mister." The boy answered.

"Waikiki Beach... that means we're in Honolulu." Spy said to himself. Nodding, he reached inside his suit and pulled out two stacks of hundred dollar bills, each making up five thousand dollars alone. He then handed the money to the wide eyed children, absolutely stunned to see this total stranger hand this kind of money out to them just for answering a question. "Merci. Come, gentlemen." Spy motioned for his team to follow, leaving the kids to run off to their parents screaming in joy.

"Bloody Hawaii?" Demo said with a sort of bewildered tone as the team walked past the beachgoers and towards the city of Honolulu. "What in the name of the Queen's damned corgis are we doin' in Hawaii?"

"You're asking the wrong person, partner." Engie shrugged. "I ain't got a damn clue why it took us here, but at least this means we're back on Earth."

"And in Hawaii no less!" Soldier suddenly exclaimed. "I don't know about you boys, but there's one place I'd like to visit here before we go anywhere else!" The rest of his team looked at him and wondered where in Hawaii Soldier could possibly want to visit. You know, other than the normal people thing of visiting Hawaii on vacation, but Soldier was far from a normal person.

"Boys, I want to visit Pearl Harbor and pay my respects to the sailors who lost their lives there." He said in a rather surprising solemn voice.

Spy sighed. "Soldier, we don't have the time to-"

"YES WE DO!" He screamed, forcing Spy to sigh even further.

"Fine, let's visit Pearl Harbor..." He relented. "The airport isn't far from there. We can catch a flight to New Mexico afterwards and reach Mann Co. Headquarters from there."

 **(...)**

And so the crew reached the city and called up a couple taxis to take them all to Pearl Harbor. The taxi drivers didn't mind at all that they had to carry a bunch of men wearing salt water soaked clothes in their cars. Mostly because the mercs were paying them much more than what was necessary. I'm talking they were giving each of these guys enough money to buy a new house just to drive them around.

Spy, Sniper, Heavy, and Scout rode in one taxi while the other half of the team including Gordon rode in the other one. Well, to be more precise Soldier and Pyro were riding on top of the damn thing while the rest were inside the taxi itself. Gordon remained quiet as he was a man of few words, but Engie took note of how he was carefully observing the city almost like how a child on a roadtrip would.

"Welcome to our world's Hawaii, Freeman." He said, knowing that Freeman's Earth was different from their own. " I reckon it's just like your Hawaii. Besides the fact that it's 1974, and there ain't no alien empire in control of the whole damn world."

Gordon nodded at that, looking out the window towards the capital city of the state of Hawaii, Honolulu. Gordon has visited here before, his world's Honolulu of course, and he was here on vacation with his family when he was a kid. If this was his world, he would have been only a year old by this time as he was born in 1973. Is it possible that he also exists in this word and that this world's version of him is a one year old now? That's a legitimately interesting question that sent the physicist's mind into a loop.

It was about a thirty minute drive for the crew to all get to Pearl Harbor, and once they got there, they told the taxi drivers to wait for them and they'll get paid even more for taking them to the airport afterwards.

"Alright, we're here Soldier. Pay your respects and let's get going." Spy told the American patriot, lighting a cigarette as he looked across the harbor.

Being that less than half of the team was American, not including Gordon and Pyro, the team for the most part didn't really care about being here. That included the other Americans being Scout and Engineer who were largely indifferent about this. Scout because he doesn't know shit about history that happened only thirty-three years ago, and Engie did think it was a mighty big tragedy of what happened here but he really much rather be on their way than be here.

Warships from the US Pacific fleet can be seen stationed across the harbor as this is where the fleet headquarters is located. Tourists visiting the place came to pay their own respects while admiring the sights of the fleet, but Soldier was different from these civilian normies. Without much hesitation, Soldier took off his helmet and placed it on the ground, then saluting the site of the attack that started World War 2. The war that began Soldier's career as the ultimate American and the greatest years of his life.

"As a self-made priest, I bless all you fine sons of bitches who died here all those years ago." He said to himself somberly.

Then, surprisingly he started to strip out of his still wet clothes, disgusting the other mercs. Soldier has stripped himself naked in front of all them before, but it still gets them every time they initially see him naked. Gordon of course has had no previous experience of this and was just highly disgusted in general. With that being said, it was even worse so for the random civilians around Team Fortress watching this, covering the eyes of their children while averting their own.

Soldier then got out a sailor uniform he apparently had on him this whole time. It was a black United States Navy sailor uniform complete with cap, and it looks to be old and tattered. It's most likely stolen back from when Soldier was trying to join all the branches of the military before being rejected as upon putting on the uniform, the sailor suit barely fits him these days. Considering how the war began in 1941 and now it is 1974, of course it wouldn't fit his body anymore after all these years. It fit him so poorly that his belly was sticking out from under the shirt and some rips in the uniform got bigger as he forced it on.

He then pulled out the Buff Banner, more specifically so he could use the worn down bugle that's a part of it.

"I dedicate this song to you, from one enlisted sailor to you fellow enlisted sailors of America! Brave men who died in a cowardly Nazi surprise attack on American territory! May this song give you strength in the afterlife as you beat the crap out of the Nazis who did this, and may it give all our sailors strength forever!" He shouted across the bay and towards the wrahips of the Pacific Fleet. Spy was about to cut in and point out how Soldier was never a sailor, but he decided against it as he ultimately did not care.

"Wait a minute, what?" Engie blinked. He might not have cared so much about Soldier doing this, but he was more than aware that he was very factually wrong about what happened here. "Hey... Soldier... You know it ain't the Nazis that attacked this place. It was the Japanese Empire-"

 ***TERRIBLE BUGLE BLARING***

Engineer was cut off abruptly when Soldier suddenly started blowing into the bugle to create a horrible sounding rendition of "The Stars and Stripes". It was so off key and hard on the ears that it actually caused the rest of his teammates to cover their ears lest they lose their hearing at such an awful sound. Worse yet was that Soldier decided to play a full two minutes of his one man band playing "The Stars and Stripes" on a busted up bugle. When it was finally over, half the team wished they were deaf while the other half wished for _death_ to take them then and there so they didn't have to hear that ever again. The same applied to the civilians unfortunate enough to both watch Soldier strip _AND_ play the bugle, most of thema actually running away to call the cops on this guy.

Well, at least they all learned something within these five minutes. Soldier believes that the Nazis were the ones who attacked Pearl Harbor and not the Japanese Empire. How in the actual fuck exactly did he get that in his head is anyone's guess, but that does explain why he chose to go on a massive killing spree in Germany during the war and not in Japanese territory. One can only imagine what Soldier would have done to Japanese forces if he went after them instead... Can you imagine it? Probably not since it contains too much patriotism within...

Once he was done playing, Soldier lowered the bugle and raised his hand in another salute towards the harbor. A destroyer of the US Navy happening to be passing by and they were able to hear most of Soldier's horrible music. The sailors aboard the ship can clearly be seen looking at his direction. They were a little far out, but even from here can the team tell that the sailors' ears hurt from the music.

"Godspeed, you magnificient bastards!" Soldier shouted towards them while still saluting, a tear actually forming on his right eye.

Surprisingly, a sailor aboard the ship actually shouted back at him. " _Go play your fucking music somewhere else!"_ One of them yelled among other shouts from the ship directed towards him.

"Hahaha! As you wish, fellow Americans! I will play my song of freedom for all enlisted men across all branches of the military!" Soldier laughed, waving the sailors cursing at him goodbye. "Alright boys! Let's head to Hickam Air Force base now! I know the flyboys will-"

" _ **NO!**_ " They all screamed in unison, jumping on top of Soldier and proceeding to beat the ever living shit out of him for thinking he can play that horrible music again in their presence. Even Gordon joined in on the beatdown, and perhaps more hilariously the sailors on the passing destroyer started to cheer and holler as they approved of it.

Unbeknownst to Team Fortress though, they had some onlookers. Not onlookers as in random civilians walking by who happen to catch this happening, but hostile onlookers with hostile intent towards them. Watching from a nearby Hawaiin barbecue restaurant, there was a group of Asian people sitting outside eating lunch. They just so happened to be here when Team Fortress arrived, and they looked on in utter surprise as they saw the mercs and recognized them right away...

 **(...)**

" _Ohh... ugh... ow..._ " Soldier groaned in terrible pain, having been beaten so hard that it's taking a while for his self-healing to do away with all the damage to him. The taxis containing the mercs took them towards Honolulu International Airport, which to Soldier's dismay is right next to Hickam Air Force Base. The flyboys will be spared of his horrible bugle this day...

Right, so anyways, the mercs were on their way to Honolulu International Airport. So far they've been in Earth for a little over an hour, and nothing too interesting has happened yet aside from Soldier wanting to pay his respects at Pearl Harbor. Hopefully nothing else will delay them any further. It's a nine hour flight from Honolulu to Albuquerque, and the team would much like to get back to Mann Co. HQ as soon as possible.

Too bad the lady of fate dislikes them, as surprise surprise, they did end up facing delays. Major ones.

Catching them completely off guard, a bullet pierced through the windshield of the front cab and struck the innocent cab driver in the arm. The man screamed out in agony as he clutched his arm, losing control of the cab where it slammed into a parked truck on the left lane. This caused a car that was coming down that lane to swerve over to avoid the taxi as it crashed, but then it ended up in a head on collision with the second taxi the mercs were in. The occupants of the second taxi were shaken right to Hell when they got hit with the airbags.

All the mercs immediately stumbled out of the taxis, dragging out both of the cab drivers along with them as they scanned around with their weapons out, looking for who fired the shot. People on the street ran to the cabs to see if everything was alright, but Team Fortress scared them away by shooting up into the air. This worked as the people ran away in fright, and that was a good thing as they couldn't be here if a firefight goes down.

It was very fortunate that they chose to do that then as their unknown attacked fired another shot, striking Scout on his lower right calf.

"AH! DAMMIT!, THAT HURT!" He cursed, clenching his teeth and angrily looking around for who done it.

"We're too exposed out here. Come on boys, we need better cover!" Engie shouted, signalling for them to follow him into the safety of a diner. The mercs followed him as asked with Spy and Gordon dragging their taxi drivers with them. The unknown shooter fired a couple more shots at them, missing one shot whereas the other one did graze Spy's right leg just as he got into the diner.

" _GAH!_ _Merde..._ " The Frenchman cursed through his teeth, stumbling into the diner before setting the driver he was carrying down behind a table. The diner was thankfully sparsely populated with only the people who worked here and a couple of dinergoers within, all terrified and confused out of their minds when they heard gunfire and ten armed men rushed inside the diner.

"You see him anywhere, Rick?" Engie asked Sniper as the Australian was looking around with his Sniper Rifle.

"Not yet, mate..." He whispered, concentrating as he looked for the enemy.

Whoever the shooter was had stopped firing at this point. This means that the mercs and Gordon were out of his line of sight, or he was making it deliberately harder for the mercs to find him by not firing again and is simply waiting for a clear shot on them.

"I don't see 'em anywhere..." Sniper said, continuing to look down the scope.

"Ugh... we don't have time for this! Who the Hell would even attack this here on Earth?" Spy wondered aloud.

"No idea, mate. But whoever it bloody is clearly wants us dead." Said Demo.

"Not dead. _Alive..._ " Heavy suggested, motioning to the wounded cab driver. "He choose to shoot him and not one of us when we were in taxis." The Russian man pointed out, then motioning to Spy and Scout's wounds. "He also did not aim for head." The mercs and Gordon looked to each other, silently wondering about who would want to capture them alive? And on that note, how did they know they were here in Hawaii if they've been here for not even two hours yet?

"Alright, here's what we do..." Spy began, flinching as his self-healing patched the bullethole in his leg. "I'm going to out there and draw his attention." He paused, holding out his Dead Ringer out for everyone to see. "The moment he gives away his position, we'll send him to Hell. Understand?"

His teammates and Gordon nodded, preparing to pop up and lay hell into wherever this enemy was. Spy nodded to his allies and crawled towards the entrance of the diner where he'll make his dash.

"Who are you people!?" A random civilian woman cowering under a table asked him, her boyfriend cradling her as they watched the masked man in fright.

"Just stay where you are. This wil be over soon enough." The Frenchman told them, reaching the spot.

Taking a deep breath, he then made a mad dash into the street without any concern of getting shot. Time seemed to slow down for the mercenaries as they waited to hear the sound of a gunshot, ready to fill this bastard up with bullets once he gives himself away.

To their surprise though, no gunshot followed Spy into the street. The Frenchman had ran across the street and pressed his back against the wall, expecting to have gotten shot by now. But there was nothing. There was absolutely no response from the enemy shooter. Cautiously, Spy looked around with his Ambassador raised, carefully checking the rooftops for any sign of movement. In a move considered insane by normal people, Spy walked into the middle of the street where he was completely totally exposed, daring the enemy to fire at him.

Yet they didn't. Either the shooter had fled the scene already, or he held his fire on purpose because he sensed what Team Fortress was doing.

"Clever bastard..." Spy said to himself, lowering his weapon and reaching into his coat. Here, he pulled out his cigarette case and pulled out a fresh cigarette, tossing his lit one away. It was unlikely that the shooter would just flee like that, and as such Spy believed he was still in the area, watching them.

This proved to be correct when suddenly, gunfire cracked through the air again, but just not where the mercs expected it to be. In surprise, Spy looked back towards the diner where he saw that a close quarters fight had erupted inside it. Armed strangers who appear to be Asian were attacking the rest of his teammates! That's why the enemey shooter didn't fire! He was waiting for his own teammates to flank around and catch Team Fortress off guard. And now that the flanking maneuver had been pulled off, the enemy shooter fired a shot at the wide open Spy.

Thankfully, the Frenchman still had the Dead Ringer out and a fake body hit the street when a bullet went through his shoulder. Spy was still surprised at how clever the enemy was. The usual bunch of guys they fight barely use even the simplest of tactics in a fight, but whoever these guys were clearly on a different level.

The good thing about this situation was that Spy was able to pinpoint the location of the enemy with that gunshot. Even more helpful, the enemy sniper actually just stood up and looked on at Spy's fake body, wondering if he was dead or unconscious from the shock of getting shot through the shoulder.

Spy looked towards the enemy sniper and back to his team to see how they were holding up. They were doing fine all things considered. The enemy got the drop on them, but the mercs and Gordon were beating them back fairly well.

Seeing that they were fine, Spy headed towards the shooter while cloaked, aiming to take him down while his teammates dealt with the other attackers.

* * *

 **Trouble in two worlds! While the gang in Remnant is gearing up to move out and help people like the huntsmen they are, the mercs and Gordon are under attack by unknown assailants!**

 **How well will Team RWBY and friends fair in what is possibly their most dire experience yet, and will Team Fortress be able to uncover the secret army preparing for an invasion of Remnant?**

 **Find out next chapter!**

 **Yeah but classical television ending narration aside, like I said, I feel like I'm getting the feeling of writing back again. So with that in mind, though I cannot fully guarantee this, yeah, it looks like I am making a full return! Now I'll see what I can do about updating the other stories, but expect some possible new stories as well if I get to it.**

 **Also, you may have noticed the important notice I have listed at the very top of this chapter. As far as I know, it is necessary to do if you want to get any messages or reviews to me my guy.**

 **But yeah if you guys may have noticed in the last chapter, provided you stayed long enough to see it, I put a little short out that was a sort of preview as to what to expect if you see a multiworld crossover from me. Also, you would have seen what I think of RWBY.**

 **If there's anything you'd like to say or talk about, message me or leave a review whenever.**

 **I mean, I still read reviews but I still don't feel good enough yet to read them more than once. That and the reviewing technical issue now is annoying me, but I think I'll start responding again soon.**


	67. A Surprising Discovery

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: Due to what I did months ago where I wrote a bunch of shorts to fill the wait for Volume 5 before removing them when it came out, any reviews from people who had accounts cannot be placed on chapter numbers they reviewed back when the shorts filled that space. If you have a fanfic account but are unable to post a review to this, just log out of your account and post it as a guest with your name, or PM me if putting the effort into that is too much.**

* * *

 **TF2 Earth. Honolulu, Hawaii.**

" _Ohhhhhh noo! Don't kill us! We're stupid heads and our faces are ugly!_ "

"AHAHA! THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE KILLED DADDY! TAKE THIS! BAM! POW! BOOM, BOOM! KAPOW!"

" _Ahhhhhhhh! We're dead!_ "

"HA! That's because _I_ , the great Olivia has killed you! That'll show you not to kill my daddy!"

Olivia laughed to herself as she played alone in her room. If it wasn't obvious yet, she was playing pretend with her stuffed animals. She dressed ten of them up to vaguely look like the mercs of Team Fortress and Saxton Hale, and she's been beating them up repeatedly for like the last hour in pretend situations.

Just outside her windows, one could see hundreds of tents erected in the mansion grounds, all of them containing mercenaries fighting for her. At the moment there were at least two hundred mercenaries here and up to a thousand robots of various models. This isn't exactly a really large army, but as word spread of Olivia's deal throughout the mercenary world, mercs from across the globe are flocking to Hawaii to join up with her and earn big money. Not only that, but Olivia sent the reactivation signal to Gray Mann's remaining robot armies.

Any robots that didn't fall under Mann Co.'s hands and left behind with no orders upon his death were reactivated. Robots left across the Earth woke up from over a year of deactivation to serve Olivia, their new master. The thing about the robots owned by Mann Co. is that those robots were only captured from Gray's HQ and manufactured by Mann Co. now, but their numbers compared to the remaining robots around the world? Absolutely tiny. Sure, the robots under Mann Co.'s control are much higher quality, but the sheer numbers of Gray's reactivated army is unholy.

The only problem Olivia had with this though is that she didn't completely understand how to work the robot control system, and as result when she pressed the "Return to Home Base" button, she thought it meant that they were all coming here to Hawaii. Which that is not what it meant at all. Pressing that button simply meant that all robot carrier tanks will return to whatever Gray Gravel Co. base that they were assigned to, not necessarily for them to all come to Olivia.

Eh, oh well. She'd have to figure how to order them all here later, but at least abandoned Gray Gravel Co. bases across the world are being restored as part of the robots' automatic programming. Can make for some handy extra bases should Hawaii fall for some reason.

" _Boss? Boss? I got some news for ya._ " A voice called from a radioset in her room, frightening her.

"Ah! Eh, what is it?" She answered.

" _Some of the Vietnamese guys ran into some trouble in the city."_

"Ummm... okay. I don't see anything wrong with that." She shrugged, being too young to understand why this is a problem.

 _"The boys are saying they spotted those loser mercs from Team Fortress!_ " The man on the other side reported, causing Olivia's eyes to go wide in surprise.

"They're... they're... here?" She stuttered.

" _That's what they're saying, yeah!_ "

Olivia said nothing for a minute, her young mind taking some time to process what she's just been told. She looked back at the stuffed animals dressed up as her enemies, and then back to ward the radio. Then, her lips slowly curled into an absolutely excited smile. Looks like she didn't even need to go to Remnant to get her revenge! The mercs might as well have delivered themselves right to her!

"SEND EVERYONE OUT THERE, BUT DON'T KILL THEM! I WANT THEM ALIVE SO I CAN KILL THEM MYSELF!" She screamed into the radio, jumping up and down like a rabbit hyped on five million pounds of sugar.

" _What about the cops, boss?_ "

"WHO CARES ABOUT THE COPS!? JUST GIVE THEM MONEY AND TELL THEM TO GO AWAY!" The excited girl ordered him, then running back to her massive closet.

She (metaphorically) ripped the doors off the thing and dived into the mountain of dresses and even more stuffed animals, completely disappearing where she began tossing various weapons hidden underneath all that junk out into the open. Among the weapons are a bunch of grenades with kitty faces painted on them, a big pink shotgun with flowers crudely drawn onto the sides, a machine gun that hasn't been fully painted pink yet, more guns of various kinds painted in bright colors, a magic spellbook she found earlier in the black market, some rose gold brass knuckles, and a hand cannon that was actually colored light blue and not something pink.

"Ohhhhhhhh... which one should I take?" She wondered to herself, tapping her chin lightly. "Ah! I know! I'll take all of them!" Beamed the girl, grabbing an oversized backpack and stuffing all the items in. Once she was done with that, she snickered to herself evilly at the thought of killing the mercenaries...

" _Hehehehehe..._ you better be ready, because I'm going to kill you all! MWAHAHAHAHA!" Laughed the little evil one maniacally, striking an evil pose with her arms out wide.

...

Until she fell down due to the sheer weight of the items in the backpack. This was a normal backpack, mind you. Not the special kind that the mercs have.

"Whooooa! Argh! Help! Help! Anybody? Come help your boss!"

 **(...)**

The all-out brawl in the diner had devolved into just that. An all-out brawl where Team Fortress and Gordon were fighting their attackers in fierce close quarters combat. Being this close up to their enemies, the mercs opted to simply engage in melee instead of shooting them. Mostly because there were civilians in the diner, but also because beating the fuck out of your aggressors is so much more satisfying than shooting them in most instances this up close. Gordon wasn't exactly as good as the mercenaries in melee combat, but he was no slouch when it came to fighting this close up. The cramped conditions of Black Mesa and Ravenholm among other places have gotten him accustomed to close quarters engagements.

" _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_ " Screamed a waitress in the diner as she and the other civilians within stayed as low to the ground as they possibly could to avoid getting hit in the fight. While not necessarily making them any safer, hiding under something as cover gave them a slight false sense of security, and that's precisely why this waitress screamed even more loudly when the table she was hiding under was lifted into the air.

She watched as Gordon Freeman used the Gravity Gun to pick up the table and fling it at an attacker with enough force for the table to shatter on impact, sending him flying behind the counter. The scientist then suffered a shotgun blast right to his chest that send him flying backward, but the energy shield system of his suit guaranteed that he was fine. Whipping out his own shotgun, a SPAS-12, he used the highly unusual and somewhat confusing double firing mode where he blasted two shells at once into his target, filling him up with pellets where he fell to the ground.

Freeman pumped the shotun and aimed for his next target, but then had to duck when one of the attackers was thrown through the diner window right behind him, shattering the glass. The one who threw him was Heavy who was being rushed by the attackers, beating him with the butts of their guns. The Russian man screamed utterly feral battle cries like a beast as he punched and slammed the people trying to attack him, until one of the guys wisened up and disabled him by taking his pistol and shooting out Heavy's knees. The sudden loss of his legs caused the Russian to collapse, allowing the attackers to bring him down. Still, he fought on, swinging his arms around wildly to drive them back.

Thankfully, Soldier and Freeman came in to help, both men taking their fists and doing the manly thing, knocking the teeth out of two bad guys. Both men drew their respective signature melee weapons out, a Crowbar and a Shovel, and bashed the fuck out of these guys. One of the enemies brought up a pistol to shoot at Gordon, but Soldier ended that thought when he smashed his face in with a Shovel. Another guy tried the exact same thing but with a shotgun this time, and he ended up finding the vold steel of Sniper's Kukri stabbed through his chest, staring down at in disbelief as his life faded away.

"Show me what you got, ya dumb bastard!" Scout taunted an attacker armed with a slim curved sword.

"Die American!" The man shouted in a very heavy Vietnamese accent. His choice of wording was horribly poor as Soldier overheard what he said. So instead of Scout fighting this guy, Soldier broke away from whatever he was doing and jumped on top of this dude. "What? Come on Soldier, what the Hell!? I was supposed to fight him!" He complained before another Vietnamese mercenary whacked him in the face with the butt of his shotgun.

Soldier was not listening a she was busy wailing his fists into this guy's face. The man desperately tried to push Soldier off of him, screaming for help in Vietnamese all the while before Soldier silenced him with a...

 **N-N-NECCCKKSNNAP! NECKSNAP**

OHHHHHH SHIIIIIIT!

"Where the bloody Hell is Spy!?" Demo asked over the sounds of shouting and yelling, smashing his Scrumpy bottle over a guy's head where he then took a swig out of it.

"Hmmpmhm mphmm." Pyro shrugged, chopping a guy's leg off with its Fire Axe all casually.

"He vent after ze enemy sniper? Hmm, makes sense." Wheezed Medic as he was being strangled, seemingly not being fazed nearly as much by a dude choking him out then he really should.

This was quickly solved when Medic simply injected a needle of hyper poisonous Australian Murder Spider venom into him. This venom was so toxic that it literally melted the man's flesh from the inside, giving him an honestly horrifying death. But come now, there's certainly worse ways to get killed by these guys. Like getting your fucking face cut open when Engineer smashed a salt shaker on a guy's face when he was fighting him behind the counter of the diner. The poor man was screaming incomprehensibly in absolute agony as the salt seeped into the deep cuts made by the glass, and Engineer was not done with him. Naturally, since this fight's in a diner and Engie's in the kitchen area, of course he had to do this man dirty and slam his cut up and salted face into the deep frier.

You knew it was coming.

"Yep, that's the smell of fried face, boy." Engie grinned, continuing to push the enemy's head into the deep frier until he stopped moving. And he didn't stop moving because the pain of the burning was too much for him, but because he literally drowned while simultaneously having his face deep fried. Engie didn't bother pulling him up after he stopped moving, deciding to leave the limp body there while he grabbed a kitchen knife.

"Heads up, Sniper!" The Texan called out as he threw the kitchen knife, narrowly missing Sniper by an inch as it planted itself in the left eye of an enemy, killing him instantly. Sniper was about to call out thanks to Engineer for the help, but then yet another attacker came up to him and stabbed him in the arm, causing Sniper to scream out as he began wrestling with him. Engineer gasped at the sight of it, vaulting over the counter only to unexpectedly get socked in the face midway over the counter.

The fight in the diner continued on for another few seconds before the enemy decided that they had enough.

"RÚT LUI!" One of them screamed, calling for them all to retreat out of the diner.

When the fight began, there were a total of twenty enemies who flanked through the back of the diner to get the drop on Team Fortress. They did indeed succeed in surprising the team and catching them off guard, and they put up an even more surprisingly good fight compared to enemies like the White Fang that the mercs had been fighting beforehand. Now that the fight was over, the results were that twelve enemies were killed with the rest injured while most of Team Fortress were injured to an extent. Gordon remained relatively fine, and the mercs' wounds would heal quickly enough with their automatic self-healing.

The mercs and Gordon gathered by the shattered glass of the diner, watching the enemy run away. The guy who Heavy threw out the window was still outside, and he was just barely getting up.

"Is everyone alright?" Demo asked the civilians in the diner. Other than some scratches and whatnot taken from debris in the fight, the civilians were left unharmed from the crossfire and they let them know that they were alright. A couple of the civilians even went to Heavy to help him stand up as his legs healed.

"Spasibo..." Heavy thanked them even if they were having trouble lifting his massive weight.

"Man... who the Hell are these guys, and why would they attack us?" Scout asked, feeling his nose after that one dude smashed that napkin holder into it.

"I ain't got a clue son..." Engie trailed, then looking toward the one enemy who just got on his feet. "I reckon we take this fella and interrogate-"

*BANG*

Cracked a shotgun blast from a grinning Soldier, both cutting Engineer's sentence short and blowing half the enemy guy's head off. "Or Soldier can blow his goddamn head off..." He sighed.

"Oh hey, there's Spy." Sniper said all calmly while clutching his still healing stab wound.

The team and Gordon turned to see Spy walk in from the right side of the street, carrying a barely Asian man over his shoulder.

"I found our enemy sniper." The Frenchman said all casually, unceremoniously tossing him down. Here, the guys can see that Spy savagely beat the shit out of this guy judging by the swollen bruises and cuts on his face. Several of his teeth were missing too. "He's going to answer all our questions."

"Who the Hell are you and why'd you attack us?" Engie asked in a dead serious tone, grabbing the man's collar with his robotic hand.

The man coughed out some blood before saying something in Vietnamese. Whatever it was, it clearly wasn't something nice based on his tone of voice. None of them except for Spy can understand what he was saying as they couldn't speak Viet. Good thing Spy's an international saboteur capable of speaking like all the languages.

So Spy walked up to the man, and the first word he said to him was not a word at all but a gesture to remind the man how dire his situation was right now. Though it wasn't really like a gesture and more like a punch. The Frenchman socked him in the face so hard that a couple more teeth went missing, sending the guy with his back flat to the ground.

"Ai gửi cho bạn?" He said in the man's native language. The man's expressioned widened into one of shock upon seeing that he could speak his language, but he otherwise remained quiet. As a result, Spy gave a horrifyingly punishing kick to the man's body as he was down. Spy repeated the question, and the man refused to answer yet again.

"Ugh..." He sighed. The mercs had no time to take this guy somewhere and torture him, and as such they decided to just torture him now. Pulling his Butterfly Knife out, Spy bent down and roughly grabbed the man's ear, placing the knife right at where it connected to his head. "I know you can speak English, and so I won't bother with asking you again in your language. _Who sent you?_ " He said seriously. The man gasped and whimpered slightly, his conviction breaking as he was juggling between if he should talk or not. That was taking far too long for Spy, and only ten seconds in, he started cutting away at the ear.

" ** _ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAGGGHGGGHG!_** STOP! STOP! STOOOOOOOOPPPP!" He begged, screaming like a panicking animal. Spy was halfway through with cutting his ear off when he finally snapped. Glaring at him, Spy stopped cutting and took his bloody knife away, leaving the ear flapping along as it was halfway cut through. "I-I'll tell you everything!" The man shouted in desperation.

"Then answer this question. Why did you and your men attack us?" Spy asked him, the rest of his team looking around just in case the remaining attackers regrouped for another strike at them. Engineer though was talking to the owner of the diner, handing him two million dollars in cash for the damages done to his establishment.

"There's a bounty put on all your heads..." He answered, breathing heavily as the seering pain of his ear was too much for him to handle. "Me-mercenaries, bounty hunters, assassins, everyone is coming to kill you!"

Team Fortress and Gordon looked to each other in surprise. This was highly unexpected...

"Who put the bounty on us?" Spy asked the man. Once again, the man hesitated and didn't answer. There was no time for this fuckery as the mercs were fully alert in case of any attackers now that they knew this. Shaking his head and not saying a single word, Spy grabbed the man's hanging ear and slowly pulled at it to induce agonizing pain in him.

"AARRRRRGGHGGH! OLIVIA! OLIVIA!" The man cried out.

"Olivia who?"

"I FORGOT WHAT HER LAST NAME WAS! P-please stop!" He begged. Spy was not pleased with this answer. It can barely be considered a half-answer, if that was even a thing, as there could be hundreds of thousands of people named Olivia on this planet alone.

This man was now useless to them, and in anger the Frenchman ripped the man's ear clean off of his head, sending the man screaming uncontrollably and writhing around on the ground in horrible pain.

"Everyone's trynna kill us?" Scout asked somewhat uneasily, holding his Scattergun and looking around for any potential threats.

Now that the fighting has died down, civilians came around to see what was up, horrified at seeing what Spy just did to that Vietnamese mercenary and naturally assuming that they must have been the bad guys or something. All these people around them were making Team Fortress feel uneasy. If what the man said was true, then all kinds of killers can be after them coming from all directions, even hiding in plain sight among the civilians...

"This isn't good, lads. We can't be out in the open like this." Sniper said, keeping an eye on the roof.

"I know..." Spy sighed, taking his Ambassador out and pointing it at the screaming man's head. Not really caring that all these people were watching him, he blew the man's brains out and ended his misery, causing the previously writhing body to go fully limp.

Terrified, the civilian crowd immediately dispersed and ran away again. The mercenaries on the other hand were completely indifferent to this since they were used to violence like this. Gordon seemed a little uneased by it but he otherwise was fine with it since he was an enemy.

"Move along, everybody. Ain't nothing to see here. Just mercenary business." Scout said to the fleeing crowd all casually.

"Get out of here, fellow Americans. I know you want to see this prime American killing machine kick some ass, but civilians can't be around in a warzone!" Soldier told them.

"Mphmm... hmphm mphmh humh?" Pyro asked the gang, prompting them to look around. Pyro was right. There's no sign of the cops anywhere. Usually when Team Fortress does shit like this in public, especially on Earth, the police would be here in a heartbeat. This time there was nothing. Not even beat cops or first responders of any kind.

"Heavy has a bad feeling about this..." The Russian said quite seriously.

"Yeah no freaking crap, dummy! We got a city full of guys who want us dead!" Went Scout, earning an annoyed glare from Heavy. And not even a second after that, someone fired a rocket towards them. The rocket missed and flew right past them, exploding harmlessly in a patch of grass. "See!?"

"Quiet, baby man!" Heavy shouted at him, about to smack the shit out of him too had it not been for the appearance of even more enemies beginning their assault on them.

Bullets and pretty much every other form of ranged attack flew towards the mercs from nearly every direction. And what's more is that from up above, a helicopter flew above them. The model of the helicopter was a Sikorsky H-34 (the same model of helicopter seen on the landing pad in Mercenary Park), and it was clearly controlled by the enemy as the open cabin doors contained hostile mercenaries who were also shooting at them. But even more strangely, there was a young little girl who looked no older than ten also in the helicopter, and she appeared to be giving orders to the enemy!

" _GET THEM_!" The child in the helicopter shouted through a megaphone. _"_ _BRING THEM TO ME ALIVE!"_

The mercs couldn't stand and muse on about what she said underneath all this pressure, and as such they ran. Where did the run to? It didn't matter so long as they were being chased and exposed in the streets of the city. And it truly seemed like the whole city was after their asses. No matter where they ran, they came under fire from pursuing enemies. Any civilians that were still in the area were in a frenzied panic as they fled from the violence, and some of these enemy mercs were absolutely ruthless as they didn't give a damn if they harmed any people who were in their way.

Oh, and do you remember how the cops weren't there initially? Well in a stroke of _some_ good luck for Team Fortress, the Honolulu police department that Olivia bribed to turn a blind eye here decided to go against it as this was too far. They were going to get a whopping five million dollar bribe just to let Olivia's forces ambush Team Fortress and capture them, but having them chase them through the city and causing way more damage than the money is worth? That's too far. So to the team's relief, the police ended up fighting Olivia's forces as well despite being woefully outgunned, but it did ease some of the stress off of the team.

This ended up with Team Fortress and Gordon breaking into a random sushi restaurant and hiding in there to catch their breath. They startled both the staff and a group of tourists hiding within the restaurant while violence reigned outside. Notably, the tourists were all screaming in Japanese and begging the mercenaries not to hurt them. Clealry, the gang just happened to run into a group of Japanese tourists visiting over from the home islands. Must have been here to see if the sushi was just like how they made it back home, and it most likely was since the old chef who owned this place was an immigrant from Japan.

The mercenaries couldn't understand what they were saying though and were trying to hush them in to shutting up lest they attract the attention of the enemy outside. Of course that went both ways as the tourists couldn't understand them either. The only one among the crew who could speak Japanese was Spy, but they still wouldn't be quiet even when he told them to, believing that he was going to rob them of all of their money.

"BE QUIET FOR ZE LOVE OF GOD!" Medic shouted at them, but these people couldn't understand him better than any of the others. "Ugh... can any of you speak English!?"

"I-I can..." A meek female voice answered in perfect English, raising her hand from behind the counter. It was from a young Asian girl who was most likely the daughter or granddaughter of the sushi chef who owned ths place, evident as the elderly Japanese man was next to her.

"Tell zese people to be quiet, young lady. We are hiding here just the same as zey are!" He ordered her. She nodded hesitantly and turned towards the others, telling them that Team Fortress was not here to hurt them.

"Ah Christ, lads..." Demo huffed as he rested from that long run. "Did you hear what that damn girl said?"

"Yeah... she wanted us alive for whatever bloody reason." Sniper said.

"But who is that girl? I have not seen her before. Do we know her?" Heavy asked. His teammates shrugged and shook their heads. They have never seen Olivia before as it was only Saxton Hale who had ran into her, and that was a while ago.

" _Grrrr..._ I can't stand this crap..." Soldier growled, peeking out and looking at the enemies outside. "An enemy attack on American soil will not be tolerated! I WILL KILL THEM ALL AND PLANT MY - _OW!_ " He grunted when Heavy whacked him on the helmet.

"Quiet, stupid!"

"Ah man... what are we gonna do fellas? How the Hell are we supposed to get back to Mann Co. now?" Asked Scout, but then a camera flash blinded him and surprised the rest of the team. "Huh? What the...?"

Apparently, the Japanese tourists calmed down enough to start taking pictures again. All of them picked their cameras back up and snapped multiple pictures of the mercs and Gordon, interested in their peculiar nature as well as Gordon's HEV suit.

"Ugh... Japanese tourists..." Sighed Spy, well aware that these people are known for this kind of thing whenever they're not in their homeland. The tourists even got closer to the mercenaries and were gesturing and telling them in Japanese for them to make poses and whatnot.

"Hmphmh mphmh!" Pyro cheered, happily throwing an arm around Medic's shoulder and posing with him.

"Ooh, zis seems fun..." The doctor smiled, even showing off some of his items and whatnot.

Most of the other mercenaries were initially annoyed by this, but eventually about half of them relented and agreed to have pictures taken of them. Scout because of course he fucking would, Pyro, Medic, and Soldier who saw this as a chance to show off his patriotism and posed with an American flag. The rest and Gordon waved them off as they thought about how they were going to get out of this mess.

"Goin' to the airport's out of the bloody question now..." Sniper said to Spy and the others, ignoring how there was a tourist taking pictures of his gun. "Are you sure you don't got any Teleporters, Dell?"

"Nope." Engie shook his head, knowing full well that he used his last one for that escape that led to them being all separated. "Even if I did, it ain't gonna take us to Mann Co. since I don't got an exit over there."

"What about Mann Co.? Wasn't there a factory on these islands where we fought Gray Mann's robots a couple years ago?" Demo asked.

"Not anymore. We failed to defend that facility and it ended up being destroyed." Spy said. "You probably don't remember it since you were decapitated by a Demoknight bot and Medic had to revive you after we lost."

"Oh..."

"Hmm... this is very bad situation..." Sighed the Russian of the group, thinking of a plan.

"You know, when I agreed to coming with you guys, I wasn't expecting that we were going to get attacked on Earth." Gordon Freeman said, the first words he's spoke since leaving the BattlePC. He's just a man of a few words like that.

"Eh, we weren't really expecting it either, mate." Sniper shrugged.

"Da." Nodded Heavy, his face going towards a stern expression. "I do not know who these men are, but they make Heavy angry. Not only do they try to capture us and hurt innocent people, but they are also wasting our time. We should return to Remnant as soon as possible."

"Damn right..." Engie sighed.

As he thought of how they could possibly get out of this situation, he idly looked towards Soldier who was telling the Japanese tourists stories about how he and the US military bravely fought and defeated a tribe of Nazi panzer cavemen. Of course the tourists couldn't understand him, but Soldier had the young girl translate for him. Then, Engie had a bright idea spark in his mind.

"Hey! Hey..." He went, getting up and going towards the girl, interrupting Soldier's story. "Little lady, what's your name?"

"Me?" She blinked. "My name is Sarah."

"Okay Sarah - wait, Sarah?" Engie blinked in confusion, not expecting her to have an English name.

"Y-yeah. Well... that's the name my friends call me since they have trouble saying my actual name..."

"Huh... well anyways, how long have you been in this here city?"

"I lived here ever since I was born. My parents had me after they moved to America with my grandparents. That man over there is my grandad." She explained, pointing towards the elderly sushi chef.

"What can you possibly want from her, Dell?" Spy asked, the others wondering just the same.

"Soldier's telling stories about the military, and there's a military base over yonder at Pearl Harbor, right?" Engie said, getting nods from everyone. "Well, the military's sure to have noticed these damn fools running about the city with all the damge they been doin'. If we can get the military to fight these boys, then they'll chase 'em off the island and we'll be home free!"

"W-what do you need me for in this?" Sarah shook, afraid of gettin caught up in this mess and possibly getting harmed as a result.

"Nothin' much, little lady. I just need you to guide us to the military base. My friends and I ain't from around here..."

* * *

 **The first real engagement between our heroes and hostile forces on Earth!**

 **Yeah I don't have much to say on this other than this is a prelude to the wider conflict. A taste of what Olivia's forces will be like once they reach Remnant and raise Hell. This time around the chapter was entirely about Team Fortress and their experience in Hawaii since it is very important, but next one will be jumping back and forth again.**

 **I still can't make myself read reviews yet. I don't know what you guys have been saying but I can say that I will likely see it within a week once I feel more confident enough. You can still leave them down though as I will get to reading them eventually, so still no review response for now.**

 **Other bits of news I want to give out is that this week I'll be continuing work on other stories. Which ones? I don't know. Whatever comes to mind first I guess.**

 **That and that little short about what a multiverse crossover would look like. I** **am making a second part to that to finish it since I can't just leave that there. Even if it's a non-canon short and not even fully representative of what a multi-crossover from me would look like, it's still fun to do and I'll finish it for the sake of it.**

 **And on that note, how many of you believe I should branch out and make a multi-world crossover using the BattlePC as a base? I know I said I had trouble making myself read reviews no matter what they say, but I would still like to know. Should it be separate from this story and be it's own thing, or should it be a sort of sequel set after this story is finished and a new one begins?**

 **Put it down and I'll promise I'll see it eventually.**


	68. Sacred Duties

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: Due to what I did months ago where I wrote a bunch of shorts to fill the wait for Volume 5 before removing them when it came out, any reviews from people who had accounts cannot be placed on chapter numbers they reviewed back when the shorts filled that space. If you have a fanfic account but are unable to post a review to this, just log out of your account and post it as a guest with your name, or PM me if putting the effort into that is too much.**

* * *

 **TF2 Earth. Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America**.

"What do you mean the cops are shooting at us!?" Shouted an angry Olivia Mann into a radio, looking down at the street below where her mercs were engaging the cops. "I thought I gave you a bunch of money to bribe them!"

" _We did, but these jokers are still attacking us!"_ Answered the guy on the other end of the radio.

"Well get rid of them! They're getting in the way of my revenge! Wait... WHERE DID THEY GO!?"

" _Team Fortress? No idea, boss. We lost 'em soon after the cops showed up._ "

"YOU WHAT!? I -, THOSE STUPID, YOU DUMB - **RAAAAAGHHHHH!** " The child screamed, going into a full temper tantrum as she stomped her feet and whined out yells of anger. "FIND THEM NOW! FIND THEM FIND THEM FIND THEM FIND THEM _FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINND THEEEEEEEM!_ " Olivia raged, causing the mercs in the helicopter to look at her with some concern.

"Are you sure about that? The cops are easy pickings, sure, but there's gonna be more of them coming in soon." One of the mercs said.

"Yeah, and that's not even thinking about those military bases nearby..." Another one said.

"I DON'T CARE!" She yelled towards the other mercs.

" _Boss! Boss!_ " Olivia's radio crackled, prompting the girl to pick it up.

"Yeah?"

" _We found 'em! They're runnin' down by the Air Force base!_ "

"Really!?" Olivia gasped, eyes widening in excitement.

" _Yeah, I think they're trying to hide - WHOA SHIT!_ " The voice exclaimed, the sounds of rapid gunfire and bullets whizzing in the air along with yells and shouts filling the background. " _THE SOLDIER BOYS ARE SHOOTING AT US! FALL BACK, FALL BACK!_ "

"Huh!? NO! DON'T RUN YOU COWARDS!" Olivia shouted furiously into the radio, but it was far too late. Reports were coming in from the mercenaries that the soldiers stationed at Hickam Air Force base started to attack them once they got too close to the base.

While Olivia was desperately shouting enraged orders to her forces on the helicopter, Team Fortress watched her from down below. Their freaking plan worked! They lured the enemy mercs just close enough to the base that the soldiers there were forced to join in and engage. The enemy mercs quickly broke off from chasing Team Fortress as they did not want to risk fighting the overwhelming force of the military, not even giving so much as a fight against the soldiers and cops chasing them. All thanks to the help of a random Japanese-American girl they met while hiding in a sushi restaurant.

As the military was sending teams into the streets to deal with what they perceived as an attack on them, Team Fortress remained away from the fighting, letting the Americans do all the work lest they mistake Team Fortress as part of the enemy. With the help of Sarah and her knowledge of these streets, they safely managed to slip away from the combat zone and behind the police perimeter without getting detected at all, joining the crowd of civilians attempting to see what was happening behind the cops trying to hold them back.

"Haha, there she goes!" Sniper chuckled as the team watched Olivia's helicopter also retreat once the military was closing in on them. "That'll show the little brat..."

"Thanks for the help, missy." Engie thanked Sarah, shaking her hand. While she didn't necessarily want to get involved in this whole ordeal in the first place, she was happy at the least that Team Fortress and Gordon were apparently not the bad guys in this. She smiled, and then ran off to rejoin her grandfather as he and the Japanese tourists among other civilians were escorted out of the combat zone and into safety by the cops.

"Heh, that's right boys! Show these maggots that any attack on American soil will be met with extreme prejudice!" Soldier cheered towards his fellow enlisted men. Except not really since, you know, Soldier was never a part of the military.

"Zis vill not be ze last time we vill see those men..." Medic said to the group, gaining their attention. "If zer is zat many of zem here, then zey must have a base somewhere on zis island."

"My thoughts exactly, mon ami..." Spy sighed.

"Well what are we gonna do about it, fellas? If what that Asian guy said was true, then there's gonna be a ton of those bastards here." Scout said.

"And that means we're gonna have a helluva lot a trouble getting off this island..." Engie added.

Going to the airport was no longer a safe bet as that's likely the place where they will most likely run into enemy mercs freshly arrived in Hawaii. It would be real bad if they ran into them there and a firefight ensued in such a crowded public area. Taking a ship was not an option either as it would both take too damn long to reach California (not even mentioning the time it will take to get from California to New Mexico), and there's no telling how far the enemy was willing to go to take them down.

"I don't see what the problem is, gentlemen. I think this is great!" Smiled Soldier. "More enemies means more sons of bitches to kill in the name of freedom! Oh, I haven't felt this eager to kill something since I found out the Nazis built a Statue of Tyranny!"

"What is Statue of Tyranny?" Asked Heavy.

"It's like the Statue of Liberty, BUT FOR NAZIS AND EVIL IN GENERAL!" He shouted. "I say we find where this base is and kill everyone inside it!"

"Well I'm all for a good bunch of killin', mate, but what about the kids back in Remnant?" Demo asked. "That and we still need to find that bloody skank!" He growled, reminding the whole team of what their mission in that world was. Gordon was largely left out of the animosity the team shared on Cinder. He knew what they were talking about as they told him and their other companions in the BattlePC their story, but he came along mostly because he had nothing better to do and this seemed like a worthy cause to take up.

"I think that Mann Co. base here in Hawaii might have some Teleporters left over. Sure, the place's all destroyed but I might be able to salvage one if we find it. Hopefully one of them leads to Mann Co. HQ." Suggested Engie.

"Da. That sounds like good plan." Agreed the Russian of the group.

Some objections from Soldier about not doing the American thing and engaging the enemy, Team Fortress decided that returning to Remnant was much more important than dealing with whoever this little girl is. They'll deal with her sometime in the futiure as now their focus was on finding Cinder and killing the fuck out of her.

Now with the knowledge of enemy mercs possibly watching from all angles, Team Fortress remained on high alert as they made their way through the city. These enemy mercs didn't seem to care at all if innocent civilians are caught in the crossfire, and despite most of them having retreated and hiding from the authoritites, there's no doubt at least a few of them still prowling around the streets looking for them.

"Hey! Wait!" They heard a female voice yell for them, turning to see that it was Sarah running at them.

"Sarah? Is somethin' wrong?" Engie asked her, noticing the urgency in her tone as well as how tired she was from running.

"T-they took my granddad!" She said, still trying to gain her breath back and shocking the mercenaries. "A-and they kidnapped those tourists too!"

"They what!?" The Texan gasped. "How the Hell did they catch y'all if the police was all over the place?"

"That's the thing, they were disguised as police officers! Some officers asked me that they needed the tourists' cameras for evidence or something and that they needed me to translate for them. S-so... they asked us to follow them to some police vans and hand over the cameras, and then they attacked us!"

"How did you get away?" Spy asked her.

"Well... t-they let me go..." She admitted, getting raised brows from the mercs and Gordon. "They told me that I had to find you guys or else they'll kill everyone..." The girl said gravely, making the mercs faces scrunch up in anger at the enemy. "Please, you have to help me!"

"Ahhhh piss..." Cursed Sniper, scratching his head at this predicament. "One problem after another, eh lads?"

"Mhpmh..." Pyro sighed in agreement.

"I will not allow this! Heavy cannot stand evil men kidnapping people to threaten us."

"Welp, looks like we're gonna have to do it Soldier's way after all." Said Scout, making Soldier smile excitedly at the thought of slaying the enemy.

"Ugh... mon Dieu... very well. We were going to deal with these enemy mercenaries at one point or another. Might as well do it now, I suppose..."

Sarah's face welled up in thankful tears toward the mercs, jumping onto Pyro and Sniper to give them a hug in gratitude.

Remnant will have to wait for now. The team's got trouble on Earth to resolve before they can even think about returning to the teens back in Remnant. Speaking of which, they wondered what they were up to while they were gone...

* * *

 **Mistral, Remnant**

Well, this is it.

While the adults remained arguing in Lionheart's office, the teens sprung to action, preparing themselves to venture out and do their duty as huntsmen. Spending less than minutes taking things they needed from the house, the group quickly left the campus premises. One thing they ran into trouble with was finding an airship available and willing to take them to... well, anywhere. That was another thing. They didn't actually have any destination set except any place where trouble was.

All around the campus were students riled up with the bad news flowing in from their scrolls. Some of them could only stand around shocked at the news and weren't sure of what to do, while others had the same idea as Team RWBY and co. Those students eager to fight grabbed their gear and got aboard any airship at the academy, trying to convince the pilots to take them anywhere. Our heroes were little different as they approached an airship that had Haven students arguing with the pilot to take off.

"No, no, no! Get off! We can't take you anywhere without clearance!" The pilot yelled at the students, having to forcefully shove them off along with his co-pilot.

"Come on, man! There's people out there who need our help!" A Haven student yelled back at the pilot, but he refused to budge.

A similar scene occured at the other airships landed here. Like-minded students across the landing pads argued with the pilots as they also wanted to go out and do something, but it was all useless as none of the pilots were willing to take the students anywhere. That's not even mentioning the fact that none of the students knew how to fly an airship if they so choose to "acquire" one.

Then there's the students who really don't care either way. Like Sun and his team.

"Hey what are you - WHOA! HEY!" RWBY and co heard someone yell off to the side, causing them to look towards the source of the disturbance. To their surprise, they saw Team SSSN rush into an airship and kick the pilots out of it, commandeering it.

"Hey guys!" Sun called out to them, waving them over. "Need a ride?"

"Sun? You can't steal an airship like that!" Blake scolded the delinquet monkey boy.

"Pffft, guess you don't need a ride then..." He shrugged, grinning.

For a moment, the teens took a second to look at each other, silently thinking about it to each other. If there's any hope for them to get anywhere in time to help, then this is it. Even if it was totally illegal and broke so many rules. Well, to be fair, Team RWBY themselves broke a lot of rules back at Beacon...

"Thanks, Sun!" Ruby thanked him as they rushed on, hurrying as Sage was holding the pilots back by himself, using his raw strength.

"Heh, I knew you wouldn't say no to a ride..." Sun teased Blake, causing her ears to fold down in some annoyance. But then, her mind thought of a possible, dirtier hidden meaning behind his sentence, causing her to give him a flustered hard punch in the arm. "OW! Hey, what the heck was that for!?"

Blake only growled in response as the others didn't really get it either, but Yang certainly did as the blonde was laughing at the unintended joke. This caused the kitty to become even more embarassed as she had to sit next to Yang, said girl having a real cheeky grin towards her.

"Alright Sage, come on!" Scarlet shouted to Sage, causing him to nod and shove the pilots away as he leapt onto the airship.

Unlike the bullhead model of airship common in Vale, the airship model most common in Mistral is much bigger, maybe twice as big as a bullhead, but it was much more old-fashioned looking and looked more like a traditional sailing ship than a flying vehicle. It basically looked like someone took a boat and put a couple of propellors, an extended bottom section, and fish flipper-like wings on the sides. I have no idea how the Hell this thing is supposed to fly, yet it does so let's not question it.

"Neptune?" Weiss said in wide-eyed surprise as she went up to the cockpit, not expecting to, well, _ever_ see Neptune or his team again after the Fall of Beacon.

"What's up, Snow Angel?" He smiled at her, seemingly not as surprised. "Missed me?"

"Uh... yeah, I guess so. What are you doing here?"

"Did you forget? I'm a student here at Haven. If anything, _I_ should be the one asking why you're here..."

"Oh... I guess I did forget..." Said Weiss, honestly not able to remember that part. Everything sort of became a blur after the mess at Beacon went down. Mostly close memories with her team really stuck with her for the most part. "And... let's just say how I got here is a long story..."

"Heh, you're telling me. Sun already told us about how he was following Blake around since uh... you know..." He trailed, Weiss knowing full well what he was referring to. "He even told us about how two of those mercenary guys suddenly appeared, and yesterday we were walking around campus when we saw that somehow all of you were together. Sun didn't even know when the other guys got here, but hey! At least the gang's all back together, right?"

"Hmm... right..." The heiress smiled, looking back into the cabin at all her friends. Then, she just realized something... "Uh, Neptune? Do you guys even know how to fly?"

"Pffft, nope!" Sun answered the question as he entered the cockpit, taking the seat next to Neptune.

"What!? Then how are we supposed to fly this thing, you dolt!?"

"Like my dad always said, 'there's a first time for everything'. Look, at least we're off the ground!" The Faunus pointed out, prompting the heiress to look out the viewport and see that they really were a few meters off the ground. Down below, she can see the pilots they just stole this airship from shout at them to come down immediately while some of the Haven students were cheering them on.

"Right..." Neptune trailed as he took a moment to look at the controls. Despite the airship being much more archaic in appearance, it still had a rather complicated control scheme that was probably more complicated than the more modern bullhead. Certainly didn't help these two completely inexperienced teenage boys... "Uh... okay, I'm pretty sure that to move this thing, I have to move this stick around."

Neptune then grabbed the stick, and then chaos happened immediately after that.

 **(...)**

"Oh dear... this is not good at all..." Headmaster Lionheart said, wiping some sweat off his brow as more and more reports flooded in of settlements getting attacked left and right. There was so much of it that his personal scroll got overloaded by it all, forcing itself to shut down and restart.

"Remain calm, Leo." Ozpin calmly told him, possessing Oscar's body. "Times like this require us to to keep a steady head."

"That is easier said than done, Ozpin. Don't you see all these reports coming in? There's so many that it's crashing my scroll! Defending the kingdom's borders was difficult as is, but this? This is far too much!" The Faunus headmaster shouted in distress, his cowardly side shining through. Ozpin remained calm as the scroll rebooted itself, examining where every red dot was. Though admittedly, it was difficult even for him to keep track of. He was looking for clues in the attacks to get an idea of where the enemy can possibly be based at. "Ozpin? Are you even listening to me!?"

"Yes, Leonardo. I'm listening." He answered, frustrating Leo a bit as he is not quite used to this kid being Ozpin's reincarnated form. To be fair, this was revealed to him for less than a day. "Hmm... interesting. Some of these reports mention bandits as the attackers instead of the White Fang. Awfully odd of them to be attacking at the same time as the White Fang. What do you make of it, Qrow?" Ozpin asked, though Qrow said nothing. Taking his eyes off the scroll projection for a moment, he turned to look at both Lionheart and Qrow who were both looking at something outside the windows of the grand office.

Deciding to join them and see what exactly has got their attention, he also looked out of the windows and quickly understood why.

There was a Haven Academy airship practically floundering about like a drunken bird outside, performing unsteady movements and nearly missing the roofs and sides of the buildings on campus. More surprisingly, yet kinda not really, was that it looked like none other than Team RWBY and friends are the ones trying to fly it. Even from in here could they hear them screaming...

"What in the world!? What do those children think they're doing?" Leonheart yelled with a fearful expression.

"They're trying to be heroes..." Qrow answered with a sigh, watching them with a relatively neutral look. The veteran huntsmen felt a strange feeling that was a mix of being proud towards them, but also concerned.

The airship the teens were piloting came perilously close to actually crashing into Lionheart's office, causing the headmaster to throw himself down to the floor in case of collision had it not been for a last minute turn by the airship. Lionheart remained on the ground for a bit as he still braced for impact, leaving Ozpin and Qrow to simply look at each other and take in what they just saw.

 **(...)**

"WHOA! YOU ALMOST HIT THE HEADMASTER'S OFFICE, DUDE!" Sun shouted to Neptune as the boy was fumbling all over the controls, trying to get things steady.

In the cabin below, the teens were being tossed and thrown all over the place as they held on for dear life. All screamed as this was far worse than any rollercoaster ride that existed on Remnant. The only one among them who was remotely used to this was Yang as she experienced a similar but much worse time in the mercs' own ship before it was destroyed.

"WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING IN HERE!?" The blonde raged as she somehow made it into the cockpit to find Sun and Neptune practically pushing and pulling everything with Weiss holding tightly onto Sun's chair.

"Uh, please remain calm, passengers buckle their seatbelts and all that stuff..." Neptune said in a decidedly not calm voice, sweating bullets. Suddenly, he found himself yanked right out of the pilot seat by a metallic arm and Yang took his place instead.

"MOVE!" She shouted, causing him to yelp like a dog when she tossed him aside.

Yang didn't really have much more experience than these two, but after watching Engie pilot his ship she hoped it would translate here. Using both hands, she got a steady grip on the stick and tried to level it out, preventing it from shaking uncontrollably as she out all her effort into leveling the airship out. Thankfully through some miracle of the gods, Yang was able to pull it off as soon the unsteady shaking stopped, and all onboard were able to catch their breaths. Or hurl if they felt really sick after that, being thankful that there happened to be paper bags aboard the ship for them to use.

"Whew... told you there's a first time for everything." Sun grinned towards the shaky ex-heiress, honestly really shaking himself as he was visibly wobbly. Weiss would have said something back to him, but she was feeling too sick to, still holding onto the back of his chair as her dizzy legs didn't work at the moment. The only thing she could give him was her signature cold icy glare, causing his grin to wane immediately.

"Oh shut up..." Yang said to him annoyance, letting out a sigh.

" _Oooh... I think I'm gonna be sick..._ " Ruby whined as she crawled into the cockpit, as in literally dragging herself in, belly on the floor.

"Relax, baby sis. I think I got it from here." Yang assured her. "So... any idea where we're heading?"

Ruby didn't respond for a minute as she took some time to stand up, dust herself off, and look over her scroll for the closest place getting attacked. "Here..." She said, showing Yang the location on the scroll. "A town called Anthos. We can get there in less than thirty minutes by flying."

* * *

 **Japanese Cultural Heritage Shrine. Honolulu, Hawaii. United States of America. TF2 Earth.**

One of the few Shinto shrines outside of the Japanese home islands, Hawaii Izumo Taisha was founded in 1906 and is where Japanese-Americans living in Hawaii come to celebrate their ancient traditions.

Now in the year 1974, it is being visited by ten men and a single girl. Nine of the men were the mercenaries of Team Fortress with the last man being the badass physicist Gordon Freeman, and the girl was a Japanese-American girl named Sarah.

"Here, this is the place..." Sarah said to the mercs as they neared the shrine.

"Hold up now, lil miss. You absolutely sure this is the place?" Engie asked her as they came to a stop, examining the outside of the shrine from their position and seeing nothing wrong so far.

"Yes! They told me to bring you guys here. I don't know why they chose the shrine of all place, but I swear that this is it." She assured him.

"Alright boys, ready up!" Soldier eagerly said to the team, getting his Shotgun out while the others also pulled their weapons out.

"Wait wait wait, no!" Sarah protested at seeing their weapons.

"Why not?" Heavy asked the girl, his Minigun already fully out.

"You can't fight in a shrine! It's a sacred place, that and you'll put everyone in danger!" She told them with seriousness.

"Well that wouldn't be a problem then if these wankers didn't choose this place for a 'meeting'..." Sniper groaned. He was just about ready to climb on a nearby building and take a sniping position up when she stopped them.

"What else are we supposed to freakin' do? Go in there and surrender?" Scout joked.

"Well... that does sound like the best option..." She shyly admitted, gaining frowns from the mercs and Gordon. "N-not like I'm saying that's a good thing! But it does mean they won't hurt anyone..."

"Pffft, yeah... anyone except bloody us." Demo scoffed, making her shrink back in shame.

"I'm sorry, but I just really don't want anybody to get hurt..."

"Hate to break it to you kid, but hurting people's kinda what we specialize in." Said Scout, getting nods and whatnot from his teammates as that was very much true. Then, his father moved him aside and approached the girl.

"Young lady..." He began. "My colleagues and I have urgent business to attend to. I understand that it is our fault that you've been caught up in this mess, but I want you to know that we will most definitely **_not_** surrender to our enemies without a fight." Said Spy seriously.

"What about... what if, you **_don't_** have to fight at all?" She suggested. "Maybe we can save everyone without them even knowing?"

"Eh? A bloody stealth job? Ah piss... I don't know, lads. Most of us ain't much for sneakin' around..." Said Sniper, both he and the team looking towards Spy because of course he was the obvious choice for the job.

The Frenchman wasn't really surprised. He saw this coming from a mile away, but it annoyed him about how it was usually him who had to pull these off on his lonesome. Just how in the Hell did a guy even like him expect to sneak a group of hostages out of a shrine with enemy mercs hiding in it, and do it all alone at that? Needs help from God he does, or whatever the kami the shrines are dedicated to, but he wasn't a follower of Shinto so not sure how much they would apply.

"I'll help." Gordon volunteered, surprising them all. "I can't go invisible, but I know how to move quietly."

"Oh, perfect. I was going to ask Scout to help me, but I'm afraid his big mouth would get us caught..."

"Hey! I did a good enough job sneaking around, uh... that rich girl's mansion! I forgot her name already." Shrugged Scout.

"Yes, but that's because the security there is a joke worse than your ability to move quietly..." Spy said, then turning towards Sarah. "Now, stay here and wait with the others. We will save these hostages."

"Actually... can I come with you guys?" She asked shyly, making Spy raise a brow. "I-it's just that this is a chance for an adventure, you know? It's not everyday that something like this happens to a girl like me..."

"Absolutely not. You said you wanted us to save them, no?" Spy asked, getting a nod for an answer. "Then you will only get in the way if you come with us. Do you understand?" She gave another nod, but it was much sadder than the last one.

"Good. Gordon, let's go..."

* * *

 **Alrighty gang, here's another update for you all.**

 **I don't have much to say here this time around as I felt like I said a lot already in the last couple of chapters. I'm still going to continue most of my ongoing stories and some progress has been made on the chapters for them. I feel like come Chapter 70, I'll open up for real this time and share my current thoughts on this site and respond to every review I have not seen since I can't bringe myself to look at them no matter what they say. This is because I'd like to take it on an even ten number like seventy, but mostly also because despite feeling like the writing spirit is returning, I have trouble bothering to write an author's note since I sense that it's probably skipped over and I'm wasting my time. Also because I simply don't feel like it after writing the chapter out, but come Chapter 70 I hope to fix it and be fully back to normal.**

 **As such, I feel like a lot of people missed the BattlePC take on the Battle of Beacon short I posted at the end of Chapter 65 because they don't read the end paragraphs. This next bit is the finisher for the short as I left it without an end. Remember that this is not fully representative of what a massive crossover from me would look like. Just a taste and preview of what it _could_ be like and if the readers like it enough or not.**

 **Here it is.**

* * *

A mere thirty minutes into the Battle of Beacon, and it has already become both the most unusual and one of the single most fiercest battles in the history of Remnant.

Allow me to give a summary of the battle.

The evil hordes of the Creature of Grimm number in their tens of thousands, a number that is continually growing at a rapid rate as more flood in, have the entire Kingdom of Vale besieged on all sides with them now running amok inside Beacon. Allied with the Grimm are the White Fang as they are taking this chance to deal a decisive blow to humanity, and within the depths of the hidden Vault of Beacon, Cinder Fall searches for the Fall Maiden to take her power. Caught totally by surprise, the Kingdom of Vale, the Atlesian military, and the huntsmen are desperately fighting to protect the city. In Beacon though, the academy is practically lost as the attack was so surprising that most of the student body weren't able to retrieve their weapons and fighting back, leading to a mass evacuation of the academy and Amity Coliseum above it.

And when all hope seemed lost, reinforcements appeared just as suddenly but even more unexpectedly than the massive enemy attack on the kingdom. Team Fortress reappeared into the world of Remnant and brought along with them several volunteers coming from an enormous mobile station that travels the Void known as the BattlePC. A wave of allied heroes came forth and managed to establish a shaky perimeter around the evacuation at Beacon, saving countless lives. A second wave is coming soon, but until they arrives our heroes must hold their ground.

The battle as it stands now is this:

In the waters below Beacon Academy, the Kanmusu of Kantai Collection are locked in combat against aqautic Grimm as they are the only ones who can defend the people evacuating by boat. More of them are arriving when the second wave comes, but until then they are completely alone with no support on the water. Right above them, Luke Skywalker is battling the aerial Grimm and hijacked Atlesian airships alongside warplanes from the Kanmusu supporting him. Then over on land at the academy itself, the battle was at its fiercest where our outnumbered heroes fought the enemy tooth and nail, refusing to give any ground away as the evacuations continued.

Recognizing how serious this highly unexpected threat is, the Grimm were ordered by Salem to not attack the White Fang and focus their attention at Beacon, drawing some forces away from the city itself and giving the defenders there a much easier time as some pressure was taken off them. Adversely, this made it even harder for the defenders at Beacon.

Fortunately for them, the second wave has finally arrived.

"Hey! Look!" Ruby shouted after decapitating an Beowulf, looking toward the portal with wide eyes as reinforcements arrived.

Only that the portal wasn't the same one that the first wave came out from, but it was a new portal appearing high in the sky, six times as massive as the original one. So amazing was the spectacle that all fighting stopped for the moment. Grimm, White Fang, huntsmen, everyone, looked up to witness the majesty of the swirling portal and then at the even more wondrous sight of the BattlePC itself coming out of it.

The enormous mobile battlestation floated out of the portal and into the skies above Vale, easily eclipsing most of the city from the moon as it was that massive.

"Huh... I didn't think the whole damn place would show up..." Uttered out a wide-eyed Engineer, in the middle of strangling a Beowolf that was also staring up at the BattlePC.

"ATTENTION, PLEBIANS." The voice of His Holy Imperial Majesty Gabe Newell, the Lord of Gaming, rang out across the landscape from voice emitters around the BattlePC. "This is Gabe Newell, President of Valve Corporation. We at Valve have decided that this is an ideal learning experience for us. Please do not mind the BattlePC, we will only be spectating this event and taking notes. However, we will be allowing our passengers to join at will. Thank you, and that is all."

As soon as he was done saying that, the CD-DVD part of the PC slid open, and out of it came out a squadron of X-Wings and hundreds of WW2 warplanes among many other flying vehicles. The X-Wings are the legendary Rogue Squadron here to help Luke out, immediately taking off and locking S-Foils in attack position to assist Luke in defeating the enemy air forces. As it was doing that, several much smaller portals opened up near the original one the first wave came from, and out came the much needed reinforcements of the second wave.

"What... what... just _what_?" Said Weiss in total disbelief, this being far too ridiculous to even be imaginable. The feeling was mutual for all the other people of Remnant who have never seen the BattlePC before, nor all these strange people from a myriad of different worlds.

"Ha! Ahahaha! More Americans!" Soldier cheered as he saw hundreds of WW2 American soldiers roll out with all their heavy equipment and vehicles. Tanks, anti-air guns, anti-tank guns, jeeps, half-tracks, mortars, and artillery pieces marched out of those portals to do battle in the name of freedom and what America stands for!

"Ah... if only grandpa was here..." Soldier sighed happily, looking up to the sky knowing his grandpa was watching him from American Heaven.

Somehow, Soldier can seen the faint image of Howard Doe smiling down at him, proud as can be at his grandson for continuing his legacy. Then, he got a chair slammed in his face as some red skinned horned demons wearing suits rushed him, surprising Soldier as his grandfather fought them with his bare hands. Apparently, he was getting attacked by demons of Hell invading his farmstead in Heaven. That didn't happen when Soldier died, but whatever. Next time Soldier dies, he'll team up with his grandfather and go on a two man invasion of Hell and beat the fuck out of legions of demons for hating freedom. You can count on that.

"Mr. Soldier?" Blake asked, looking up into the sky and seeing nothing but X-Wings and warplanes dogfighting with aerial Grimm. "What are you looking at?"

"My grandfather getting attacked by demons, Blake... My grandfather getting attacked by demons..." He sighed with a smile, saying that as if it was a good thing (which it totally was) as he patted the top of Blake's head. The Faunus girl raised a brow at this and looked to be somewhat concerned, but she ended up shrugging it off. Soldier was just crazy like that.

She proceeded to watch the patriot jump on top of an American M4A3E2 Sherman tank, pulling out an American flag where he wore it on his back similarly to the sashimono that Japanese samurai and ashigaru would wear.

"CURRAHEE! FOR OLD GLORY, MEN! FOR FREEDOM! CHAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGEEE!" He cried as he led the charge, the sheer excitement of the bloodlust flowing through his American grown body.

"CURRAHEE!" Some of the US paratroopers amongst the troops shouted their battlecry along with him, running to reinforce the frontline with the rest of the second wave.

There's too damn many forces and characters for me to name in the second wave. Coming from all across Steam these characters did, deciding to jump in and join the fun for one reason or another. The sheer number and power of the forces brought to the battle have completely changed the playing field.

More Kanmusu arrived on the water to battle against the aquatic Grimm, the forces in the air cleared the sky of Grimm, and the allied land forces were able to gain enough of a foothold to push further and further into enemy occupied territory, slowly but surely driving them out of the school. Actually, not even slowly as the firepower was too much for the Creature of Grimm who were mowed down with lasers, rockets, and bullets while getting torn apart in close combat by any melee special heroes. The White Fang are pretty much irrelevant at this point as there was nothing they can do against such overwhelming force, deciding to completely abandon the operation and retreat while they still can. The Grimm kept on fighting as they knew no other course of action, being totally obedient to Salem's will despite how increasingly hopeless it was getting.

Desperate for any way to turn the battle around, Salem gathered a bunch of Sea Dragon and organized them in front of the BattlePC, charging up their beam rays in unison. Some warplanes spotted them and attempted to take them down, only to get intercepted by lesser flying Grimm shielding the dragons from attack. Once the dragons were all ready to fire, they combined their beams together to form one super beam and fired it all at the BattlePC. The energy created by the super beam was so great that the light it created was as bright as the sun, temporarily lighting the entire night up as if it were daytime. It struck the starboard side of the enormous battlestation, and the dragons dragged the beam across to do as much damage as possible. It appeared to be doing absolutely nothing though as the armor and shielding of the BattlePC is unbelievably strong, the super beam doing nothing as the energy shield absorbed everything it threw at it.

Seeing that dragging the beam around wasn't going to work, she had the dragons focus on one point of the BattlePC and concentrate all fire on the center. This seemed to work as the relentless beam was able to pierce through the shields and melt through the armor, finally doing some real damage. Unfortunately, the dragons' energy all ran out and the combined beam faded, leaving a hole on the starboard side of the BattlePC.

"HOLY SHIT!" Gabe's voice reverberated throughout the land.

Again, all fighting stopped and attention was put onto the BattlePC, watching as the God of gaming Gabe Newell himself flew out of the hole made into the BattlePC as if he were Superman. He took a second to assess the damage before turning to the battle below him, a scowl on his face.

"Who the actual FUCK did that!?" He demanded angrily.

Without much hesitation, all fingers, Grimm included, pointed at the Sea Dragon Grimm. In turn, the Sea Dragon Grimm made some desperate growling sounds claiming that Salem made them do it, somehow breaking free from her direct control. Gabe was able to make sense of these growls somehow, and he adjusted his glasses at hearing the name.

"Salem..." He said softly, pulling up a phone. "Monty, bring Salem's ass here. She fucking put a hole in my BattlePC. You know how much this thing costs? It costs infinite dollars! You know how hard it is to get that much money!? What? It ruined your office too? Humph..." Gaben then hung up the phone, Salem then instantly appearing in front of him.

"W-what!?" The Grimm Queen gasped as she found herself whisked straight out of her citadel and all the way in Vale, hovering in front of Gaben.

"Salem of Remnant..." Gabe began, a large hammer with the word "BAN" written on either side of the head. "I HEREBY PERMABAN YOU FROM REMNANT!"

"Wait, WHAT!?" Salem managed to squeak out before she was struck with the Banhammer with such unbelievable force, that she stopped existing. As in what happened to her can only be described as that she just disappeared as soon as she was hit with it. Like, literally no trace of her left and she's just gone. No blood, no exploded body parts, nothing.

"BEGONE, THOT." Gabe shouted across the entire planet. "That's what you get for damaging the BattlePC. Your fucking bullshit hit the CPU! I'm gonna have to invest so much Steam sales in buying another CPU to replace it..." Sighed Gaben, flying back into the BattlePC all grumpy-like.

With that literal Deus Ex Machina done with, the fighting continued. Or rather, it _would've_ continued if Salem was still around. When Gabe banned her from Remnant, her connection to the Grimm was completely broken. No longer having a command figure or anyone to give them any purpose, the Grimm immediately broke and all retreated from the battle. A lot of them even began to fade away while still alive, Salem's power no longer keeping them in this world.

And with the Grimm running for their lives, the battle was effectively over. Every hostile force either left the city or were wiped out by allied forces (or captured in the case of some White Fang), leaving only Cinder in the Vault and Mercury and Emerald standing at the front of Beacon Tower, awkwardly standing in front of an entire army of allied heroes and whatnot.

"W-where did all the Grimm go?" Emerald stuttered frightfully to Mercury, eyeing Coco in particularly as the heroes all marched towards the tower. The fashionista of Team CFVY was giving here a death glare, clearly aiming to get revenge from losing the tournament fight. Mercury said nothing as he was eyeing someone himself. That being Yang who had an evil grin on her face as her hair glowed a fiery yellow, and her eyes went blood red.

"How's the leg, _buddy?~_ " Yang said with an evil tone in her voice, the entire allied army having already surrounded them and the tower and pointing their weapons at them.

"F-fine..." Mercury stuttered, his tough and smug exterior cracking in the face of impossible odds.

"Where's your boss, son?" Engie demanded from him.

Mercury didn't even need to answer that question as the devil herself walked out from behind them, exiting the building and into the night with a fiery orange aura glowing around her as she had the smuggest grin imaginable on her face. She had her eyes closed the whole time as she walked out, only opening them once she stopped. When she did though, that smug grin instantly turned into a jaw dropping expression of utter shock. Clearly she hadn't been notified that the allied army actually succeeded in defeating the Grimm.

"Surrender now and we will kill you quickly, mon cher..." Spy said, his turn to smugly grin as he enjoyed the sheer look of anger on Cinder's face at her predicament.

How could this happen!? How the actual Hell could this possibly happen!? How and where did all these people come from to have completely turned the battle around and defeat all of her forces without her even realizing it!? Fall Maiden powers or not, Cinder saw that the odds were she wasn't going to win this fight. There was too many of them for her to deal with., and escape is completely impossible. It angered her to no end. She was supposed to win today, not these bumblefuck loser idiots from another world! IT WASN'T FAIR!

"Give it up, Cinder. It's over!" Ruby called out to her, standing by her teammates. Blake and Weiss had Adam all tied up after they ran into him earlier, having defeating him after he refused to retreat from the battle and enemies closed in all around him. "There's no one left but you three!"

"I think you mean, just _her..._ " Mercury said, raising his arms up and stepping away from Cinder and Emerald, allowing himself to get cuffed by a couple of Counter-Terrorists. Cinder growled and glared daggers at Mercury's betrayal, but to her utter disbelief, she saw that Emerald was no longer on her side either. She turned and saw Emerald also surrendered, giving Cinder a very disheartened look as she was cuffed and disarmed.

Now she was totally alone. Surrounded on all sides by enemies with nothing but herself and her maiden powers. Despite the power she just gained, she's never felt so helpless before in her whole life. So helpless in fact, that she began to tear up, angry and sad tears dripping down her face as she scowled at the situation, cursing it all.

"If you want me to surrender, then you'll have to send me to Hell..." She muttered under enraged breathing, flames emitting from her eyes and hands.

The allied army merely looke to each other and the woman in confusion, some even chuckling at her expense. There was no doubt about it now. Cinder Fall was downright suicidal now in the face of impossible odds. She knew she was going to die, but she intended to go out in a fiery inferno.

"Zat could be arranged!" Medic beamed at hearing her mention Hell.

"Ready!" Soldier called out, having everyone raise their weapons at her if they weren't already.

"Aim!" Demoman called out this time.

Cinder waited patiently, no sense of fear whatsoever as she was ready to die, but she wanted to take as many of them with her as she could. Once these fools shoot at her, she'll raise an enormous fireball and essentially nuke the academy into oblivion, killing everyone.

"HMPHM!" Pyro shouted out the order, every single person shooting everything they had at her. The last thing the woman did was raise her arms to try and do as she intended, but it was completely futile. Cinder Fall died without so much as a fight as bullets, lasers, rockets, grenades, everything ripped into her body and tore her into pieces.

All the anger, hate, and rage stored within her soul erupted into an inferno that engulfed only her destroyed body, the allied army watching in horror as the somehow still alive Cinder Fall screamed in inconceivable agony as her own hatred incinerated her very being. When the screaming ended, there was nothing left of Cinder Fall except a pile of ashes... and a red burning orb with her symbol on it?

"Ah! Perfect!" Medic cheered as he went up to the soul and picked it up, carelessly kicking the ashes aside. "Off to Hell we go! Hehehe..." Laughed the insane German doctor, making a cut on his hand as he drew a pentagram out of his own blood on the ground. "I'll be right back everyone. Just going on a little business trip to Hell!" He said before demonic red energy erupted from the pentagram and a portal opened, sucking Medic into Hell.

The strange shock value of Medic literally summoning a portal to Hell aside, the allied army rejoiced in victory as they successfully crushed an evil force about to fuck up a peaceful world. An enormous party was held inside the BattlePC to celebrate their victory, heroes from various worlds all coming together to have a good time in the wake of such a glorious event.

The BattlePC itself actually returned to the Void as Gabe did not want to be bothered with the plebs in Remnant asking him if he can provide any assistance in rebuilding the kingdom. If they can't pay, then he ain't interested. A new CPU isn't going to pay for itself.

Being in the Void didn't change how the massive party was being held across the battlestation. This party just gave an even bigger exuse for the various heroes to minge and get to understand each other more, leading to some friendships and maybe some rivalries depending on who they are. Only natural since not all of these characters are going to like each other, but whatever. It's a party!

A party that not only signifies a successful victory for the denizens of the BattlePC, but also the first of many adventures involving/related to it and the worlds within...

"Hey, where's Mister Medic?" Fubuki from KanColle asked Heavy. "Is he still in... Hell?"

"Da. Doctor has not come back yet." Heavy answered the little Japanese Destroyer.

"Is he... is he a Shinigami?" She asked frightfully, suddenly having a newfound fear in the man.

"Nyet. He is German." The Russian answered.

"Uh... that's not what I meant..."

"Eh, do not be worried about Doctor. He has been to Hell many times..."

 **(...)**

"Vat do you mean ze Devil is not in his office now!?" Medic shouted at the demonic receptionist in the Devil's waiting room. He's been in Hell for almost an hour and he had to wait in line for the duration of that time. The other people in line were actually poor sods who died, waiting to either see the Devil or have his secretary send them to wherever in Hell.

The receptionist herself takes the appearance of an attractive young woman in office attire complete with glasses, her skin a demon red and the expected pair of devil horns sticking out of her black hair. Medic did not give a flying fuck how attractive this demon woman was as he just wanted to see the Devil and make a transaction already.

"TELL ZAT MOUSTACHED BASTARD ZAT I WANT TO SEE HIM NOW!"

"I'm sorry sir, but Mr. Devil is on his lunchbreak now." The secretary calmly said. "You will have to wait-"

"I DO NOT VANT TO VAIT ANOTHER MINUTE IN ZIS PLACE!" He yelled in her face, grabbing her by the collar and pulling her up out of her chair.

"Well... perhaps I can convince you to wait a little longer?~" She said in a sultry voice, taking her glasses off and licking her lips, loosing a couple buttons on her blouse. Realizing what she was trying to pull on him, her sexual appeal didn't get shit from Medic aside from him punching her in the face and throwing her against the wall.

"I am not attracted to your evil charm, succubus scum! It may work on lesser men, BUT I AM ABOVE LESSER MEN!" He hissed at her, giving her a solid kick to the stomach before picking her glasses up from the floor and handing them to her. "Also here are your glasses. It's never polite to hit a person wearing glasses."

" _Ugh... right..._ " Groaned the secretary, feeling her nose as blood trickled from down from it. Needless to say, she made a call to the Devil shortly afterwards. "Mr. Devil, sir?" She said in a nasally voice, feeling her nose as Medic actually broke it in that single punch. "There's a German man who wants to see you. He said his name was Ernst Ludwig. Yes... yes sir, he punched me in the face. Okay, I'll tell him sir..." The secretary then hung up the phone, glaring at Medic as she adjusted her glasses.

"Well?"

"Mr. Devil said you have to wait a couple more hours." She answered, smiling deviously as she saw Medic's face well up in rage. Her bold smugness may have been a bad idea as Medic got so angry, he walked up to her, gently grabbed her glasses, and decked her in the face again so hard it made her fall out of her seat.

"Damn, bloody succubus!" He spat in disgust, gently placing the glasses back on as she clutched her face in pain. "Zer vill only be one woman who has my heart, and you are not her. I'll be going now..." The German picked up Cinder's soul and turned to leave, not even looking at the dead people waiting in line who witnessed all that. Before leaving out the door, he looked over his shoulder and back at the secreatary, giving her a menacing glare as he adjusted his own glasses. The secretary actually recoiled back in fear, covering her even bloodier nose.

"Heh, some demon you are..." He chuckled, whistling a German tune as he walked out into the fiery hellscape of, well, Hell. Demons of various kinds wandered out and about, most in his way stepping aside as they were aware of Medic's reputation as an absolute monster in the land of the living.

Medic was not a demon like them, but he may be just as bad in some ways if not worse...

At least he's a nice guy. :)


	69. Shipped to Hell

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: Due to what I did months ago where I wrote a bunch of shorts to fill the wait for Volume 5 before removing them when it came out, any reviews from people who had accounts cannot be placed on chapter numbers they reviewed back when the shorts filled that space. If you have a fanfic account but are unable to post a review to this, just log out of your account and post it as a guest with your name, or PM me if putting the effort into that is too much.**

 **Also I swapped the Izumo Taishakyo Shrine out for a fictional one. I didn't feel right using a real religious place so I made up a fictional Shinto shrine in Hawaii. I'd say it's fine since Hawaii has the second largest percentage of all Japanese-Americans in all of the United States (California is first), and a lot of them like to stick with their traditions despite living in American territory.**

* * *

 **Japanese Cultural Heritage Shrine. Honolulu, Hawaii. United States of America. TF2 Earth.**

While the rest of the team waited outside the shrine with Sarah, Spy and Freeman went in for a quiet infiltration mission. Both men split up after successfully getting into the shrine's grounds undetected, each searching one half for any sign of the hostages. For a place where hostages are supposedly kept at, this place was strangely empty and very unguarded. There were a few people like visitors and whatnot in the shrine, but no obvious guards or anything.

In fact, sneaking around this place was literally too easy as there was basically no one here. Getting past anybody was a breeze even for Gordon who couldn't disguise himself or go invisible like Spy, and this guy's HEV suit makes him stick out so much among civilians.

" _Freeman, have you found the hostages?_ " Spy radioed in.

"No. Just some visitors and a couple priestesses." He answered. "You?"

" _I've searched the buildings but I haven't found any hostages._ " Replied the Frenchman.

"You think maybe they lied to that girl and that this is some kind of trap?" Suggested Freeman, glancing around for any suspicious activity.

" _That would be a yes, mister!~_ " A young female voice said into the radio, surprising both men. The frequency Team Fortress used was exclusive to members of the team and the earpieces they give to allies such as Gordon for communications.

" _Who the Hell is this!?"_ Spy demanded from her.

" _Bonjour_ , _mister Frenchman! My name is Kazuha! And you fell right for my trick!"_

 _"Trick? What trick?_ "

" _Hehehe~ Haven't you figured it out? Why would we attack you in a shrine if it's a sacred place? I did say you can't fight in a shrine..._ "

" _...merde."_ The Frenchman cursed.

Gordon was just about to ask what the Hell was going on before he looked up and saw Spy running outside of the shrine building at full speed with his Revolver out, disregarding any tourists or shrine priests that saw him. Seeing Spy break cover like that prompted Gordon to leave his cover too as he ran to meet Spy out in the middle of the shrine's entrance, a 9mm USP Match in hand. The shrine visitors and caretakers were shocked at seeing these two men bringing guns onto shrine grounds, instinctively shying away from them. They were ignored by Gordon and Spy as they had infinitely more worrying things that needed attention.

"What happened? Did you get attacked?" He asked the Frenchman.

"No. It was all a trick! There are no hostages... and that girl wasn't Sarah at all." He said, glancing back at the building he ran out of as some priests came out to see what the fuss was. "Let's leave, but be cautious, Gordon. That girl was unwilling to fight in the shrine, and so that means that there must be an ambush waiting for us outside."

Gordon nodded, and with their guns raised toward the street, both men carefully left the shrine grounds. They went to the street where they left the other members of Team Fortress, and eerily found that they had disappeared. Neither Gordon nor Spy bothered to try and contact the team on the radio as they knew that they were likely all captured if this Kazuha girl was able to even use the radio on them. Strange thing was that there was barely any signs of a struggle. Team Fortress being as they are, they would have put up a huge fight before being captured unless they were taken by total surprise.

There wasn't even any bullet casings on the ground, but that would be a given as they didn't hear any gunshots when they were in the shrine. However, what they did find were tranquilizer darts. Some of them missed their targets and hit the ground, while others looked like they were yanked out of flesh as their was blood on the tips.

"Damn it..." Spy said under his breath, examining a dart while Gordon kept watch. "I feel like someone may try to stab me in the back..." He said almost jokingly, getting flashbacks of that time Neo and Roman ambushed him and a couple members of Team Fortress in eerily similar circumstances. Only this time they took the entire team except for Gordon and Spy, but Gordon wasn't with them all those months ago so he doesn't count.

Then without any warning, a dart struck Gordon right in his neck, causing the physicist to let out a pained gasp as he clutched his neck.

"Freeman!" Spy shouted, scanning around for the enemy as Gordon dropped to his knees, his body starting to slow down from the tranquilizers. Gordon's HEV suit began administering a counter-agent to neutralize the tranquilizers in his system, but for the moment he was stunned and unable to do much.

Then, more darts flew out towards Spy. Acting quickly, he dodged them and pointed his gun towards the location of the attackers...

To find that it was an Asian teenage girl armed with a tranq gun.

"What...?" Spy gasped, hesitating enough for a shuriken to fly in from the side and stick right into his hand, causing him to yelp in pain as he dropped his Revolver. "Argh! Damn it!" He cursed, looking up to see more darts fly his way where he dropped down to the floor to avoid them.

One of the enemies saw this as an opportune chance to rush in and bash him across the head with his assault rifle, but Spy saw him coming. Rolling forward, Spy punished him with a hard knee to the balls, where he then gave him a horrifying upward headbutt. Here, he saw his opponent was a teenage boy, also Asian, and he gave him a bloody nose on top of his destroyed groin. Eyes widening at seeing this boy was also young like the girl, he flipped him around to use him as a meatshield against further darts. However, a few did slip through and struck him in the legs.

Then, he got a look at his enemy. They were _all_ teenagers, and all Asian at that. Flicking out his knife, Spy held it to his throat, causing the unsconscious boy's friends to stop their attack.

"Who are you!? More mercenaries!?" Spy demanded from them, the adrenaline in his body nullifying the effects of the tranquilizers for the moment. Gordon Freeman crawled on his knees to Spy, pointing his gun towards the teenagers once he stopped.

"Hahahaha!" Both men heard someone laugh, turning with their guns draw to see Sarah standing on the sidewalk behind them along with some more of the Asian attackers, a smirk on her face. "Did you find my grandpa in there? Or any of those tourists?" She said, taunting them with a deceiving tone of innocence.

"Where is my team, Sarah?" Spy demanded from her, pushing the knife against the boy's throat. "Or should I say, Kazuha?"

"Oh? Who's Kazuha?" She asked, putting a finger on her chin. Then with a grin, clouds of smoke covered her body in an effect near identical to Spy when he disguises, revealing a young girl no older than the teens he knows back in Remnant. "Just kidding! I'm Kazuha!" She introduced herself in perfect English, beaming a smile. Then from all sides, other hostiles appeared. However, the difference between them and the enemy mercs from earlier is that they were all teenage kids! All Asian by the look of it as well, most likely Japanese if they didn't want to fight in a shrine and Kazuha's name was any indication.

Both men were surprised to say the least. Gordon's not from this world so it's only natural for him to feel this way, but Spy did know that mercenaries came in all shapes and sizes. Knowing that mercenaries from around the world were coming here, he just didn't expect to encounter Japanese mercenaries so soon, and especially not one of those young teenage groups he's heard of through the grapevine.

"Well then, young lady, I will give you credit for actually managing to fool me with your disguise..." Spy began, feeling a bit of shame as this is the second time a person in disguise has fooled him. The first being Classic Spy, and now the second is this random Japanese mercenary girl. He can excuse Classic Spy since that man has years of experience even beyond Spy's own, but losing to this girl was just plain embarassing. It doesn't look good on his record of being able to see through people for what they really are...

"Thank you!" She cheered.

"Yes, now answer the question. Where is my team?" He said seriously, continuing to hold the boy hostage while Gordon kept an eye on the other enemies. She didn't seem fazed at the slightest, chuckling at Gordon and Spy.

"Wow, what's with that serious voice? It's not like we _killed_ them or anything..."

"I know you didn't. I can see these tranquilizer darts on the ground." Spy responded, beginning to feel the tranquilzer settling in his body.

"Yep! The reward for capturing you guys alive is _soooooooooo_ much better than just killing you! Heh, it's enough money to make me and all my friends billionaires!"

"Christ, how much money does that little girl have?" Gordon said to no one in particular as the drowsiness faded from his body, noticeably looking unsure of pointing his gun at these Japanese kids. His French partner wasn't really keen on it either.

Sure, Spy and the other mercenaries will kill regular adult enemies without a second thought, but they've never went against anyone this young before. The only ones they really have fought are their students back in Remnant. They'll still beat the shit out of teenagers, but going so far as to actually kill them? Not all the mercs are on board with that idea...

"Oh, and to answer your question, they're in that van right over there." She answered somewhat lazily.

Turning their heads but keeping their weapons ready, Gordon and Spy's eyes widened to see two of her friends open up the back of a van and revealed their teammates crammed on top of each other, fast asleep from the tranquilizers. What's worse was that they actually did kidnap those tourists and Sarah, Spy being able to see her tied up with her grandfather. The tourists all squirmed around the tight van as if they were sardines alive in a can, all of it useless as they were packed so tightly together that they couldn't move.

"Okay, so are you going to surrender and come quietly, or do my friends need to fill you up with more darts?" She asked, causing Gordon and Spy to look to each other and think about this mess. "If you keep resisting, then _juuuuust_ _maybe_ some of those people will get hurt!~"

" _Ugh... damn it all..._ " Cursed the Frenchman, the tranquilizers making his body shake and wobble uneasily as he desperately tried to fight the sleepiness off.

"Oh? Heh, it looks like you're starting to get _reeaally_ sleepy!~ Why don't you let go of poor Yosuke and take a nap, huh?"

" _I... I hate Japanese kids..._ " Spy slurred, dropping forward and on top of the boy, both fast asleep.

Now it was just Gordon, and he really didn't know what to do in this situation as he eyed all the teens surrounding him, their weapons raised at him. Seeing as he didn't want to hurt them, Gordon sighed and dropped his gun, raising his hands up. "I surrender..."

"Great! Now put these handcuffs on!" She chirped, tossing a pair of handcuffs to him. Begrudgingly, Gordon did as she asked, glaring at her all the while as she had an impossibly proud smile on her face.

* * *

 **Grey Mann's Black Market**

"NO NO NO NO NO NO! WHY DID YOU ALL RUN AWAY!? WE ALMOST GOT THEM!" Olivia Mann screamed in childish rage, throwing guns and grenades off the shelves in her little temper tantrum.

The mercenary forces she took into the city regrouped here at the Black Market after being chased out of the downtown area by the US military. Not included the dozen or so guys killed by Team Fortress, the mercenary army lost an additional fifteen guys to the US military as they retreated. The army still numbered at around two hundred strong, but fighting the motherfucking US military wasn't the job they signed up for. They weren\t going to risk their lives fighting for something that wasn't part of the job, regardless of Olivia's orders. Fortunately, new mercenaries were still coming in from around the globe to further enhance their numbers.

"Hey, relax boss." One of the mercs said to her. "At least we know those chumps are in the city."

"I KNOW THAT ALREADY, YOU DUMMY!" Olivia whined, kicking him in the shin.

"OWW! THAT HURT YOU LITTLE BITCH!" This man was about to put his hands on Olivia, and he never knew that would be the last thing he would ever do.

 _ ***SMALL BANG***_

A relatively quiet gunshot rang throughout the entire store, attracting the attention of every mercenary within as all looked in shock to see Olivia execute this trained killer with a tiny pocket pistol, the small bullet going through his eye and piercing into his brain, killing him instantly.

"Humph, stupid head!" Olivia stuck her tongue out at the corpse, before waving the little gun around at the others who were watching. "You want some too!?"

Her mercenaries shook their heads no, still in total surprise that this little girl would kill without a second thought like that. The man she killed wasn't part of any larger mercenary group as he was a lone serial killer when he signed up, but his death still showed the rest of the mercs that this girl was completely serious. And you know what? That was totally fine by them. They were in this for the money after all, and at least they knew not to mess with her with that guy's death.

"Ugh... someone get me ice cream and I'll give you a thousand bucks..." She ordered, leading to a dozen or so eager mercs to scramble for some ice cream.

Little did she know, something infinitely better than ice cream was rolling in the Black Market's parking lot. That of course being the young band of Japanese mercs with the captured Team Fortress in tow, also with those tourists they kidnapped.

 **(...)**

At this point in time the sleeping members of Team Fortress had woken up, and they had to endure these stupid fucking Japanese kids go on and on about how awesome it was that they pulled off their first job outside of the home islands. Granted that all of their conversation was spoken in their native language, but that just contributed to Team Fortress' extreme annoyance since both not knowing what they were saying and their high-pitched Japanese voices irritated the Hell out of them. The only one who knew what they were saying was Spy, and he was just as annoyed at these kids as the others were.

"Christ, how old are you kids? When did y'all learn how to drive? What are y'all doing being mercenaries?" Engie asked them in plain bewilderment more than anger. That was another thing, the team was confused to find that the ones who got the drop on them were teenagers no older than Team RWBY and friends. These kids only had two vans, one to carry most of them, and the other stuffed with the mercenaries and hostages. This is the one that Kazuha, who was apparently the leader, and a boy driving it were in.

Said girl didn't answer his question and merely snickered, uttering something to the boy driving the van with a smile.

"Girl, I don't know who you are, but if you let me go right now I will consider shoving my foot _only_ halfway through your Indian ass!" Soldier threatened her, causing her to look back at him with a confused expression more than an angry one.

"That... that's not even remotely close to what I am." She said in English. "You know I'm Japanese, right?"

"I don't care what you are! I don't care if you're from the ocean, the Moon, or even a farm! I'm going to shove my foot so far - _wait I used that threat already..._ " Paused Soldier, needing a second to think of a different threat. "...I'M GOING TO SHOVE MY FOOT SO FAR DOWN YOUR MOUTH THAT IT WILL COME OUT YOUR ASS! HA! I'M GOING OUT THE OTHER WAY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, COMPADRE!?"

"Eh... I don't know what that means, but just be quiet, okay mister army man?" She said, giving Soldier a soft but mocking sort of whack with the back of a tanto. "Once we find parking, I'll take you inside and then you won't ever have to see me again. Heh... and all that money's going to be ours!" She snickered. The boy with her couldn't understand English, or just nowhere near as well as she did, and continued to drive around the immense parking lot, looking for an open spot in this place since all these cars belonged to other mercenaries working for Olivia.

"Have ya even killed anyone before?" Sniper asked her, causing her to go quiet for a bit.

"Uh... no... But my friends and I are totally trained to kill if we need to, so you better not underestimate us!" She admitted, sticking the tip of the tanto up to Pyro's neck.

"Girl, if there was anyone who shouldn't be underestimated, it is us." Medic told her sternly, causing her to laugh out loud.

Kazuha took a second to translate what he said to her friend in Japanese where he soon also started laughing out loud like it was the funniest thing in the world. " _Oh riiiiiiight..._ I'm so scared of you guys, the **worst** mercenaries in the world! So bad that a bunch of teenagers can beat you without a sweat! Well, except for Yosuke. _He's pretty stupid..._ "

"Hey! We've beaten up a lotta stupid teenagers like you before!" Scout shouted back at her, referencing Team RWBY and friends of course. "And I tell ya, pal... they ain't gonna be the last after we're done with ya!"

"Why does other mercenaries think we are so bad?" Heavy asked nobody in particular, just asking it out loud as he simply couldn't understand why this was so. The others shrugged as they simply didn't really know the answer either. It could've been a lot of things.

Soon enough, they found a parking space, and unloaded Team Fortress quickly afterwards. They also unloaded the hostages as they decided that getting some extra money from ransoming later couldn't possibly hurt.

At gunpoint, Kazuha and her group of mercenaries herded their captives inside the Black Market, all of them excited and giddy at the reward they were going to receive. Team Fortress were unable to do anything as their hands were tied up so good with both handcuffs and rope that they couldn't reach their personal inventories for their weapons. Not like they could even use it to begin with as these kids were smart enough to shake them down and actually take out their backpacks from their pockets.

"Holy shit, look! Those kids got them!" A random merc pointed out as they walked in, the whole army of mercs gathering around to see it themselves.

"Why shoot, they damn did catch them boys!" Whooped a man in a much heavier Southern accent than Engineer's, sounding like he came from Louisiana or somewhere around there.

All the while the mercs were gawking at how Team Fortress got captured by a group of teenagers, Kazuha and friends bathed in the jealousy of the other mercs and felt like they were the top superstars in the mercenary world at the moment, fully enjoying it even if Team Fortress were though of poorly by other mercenaries. Word quickly reached Olivia about Team Fortress' sudden arrival, and the little girl rushed past the legs of the adults in sheer excitement, her eyes shining once she saw the men who killed her father...

"HAHAHAHA! Well well well... look who it is!" The little girl said as if she was a villain from a movie, which is exactly where she got that line from. Just like a villain too, she walked up to the mercs and smugly grinned at them, pacing back and forth as she sized them up. "Heh, how does it feel to be defeated by the great and awesome Olivia!?"

" _We_ beat them." Kazuha proudly said.

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever. I'll give you money later, but for now..." A fierce evil grin formed on her lips, snapping her fingers. Two mercs walked up with her big ole backpack full of weapons, and with a sort of whimsical waving of her hand, she stuck it into the bag to randomly select a weapon. She pulled out a wicked looking knife filled with spikes on it, but then she placed it back in as she wasn't satisfied with it. "Now I get to have my revenge!"

"Revenge for bloody what!?" Demo asked in sheer confusion as, again, none of the mercs have ever seen her before.

"Revenge for killing my daddy!" She shouted in instant anger, slightly tearing up. "You killed my father, Grey Mann!"

"Hmphm mphm mhpm hmm?" Pyro blinked in confusion.

"Jesus Christ, I didn't know Grey had a bloody kid either, mate..." Said an utterly dumbfounded Sniper.

"SHUT UP! You killed my daddy, and now I'm going to kill you!"

"Wait a minute... we didn't kill your father." Said Spy, causing her to look at him in anger. Not giving him a chance to explain himself, she backhanded him as hard as she could with her little child hand. It didn't hurt much for Spy since he's had worse, but that got him to be quiet from the sheer surprise of it.

"LIAR! MS. SALEM TOLD ME EVERYTHING!"

"Wait, Salem?" Spy blinked in the definitive expression of shock, remembering that name from conversations with Qrow. "Who... who is this Salem?" Asked the Frenchman, hoping to confirm that this is the Salem from Remnant and not just a coincidence.

"She's my bestest friend, and she promised to help me get revenge on you if I helped her invade the world she's from..." She answered, finally deciding to use a shotgun to execute the mercs, pointing it at Scout first. "NOW PREPARE TO DIE!"

"WHOA! TAKE IT EASY KID! KILL SPY FIRST! HE'S FRENCH!" Cried out Scout, jumping behind his father who merely frowned at this fucking bullshit.

"Yes yes yes... kill ze Frenchman first..." Sighed Medic, causing most of the other teammates to look at him as if he were a traitor. Shrugging as she had no problem about it as long as she gets her revenge, she pumped the shotgun and pointed it at him. "You can kill him more or less instantly with a single shot to ze head or ze chest... or you can make him suffer by shooting him in ze legs first... and then ze arms..."

Olivia was about to pull the trigger to kill Spy before pausing, raising a brow at Medic in confusion.

"Of course you don't have to listen to some old German fool, and you could go ahead and kill him quickly, but if you ask me, zat is a gracious thing to do..."

"...why?" Olivia asked, lowering the shotgun as she listened to what Medic had to say.

"Heh, all of us have died so many times that it's become rather mundane. For you see, little girl, ve are not afraid to die. Vell, _most_ of us, zat is..." He said, glancing at Scout. "You may get your revenge by killing us, but if you want my honest medical opinion, ve really wouldn't care. It vould make your revenge rather... _unfufilling_."

Olivia took a moment to process what Medic just said, lowering her weapon completely as she scratched her head over this. "Uh... well gee, what am I supposed to do for my revenge then?" She asked in legitimate confusion.

"Uh... boss, you know he's trying to trick you, right?" A random merc asked.

"Shhhh! Quiet! I'm trying to think right now..."

"Why think ven I can give you an idea myself? How about you kill us _slowly_ so we can experience maximum horrifying pain before our deaths? Oh but I varn you, we've already experienced just about every form of pain known to man, so you better make it **_extra_** excruciating!"

"You know what? I think I will!" She cheered, deciding to throw the shotgun away in favor of a more pain inducing weapon inside her backpack. Eventually, she pulled out a huge Bowie knife that might as well be a short sword to a little girl like her. "Is this painful enough?" She asked innocently.

"Hmm... yes, but something smaller will do an even better job. A smaller blade will make smaller cuts, and smaller cuts means more pain for us as ve bleed out!"

"Oh, okay!" She chirped happily, digging further into her backpack. This time she got out a switchblade with a cute teddy bear charm hanging off the handle. "Will this do?"

"Oh! Why yes! That will do nicely!" Medic smiled, making her smile too as she weirdly found him to be a cool guy. "You know, it would be even nicer if you allowed me to hold ze knife and torture my friends."

"Wait... nice try, mister German guy, but I'm not falling for that!" Olivia smirked.

"Ah, well I didn't expect you to since it wasn't a trick..." He shrugged, causing Olivia's smirk to fall as she didn't expect that part. "The truth is I never liked zese men. I hate every single one of zem, and I would love nothing more than to cause as much pain onto zem as humanly possible. Besides, I am a doctor after all. My knowledge of the human body will allow me to cause more pain to zese men then you vill in your wildest imagination!"

"Doc, what the Hell are you doing, you traitor!?" Soldier shouted, causing one of Kazuha's teammates to whack him on the back of the head with the butt of a rifle.

Olivia took a good minute to think this over, her child mind debating on if she should trust the smiling German man before her. This whole time her mercenary army had been watching this exchange quietly, mentally groaning together as they can easily see that this was a trick from Medic.

"Hmm... if I give you this knife, you're not going to stab me, are you?" She asked innocently, causing the entire store to gasp in disbelief.

"You have my words as a doctor." Medic answered proudly, giving a sincere smile.

"Well... alright, but you better torture your friends or else I'll kill you!" Said Olivia with the most serious expression she can muster. This immediately got the entire store to point their weapons towards the one German man, Medic seemingly completely unfazed at this. "Set him free!" She ordered Kazuha. Warily as she was very unsure about this, she followed orders regardless and set Medic's hands free, quickly stepping away from him should he try to grab her.

"Danke." He thanked her, bowing his head a bit as he then took the knife from Olivia.

Then shocking every single person in the store, he used the knife to slash at Demoman's arm, causing the Scotsman to scream out as blood leaked from the deep cut. The enemy mercs didn't actually expect him to really do it!

"ARGH! BLOODY HELL! I HATE YE SO MUCH, DOCTOR! YOU DAMN GERMAN MANIAC!" Cried Demo through clenched teeth.

"You see? I told you it would hurt more!" He laughed with Olivia at his side, the girl smiling with psychopathic wonder in her eyes.

"Wow! It really did!"

"And do you know what else would hurt?" Medic smiled.

"What?" Olivia asked in wonder, not even realizing Medic had put a hand on her neck before it was too late.

"GETTING CHOKED OUT BY A 57 YEAR OLD MAN!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, lifting the little girl up to his chest and holding her in an armlock as he waved his knife around, daring any of the enemy mercs to come to her rescue. "Look at the bright side, my little friend! I kept my promise! I didn't stab you like I said I would! HAHAHAHAHA!" Medic laughed maniacally, scaring Olivia far more than she was angry as she struggled with all her might to break free from his hold.

"D-don't shoot!" Olivia wheezed in desperation to her minions, turning somewhat blue as Medic wasn't holding back on her because she was ten years old.

"YOU!" Medic shouted to Kazuha. "Set my team free and give us our equipment back, or else I vill choke her to death and you von't be getting any payment for your troubles..."

The Japanese mercs were caught super off guard by this. For all their training, they lacked experience in things like this and they didn't know what to do. Not wanting to risk losing the money they came all the way to the United States for, Kazuha and her group did as asked.

"Next time we meet, I am going to show you what it truly means to be a spy..." Our Frenchman told her matter of factly as she was the one to let him go.

"I'm looking forward to it..." She smirked, handing him his backpack and Invis Watch. "That bounty on your heads belong to us!"

"I'm sure it does..." Spy smirked back, pointing his recently returned Revolver at her forehead. Kazuha seemed unafraid of the weapon, but she still stepped back just as the rest of her team did as Team Fortress was free and rearmed.

"Alright, we got our guns back, now what do we do?" Scout asked the group.

"I say we fight!" Soldier grinned, completely ignoring that it will take only a second for all these enemies to kill them if a fight erupts.

"Heavy, ve need you to draw a pentagram with your blood. One big enough for all of us to stand in." Medic said, causing the Russian to look at him in sheer confusion. "Do it, mein freund, or else ve will never make it out of here alive!"

Not really understanding the point of it, Heavy pulled out the Prinny Machete and made cuts on his hands to do what Medic asked of him. He had to make multiple cuts as his self-healing kept sealing them up, but he was eventually able to make a pentagram large enough for all of them to fit in the center and points. The enemy mercenaries didn't really seem to understand the point of it either as they kept their weapons trained on them, assuming that nothing will come out of it since they all believed Team Fortress was a gang of idiots.

"STAND BACK! LET ZEM THROUGH!" The mad German ordered the enemy, motioning for the innocent hostages who got caught up in this mess to come towards them.

Once the hostages were with them, Medic started chanting something, slowly stepping back towards the pentagram and motioning for the others to do the same. The German continued to chant, and shockingly, a menacing red misty glow rose from the pentagram. This glow continued to raise in intensity until it exploded in a flash of red light and glowing hellfire, stunning everyone in the room as they were caught off guard by it.

"GOODBYE, OLIVIA! VE ARE GOING TO HELL!" Medic cackled like the absolutely insane madman he is, throwing Olivia aside like a ragdoll where she crashed into a couple enemy mercs.

Then, the pentagram's glow reached maxed intensity and a surge of demonic energy opened up a literal portal to Hell. Some of the enemy mercs recovered from the initial stun and shot at Team Fortress, causing a small firefight to happen before the Hell Portal opened completely and Team Fortress dropped straight through it along with any enemy mercs they were able to kill as their bodies flew into the portal. A couple of the more bolder enemy mercs actually decided to jump into the portal in an attempt to go after them, but it was too late.

The Hell portal had already closed, meaning Team Fortress actually managed to pull off that insane escape.

* * *

 **That's right. They escaped Olivia... by going to Hell.**

 **Sounds legit.**

 **If it wasn't apparent yet after the last couple of chapters, these enemy mercenaries are VERY different from the usual humanoid enemies our heroes have fought. Unlike the White Fang where the vast majority of the members are poorly trained grunts who get mowed down in the dozens, these mercenaries from Earth are a much bigger threat. They are bounty hunters, hitmen, professional killers, and are all competently trained to have the skills they need to make money. They may underestimate Team Fortress and take them for the absolute worst mercenaries ever, but that won't last long. Alongside the entire army wanting the bounty on their heads, whole teams of enemy mercs will be aiming for our boys' heads.**

 **So it's official my men. I'm back in the game. I'll be writing at a much constant rate now, maybe a week or so between uploads. In order for me to keep at this though, I need to know that you guys care and are continuing to support me. I'm out of my depression now (so bad that I missed the chance to do an April Fools' joke chapter), but now I have to see if me bothering to write anything is worth something.** **And yes. I did get around to reading all the missed reviews. I'm not going to respond to any of them since there is too much, but it's overwhelmingly positive so that's great news!**

 **Another project I'm considering it building off the BattlePC idea and going for that huge multiversal crossover I've been wanting to do. More details later as I develop it more, but I'd like to hear opinions on this.**

 **And although I missed April Fools' by an entire month, I'll be fixing that problem by making a long overdue joke chapter. I know those were very well received...**

 **Right, so I'll see you guys soon. Cheers for the future.**


	70. Hopeful Huntsmen

**Atlas, Schnee Mansion**

"So... you're telling me that Weiss left the mansion yesterday with the help of a butler and a masked man who shares my name..." Said Jacques Schnee in a cold tone. His wife, Blanc Schnee, stood silently before his desk. "Well... isn't that what you said?" Jacques said calmly, facing his wife. Weakly, she muttered something out that was too quiet to hear, refusing to look him in the eye. Saying nothing, Jacques put a hand on her chin and forced her to look at him eye to eye. "Did you hear me?" Mrs. Schnee kept dead silent this time, pushing Jacques too far.

A quick but hard smack was delivered onto her face, causing her to shriek out in pain as she fell to the floor.

" _Y-yes..._ " She cried softly as she covered the red mark he made on her pale face.

"Yes to what? Yes to you telling me Weiss left? Or yes to you hearing what I said?"

" _Both._ " She whimpered.

"Humph... it wouldn't have to be both if you just answered the first question, you useless drunk." He said in a scornful voice. Then, he went to his desk and pressed a button. "Guards, bring me Klein Sieben. I wish to have a word with him."

" _Yes Mr. Schnee._ " Responded a guard.

"Tell me, Blanc..." Jacques began, turning back to his wife who shook in fear. "How long did your simple mind think you can refrain from telling me the truth? Evidently, it must have been far longer than five minutes. Do you know why I say that?" He asked to which she shook her head. "It's because it has been that amount of time since I called you in here, and you broke within said time."

Weiss' mother made no sound except for soft sobs escaping her lips, tears trailing down her face at an even faster rate as the slap mark on her face burned.

"You're so weak... when I first met you all those years ago, I feared that you were as strong-willed as your father. But do you know what I discovered about you since then? Hmm? Can you give me an answer to that? I believe I just gave a major hint..."

"I... I'm..." She gulped, nearly breaking down into full uncontrollable tears. "... _w-weak_."

"And useless, lazy, drunk, and stupid..." He said coldly, colder than the very air outside. "The only good thing you've done for me since our marriage is getting pregnant. Granted two of those children are not very desirable, you at least managed to give me a son who I can rely on. I may have married you only for control of this company, but even I was mistaken in believing that you can be useful beyond that..."

Right when he finished that sentence, his office door opened and a pair of SDC guards walked in with Klein Sieben.

"Master Jacques." Klein bowed to his employer, glancing first at the guards who escorted him here and at the crying Madame Schnee on the ground. "Oh goodness... what has happened to-"

"Klein Sieben." Jacques cut him off. "Your years of service to this family ends today. You're fired."

Klein stood there for a moment, needing some time to put the pieces together before realizing what happened between him and his wife minutes before he got here. "Very well then... Master Jacques, it was an honor serving this family. I shall pack my belongings and leave the mansion grounds within the hour."

"Oh no, you're not leaving this mansion. Much like how my daughter you helped escape wasn't supposed to..."

"Sir?" Klein raised a brow in concern, growing increasingly uncomfortable.

"I'm sure Weiss has told you everything that has happened between herself and I. Don't think I'm so unobservant that I wouldn't notice the one butler who my daughter consistently confides in. I can't have you, her, or anyone leaving this mansion and ruining my good name..."

"Master Jacques, I can assure you that I have no idea what you're talking about." Klein said in his defense, though he knew it was futile. Without a word, Jacques nodded to one of the guards and he whacked Klein across the back with an electric baton, causing the dwarfish man to cry out in pain.

"I don't like dishonesty, Klein. I thought someone who has worked for this family for years would've known about that."

"So says.. _hrngh_... the hypocrite who married into this family..." The now former butler retorted. Jacques Schnee gave him a small, almost mocking grin.

"Guards. Take him to his room." He ordered them, staring back at Klein's glare all the while until he was dragged out of his office. Then, he turned his attention towards his wife. He said nothing to her initially, only watching her whimper and softly cry tears that he evidently didn't give a damn about. "I have nothing more to say to you. Get out of my office."

Without hesitation, the crying woman got up and left the office. She ran through the mansion without any destination. She simply didn't want to be anywhere near that evil man's office, tears coming down ever harder. Eventually, she found herself in the cold outside of the garden where she slipped on some ice and luckily fell into a pile of snow that cushioned her fall. However, she didn't get back up as she didn't want to. The only noise she made were sobs of despair.

" _I should have left with them..._ " She thought. " _I should have ran away with Weiss and Jacques... other Jacques, and we could start a new life together! We could live happily in France, wherever that was, and he can be the husband of my dreams... A man who will treat me right..._ "

Blanc Schnee would remain in the snow for the next hour, desparing over her current plight while also dreaming about a life with Spy. A life where she and her children could be happy.

* * *

 **Remnant**

Thanks to the wonders of air travel, our heroes made what would have been half a day's march through rough terrain in only around thirty minutes. That and Yang's rudimentary piloting skills as she was good enough to keep them in the air long enough to actually get there. The trip may have been short, but the teens couldn't be any more anxious to help as dozens of airships, some damaged and some not, flew past them, and all of them were filled to max capacity with people being evacuated from their homes.

The Mistrali town they were approaching was one of the larger ones at about the same size as Kuroyuri. Unlike Kuroyuri or any of the other settlements they've seen in Mistral, Anthos is much more Classical Greek/Roman looking instead of the Asiatic architecture and style commonly seen in this part of Mistral as this architecture was more common towards the south of the kingdom. It's architecture that Pyrrha was very familiar with as her fanily were from a city in southern Mistral that had a similar look to this town, and it felt very nostalgic for her when she saw this place as she hadn't seen her hometown ever since she went to school at Beacon.

When the teens finally came in sight of the town, things were not looking good at all. The town was currently under siege by Grimm on all sides, but thankfully it had a powerful energy field that was strong enough to hold them all off. However, the town had another threat attacking them, and that would be none other than the White Fang utilizing Bullhead airships to fly in from above as the energy field only encircled the town like a traditional wall. The town guard was better equipped and trained than that of your average settlement, but their lack of experience in combat against humanoid foes is really showing here as the White Fang landed in the town and killed everyone in sight.

The teens didn't even wait to land their airship once they got above the town. Everyone except for Team RWBY jumped out and landed perfectly on top of the town hall with their 'landing strategies' if you will. All except for Jaune since he never really had one, and Pyrrha of all people. She actually ended up landing worse than Jaune as she collapsed quickly after touching the roof.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune cried out when he saw the love of his life fell, running to help her up as the others went to help where they were needed most. "Are you alright?"

" _Ow_... yes. I'm fine..." She assured him with a slight smile, appreciating his help. "I guess my body's still recovering..." Pyrrha said in a concerned tone, looking to her thin limbs. It's been less than five days since she's been awoken from her coma, and though her aura's done wonders to speed up her recovery, her body still had a long way to go before she can be in full fighting form.

Jaune was quite concerned about Pyrrha, knowing that she is much weaker than what she was before Beacon. It felt really strange to know that he was technically stronger than her now as she was always the strongest fighter of them all back then.

"Oh! I don't have a weapon..." She said in realization, remembering how her sword was destroyed back in Beacon. Jaune internally cringed a bit at hearing that, glancing at his sword and shield. Then, he had an idea.

"Here..." He said, unsheathing his sword and handing it to her. "You were always better than me with this thing anyway." Pyrrha hesitated to take the weapon as she was unsure if Jaune could handle himself with just his shield. "It's alright. I've gotten a lot better since you last saw me."

"Well... alright." She finally agreed, much to his relief as she took the weapon.

Nodding to each other, they went to join the others. Team SSSN and Ren and Nora already left the town hall to fight the White Fang in the streets and help anyone trapped out there, but these two decided to meet with the town mayor to understand the current situation. The town hall is the most secure place in the entire settlement as the civilians fled into the large building for safety.

"Are you kids from Mistral Academy? The town mayor asked once they found him. He was a fat middle-aged man at about his sixties, and he had greying brown hair.

"Uh... we _did_ come from there." Jaune responded. "What's the situation, sir?"

"What do you think, young man? We're under attack by filthy Faunus terrorists." He answered gruffly. "Damn animals came here to destroy this town. They thought they can use the Grimm to do it, but we caught the bastards off guard with the shield. Now they're trying to find the shield generator and destroy it."

"Where is the shield generator?" Jaune asked.

"In the basement below this town hall. Powered by enough dust to keep it up for months. They made a damn big mistake attacking this town, and it'll be the last one they'll make as we're gonna kill every single one of these Faunus freaks."

"What can we do to help?" Pyrrha asked this time.

"You kids want to help? Save my people, and kill as many animals as possible."

Jaune and Pyrrha were visibly uncomfortable at hearing this man's racist remarks, but there was no time to argue with him about how wrong racism is. The town hall's already strongly defended as that's where the town guard focused much of their defense at, and so the two went to join the others in battle against the White Fang.

Up above, Team RWBY's stuck in the airship they arrived in. It wasn't safe to touch down anywhere in the town with these White Fang Bullheads circling about, and so they had to deal with them first. The girls had every disadvantage in the air. The standard Mistral airship is a much bigger target, slower, far less agile, completely unarmed, and far less armored than a Bullhead airship. To be fair, the standard Bullhead didn't come with any weapons by default, but the White Fang retrofitted most of their Bullheads with a chin mounted machine gun turret.

Such as how the five White Fang Bullheads here were giving our girls a demonstration of what it's like to get shot at with their machine guns.

Yang's basically nonexistent piloting skills certainly did not help their chances of survival, but thankfully they can work around some of these disadvantages. The girls managed to take two Bullheads down early on when Weiss summoned her knight buddy, flung him towards an enemy airship with a glyph, and he cut striahg through the right engine of his target. This caused an explosion to erupt soon after, and the Bullhead spun out of control where it crashed into another Bullhead, both of them plummeting to the ground in a fiery inferno.

The others wouldn't be so easy to take down as they got lucky catching them by surprise like that.

"You two go ahead. I can handle this." Weiss told Ruby and Blake.

"Are you sure?" Asked Ruby, wincing as machine gun fire went straight through the wooden fuselage of the airship.

"Yes! You guys are more help down there then here."

Knowing that she was right, they agreed and hopped down to the streets below, leaving Weiss and Yang in the airship. Weiss had the best potential here to protect Yang with her versatile moveset ranging from summoning, glyphs, and shooting dust from her rapier.

Blake and Ruby touched down on a flat roof where some town guards fired their weapons at the White Fang below, looking up at the airship they left with concern just as a glyph popped up to block oncoming gunfire. The situation looked even worse in the streets than it did from up above. It was one thing to witness the fighting and civilians fleeing in terror from the airship, but now it felt so much more personal now that they were closer.

"LOOK OUT KID! THERE'S ONE NEXT TO YOU!" One of the guards on the roof yelled once he noticed the girls and saw Blake's ears, quickly turning to point his weapon at Blake.

"Huh!? No, wait! She's on our side!" Ruby shrieked, throwing herself in front of Blake without even thinking about it.

"On our side? Are you crazy!? The Faunus are attacking our town!" The guard yelled, another one joining in while the rest continued to fire on White Fang positions.

"No, the White Fang are attacking! Not the Faunus!" Blake shouted back at him, her cat ears flattening a little.

"Same difference you stupid animal whore!"

It took everything Blake had not to snap and attack this guy, but Ruby was more hurt then angry at hearing such spiteful words directed towards her friend. She didn't know what to say or even how to react. Deciding to suck it up, Blake took Ruby's hand and jumped down to the street without so much as a word to the guards. They may not like her, but she's got lives to save.

The current situation is grim but not totally hopeless.

The White Fang are trying to push into the town hall and disable the shield generator to let the Grimm in, but it is the most well defended part of the town. Majority of the town's denizens had already retreated inside the town hall for safety, but a lot of people still remain either trapped in their homes or looking for safety in the streets, cut off from reaching the town hall. Scattered fighting between guards and White Fang took place all across the town, but the White Fang are easily getting the upperhand in the streets.

"Ruby! Blake!" Jaune called out for the two girls, them turning to see him and Pyrrah escorting an injured old woman and her young grandson to safety. "I'm glad to see you two are alright. Where's Weiss?"

"She's still in the airship protecting Yang." Ruby answered, looking up to see said airship fly right above them at just that moment, another White Fang Bullhead also going down after Weiss froze its engines over. "Where are the others?"

"I think Sun's team is on the other side of town, and I saw Ren and Nora fighting the White Fang near the town sqaure." He answered. "Please tell me we have a plan?"

"Uh... save the town?" She answered innocently. "Just whatever to stop the White Fang, okay? Let's force them to surrender, or something..."

Nobody can object to that, and so they all nodded in agreement as they went about fighting and saving as many civilians as they can. However, Blake felt the most uneasy out of anyone in her group here. This whole place gave off a heavy aura of hatred and general negativity. Of course that's a given since this was a warzone, but for her it felt much more intense for some reason.

Meanwhile, Weiss and Yang were successful in taking down another airship as seen earlier. The tradeoff though was that their own airship has sustained much more damage. Anymore bad hits and this thing has no chance of making it back to Haven Academy.

"I'm gonna need Engie to teach me how to fly some day..." Yang said under her breath, struggling to figure out what all the readings in the cockpit meant as it all flashed and blinked. It's not like she really needed to know what they meant though, as it was obvious that the airship is heavily damaged. Right when she thought that, another hard blow rocked the airship when some machine gunfire tore through the fuel reserve, disabling the propellor and lighting the whole ventral portion of the airship on fire.

Soon all the readings she was struggling to understand stopped functioning as all power in the ship went out. Weiss tried to vanquish the flames with her dust, but it was far too late to save the ship. Precisely why the heiress suddenly found herself tackled out of the ship by Yang, sending both of them to the ground below.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Weiss screeched as they fell.

"PLAN B!" Yang screamed back, the airship blowing up behind them in the most cinematic way possible. Without even thinking about it, Weiss set up a series of glyphs to ease their descent, safely touching down near where Ren and Nora were. Not even a minute after touching the ground though did a couple White Fang grunts attack them, but they were easily dispatched by our girls. "Heh, how's it feel fighting again, Weiss?"

"I'm a little rusty, but I've been practicing."

"Heh, I can tell! Never seen that knight guy you summoned before. Good job Weiss!" Yang grinned, giving her a congratulatory soft punch to the shoulder. Weiss tried to hold a smile back, but she simply couldn't. It just felt so good to be fighting along her friends again.

* * *

 **Menagerie**

While Salem's campaign of terror raged on in Mistral, the White Fang mobilized in another part of the world.

Menagerie. An independent Faunus country separate from the majority human kingdoms of Remnant. A safe bastion for Faunuskind seeking a place completely free of discrimination against their kind. Though there is limited living space on the island nation, the Faunus here are happy enough with being left alone and having a place they can call home.

The island was mostly unaffected by the chaos of the world these past few months. Long range communications went down and much fewer ships stopped by the island. The citizens didn't really mind losing contact with the rest of the world nor did they mind the fewer ships. Menagerie is fully capable of providing for themselves. Whatever's happening outside of this island paradise is something the majority of its citizens didn't care or simply didn't think about.

However, the island's peace will not last for much longer...

"Chief Belladonna!" A Menagerie guard burst through Ghira's office, startling him as he was doing paperwork. "Several airships have been spotted off the northern coast. They all have the White Fang symbol on them..."

Ghira's eyes widened, taking his glasses off and setting them on his desk as he got up and ran to the balcony. His wife Kali followed in with the guard, and what she saw immediately sent dread into her heart.

"Ghira..." She said softly, standing next to him as a fleet of White Fang airships arrived over the settlement.

Unlike what we've seen the White Fang use in earlier chapters, the air fleet we see here is a proper fleet. One that's composed of mishmash of converted civilian airships and stolen military ones, but a fleet nonetheless. Discounting the smaller airships like Bullheads since in hindsight those actually classify as just aircraft, the fleet had five airships. Two of them were converted civilian transport ships similar to the model used in Vale, one was a Schnee Dust Company freighter captured in a raid, and another was a severely outdated Mistral warship that the Fang captured as it was heading to the scrapyard.

The last airship, and flagship of the White Fang air fleet, was an Atlesian cruiser. It was an older model that has since been replaced with the current model of Atlesian warship seen during the Fall of Beacon, but the White Fang has restored it and upgraded it to modern standards. To the best they can do with what resources they had, of course.

The chieftan of Menagerie clenched his teeth and fists in anger, knowing full well that Menagerie's defenses are no match at all for the White Fang force. Due to dedication for peace, Menagerie has no military whatsoever except for a guard force that is only strong enough to stop crime and prevent small uprisings, not invasions.

"Well... I never expected them to militarize _this_ much..." He said under his breath.

Soon, dropships of various models flew out of the airships and descended to the ground to unload White Fang occupation forces.

"What do we do, sir?" The guard asked.

"Do not provoke them. Fighting is pointless..." Ghira ordered him, prompting the guard to get on his scroll and spread the word.

As he did so, a few of the White Fang dropships landed in the Belladonnas' courtyard. They were quickly surrounded by guards as White Fang members dismounted, and among them was shockingly none other than the current leader of the White Fang herself.

"Sienna Khan..."

* * *

 **Literally Inside Hell. TF2 Universe**

"Wow... uh... Hell is... Hell is a lot nicer than I remembered..." Sniper said to no one in particular, scratching his head as he looked around him in confusion.

When Medic activated that portal to Hell, it didn't whisk the whole group into a firey inferno full of lava and demons like your average person thinks Hell is like. Instead, they found themselves in a lavish and fancy room that was furnished with some of the finest furniture anyone's ever seen and other pleasantries. There was little to no signs at all that there was anything demonic about this suite except some stylized capitalized letter 'D's with demon horns and tails on them marked around here.

"Hmm... we must be in ze Devil's home..." Medic mused, examining a bust of the Devil himself.

" _This_ is where the Devil lives?" Demoman said in disbelief. "This bloody place is as nice and clean as the Queen's Palace!"

"Yeah, where the heck is all the fire and demons and crap at? How come we couldn't come here instead of that awful memories crap?" Scout added before noticing Pyro call them over from one of the huge windows looking outside. With him was Sarah and the Japanese tourists that got roped into this mess, and like usual they were taking pictures of everything they saw.

"Hmpmh! Mhpmh mrphm mmm!" He mphmed for them to see, the team joining the crowd.

"Oh, there's the fire and demons..." Just as he said, right outside the mansion is the Hell we're all familiar with. The Hell that church and movies and stuff always tells us about. In stark contrast to the pristinely clean inside of the mansion, endless plains of lava and fields of fire covered the land outside, and among all that were various kinds of demons and thousands of dead people suffering endlessly in the flames for all eternity.

"Eh, still wished I came here instead of that other thing. Least we get stuff to do here." Scout shrugged, the others agreeing except for Soldier.

"Not me, I for one would much rather prefer the sweet American goodness of my grandfather's farm in American Heaven!" Soldier proudly declared. The others kinda waved him off as they didn't understand why exactly he of all people didn't get to relive any bad memories. Maybe it's because most of Soldier's life was so insanely dedicated to patriotism that he has absolutely **no** bad memories at all? Well, at least bad relative to him...

"H-how am I alive!?" They heard a voice cry from behind them, turning to see that one of the dead enemy mercenaries who got sucked into the portal stand on his two feet, dumbfounded.

He had a gaping chest wound where he got a direct Shotgun blast, but he was standing up as if everything was fine. This man wasn't the only one too as all the enemy mercenaries they killed in the second before getting sucked into the portal were up and alive, all wondering just the same at how they could possibly be alive with their injuries. Some of them had body parts blown off, some had

"YOU! YOU KILLED ME! YOU KILLED US!"

"Ja, ve did kill you, and in my medical opinion I can assure you that you are very much dead." Medic told them with a smile. "You are in Hell after all!" The enemy mercs looked at him in confusion as just like them, they also didn't really recognize this nice ass mansion to be a place in Hell at first glance.

The door to the room clicked, and it opened. To everyone's surprise, a large red-skinned humanoid man with slicked back hair walked into the room... and he was wearing a bathrobe? Well, anyways this entity was none other than the Devil himself, and he must have gotten out of a shower or something as he came into the room, whistling a little tune.

"What in the...?" The Devil gasped once he saw the people in his personal quarters. "Why are there humans in my room!?"

"OH GOD, IT'S SATAN!" The enemy mercs screeched in terror, crowding together like a bunch of cowards while the Devil called up some of his mansion's maids.

"That's the Devil?" Sarah asked the mercs.

"Indeed, zat is ze Devil" Medic assured her, a pleasant smile on his face at seeing his good ole buddy.

"He's... he's not as scary as I thought he would be." She shrugged, relaying the info to the Japanese tourists. Of course, they also started snapping photos of the Devil like anything else they see. It only got worse when the surprising pretty demon maids came in and the Devil told them off.

"What do you mean you accidentally switched the 'No Portal Field' when you were cleaning the basement? Any fool making a portal to Hell can come straight in here with that off!" He shouted at his maids, motioning toward the Humans in his room.

"Hallo, Herr Devil!" Medic waved at him.

"Hi Mr. Devil! When I die, my grandfather and I are going to kick your ass!" Soldier grinned.

"Like them..." The Devil sighed as his point was made. "Take the dead Humans away. I'll speak to the others." He ordered the maids.

Then out of nowhere, the deceptively pretty and innocent-looking demonic maids turned all menacing-like and dashed toward the enemy mercenaries at breakneck speeds, grabbing the terrified Humans as they didn't wish to stay in Hell yet their cries were futile. They exited out the mansion by way of smashing through the Devil's windows, causing him to sigh in frustration.

" _You could have just used the front door, idiot maids..._ " The Lord of Hell said as he shook his head, then turning to the mercenaries and the civilians they brought with them. "None of you are dead, and neither are those tourists. What are you doing here, Mr. Ludwig?"

"Oh, nothing too serious. Ve were being held at gunpoint and zis vas the quickest vay I can think of escaping." Medic shrugged. "Also I may be open to give you more souls in the forseeable future if you vill-"

"No." The Devil plainly responded without even letting him finish, snapping his fingers. The same kind of demonic portal that the mercs use to get here appeared above, and it sucked them all up in it without any hesitation whatsoever, leaving the Devil alone in his room. There wasn't even time for anyone to scream, or in Medic and Soldier's case, wave the Devil goodbye as they were all flung right back to the land of the living.

 **(...)**

" _ **AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**_ "

Screamed the mortals as they were kicked out of Hell and teleported through a horrifying demonic gateway-thing. Take a moment to think about that. Who the fuck gets kicked out of Hell? These guys apparently... but anyways, the Japanese tourists along with Sarah and her sushi chef grandfather got separated from the mercenaries together as they continued to fly upwards.

" _BYE JAAAAAPS!_ " Soldier shouted over to them as they went through a different portal, and when the mercs reached their's, they found themselves on sand. Not sand like beach sand in Hawaii, but dusty desert sand like in the Badlands!

"Oh hey, look fellas! There's Mann Co.!" Scout called out to the group in excitement once he saw the unmistakable skyscraper of Mann Co. HQ.

"Huh, looks like we didn't need to go through all the bloody trouble of travelling across the ocean after all..." Demo shrugged.


	71. Legacy of Hatred

Right then, so after the Devil was kind of enough to kick them out of Hell, they were pleased to find that they landed near Mann Co. HQ in the Badlands. Also, allow me to say that ever since Gordon Freeman joined the group he will be counted as part of Team Fortress. So does that mean that the tenth class is named Theoretical Physicist?

Maybe, but anyways, when they got into the HQ grounds, they found nobody there except for robots and Heavy's family. Firstly, they were overjoyed to see that Heavy was alright and piled onto their beloved big brother, and Zhanna was especially happy to see her maggot bear Soldier was fine. They told the team that everyone else was in the fortress in Remnant, and that they've been busy establishing a stronger presence there ever since Saxton Hale was allowed to return to Remnant. Scout's family actually left the place altogether as they quickly lost interest and figured Scout will return anyway. Demoman's mother also left but it was because despite being damn near ninety years old and blind, she's still working.

Also, the Engineer bots were hard at work repairing their ruined ship all this time, and it was just about ready for them to use. Excellent timing as well since they wanted to get back to Remnant as soon as possible.

Without further delay they packed inside the airship where they slowly entered the portal as it was a tight fit for the entire ship.

Something I should also clear up is that the portal system they have, while it may directly connect to their fortress in Remnant, does not instantly take them there if they step through it. You know how in like Star Trek they have a slipstream or some shit for FTL (faster than light) travel? It's kind of like that where if you were in the Void, you can see a tube of white energy connecting the TF2 world all the way to Remnant, and you can exit it any time without getting your molecules vaporized. I don't know. I know little of Star Trek.

The team kinda considered going back to the BattlePC as it turned out that fucking station was hovering outside of the Remnant portal and they could have used that instead of a detour through Hawaii and Hell, but they decided against it lest something stupid happens and they are further delayed. At least they knew that giant computer was on standby outside Remnant thought, it could come in handy later.

The first person they met upon returning to their fortress was Saxton Hale, and let's say he was up to something... interesting.

"Ah! There you boys are!" Saxton shined once he saw all the mercs accounted for. "Where the Hell you boys been?"

"Hell." They all answered at once.

"Eh, while you boys were pussyfooting around in Hell, I've been busy killing monsters and building missile silos." Their Australian employer shrugged.

"Missile silos, sir?" Engie asked. "For what?"

"Yep! I'm having the robots build missile silos and launch pads so I can send bloody satellites up to space, and maybe even a space station if I feel like it. Look! I already got missiles straight from Mann Co. on standby over there." He pointed with his thumb towards a hangar with several Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), some of which may or may not have nuclear warheads in them.

"Sir!? You're bringing bloody nuclear weapons into this world?" Sniper gasped.

"Oh relax, Kiwi. I think only ten of them are nuclear. Nothing to get worked up about, but anyways, the robots got one silo finished and they're about to launch one of the satellites to space. Wanna watch? You'll get front row seats! Not for free of course..."

"Erm... we would love to, Mr. Hale, but we have placed to be." Said Spy.

"Eh, your loss mate. Not like you ain't gonna see the bloody thing launch anyway..."

Stocking up anything they need including more teleporters, the team took off in their airship and set themselves on the same flight path to Mistral that they took last time. Hopefully, there won't be any swarms of flying Grimm to fuck them up this time. Especially since unlike last time, they were flying at full speed instead of cruising speed.

Also, Saxton Hale wasn't wrong when he said they wouldn't see it launch. Even when flying at 4000 kph and already in sight of the stretch of sea separating Sanus from Anima, they still could see the bright glow and smoke trail of the rocket shooting up into space behind them.

* * *

 **Menagerie. Remnant**

The White Fang takeover of the peaceful Faunus nation went without a single hint of violence. True to his words, the Menagerie Guard did nothing to provoke a fight against the White Fang and simply let them land without any trouble. All across the city did members of the White Fang touch down and establish their presence. However, unlike with say a Human settlement defended by a few teenagers, the White Fang weren't really looking for a fight here just as much as the peaceful people here did. The entire population of Menagerie is composed of Faunus so the White Fang weren't interested in starting a conflict with fellow members of their race.

Still, the display of military force above the city put the residents of Menagerie in a state of understandable unease. This is the first time the White Fang has ever flown their cobbled together air fleet since it has been formed, and this is only possible for them to safely do now that the every kingdom is far more concerned with defending against Grimm. Maybe one or two airships is a more reasonable force to easily take on Menagerie should violence arise, but a whole air fleet of five ships? That's beyond overkill for the peaceful nation.

The whole population's wary beyond belief as Ghira Belladonna spoke with Sienna Khan in his home. Hopefully, even with the White Fang here, the people of Menagerie could continue to live in peace.

"Thank you for inviting me into your home, Ghira..." Sienna Khan, current High Leader of the White Fang, said to her predecessor, accepting a cup of tea from Kali.

"You're welcome, Sienna." Ghira responded politely. Well, as polite someone can pretend to be when the person they are talking to brought an army to the land you rule. It didn't help how armed White Fang members lined up on Sienna's side of the room while Menagerie Guards lined up on Ghira and Kali's side, both sides glaring at the other. "I see you've certainly been busy ever since I stepped down as High Leader." He said, glancing at the fleet that cast their shadows down on the city below.

"It wasn't easy, but I did manage to turn the White Fang into a force to be reckoned with." Sienna calmly responded, drinking some tea. Despite their radical differences in ideology, Sienna still had respect for Ghira for what he's done for Faunuskind. Ghira didn't necessarily dislike Sienna either, but seeing her again after all these years brought back bad memories of her radical faction of the White Fang undermining his peaceful attempts at equality with Humans.

That and you know, it's pretty clear what her intentions with Menagerie are if she brought a whole air fleet with her.

"I can see that... though I'm having trouble believing you were able to assemble _that_."

"Humph, I admit I couldn't quite believe it either. Human security is just not as good as they would have believe. This is the first time we've actually flown these ships since capturing them." She shrugged.

"And is there a reason why you chose to show your new fleet to the people of Menagerie first? You did say that this is the first time you've flown these things, and I bet that you bringing them here is not without a good reason."

"Well, you're right..." Sienna said, standing up. "Ghira Belladonna, as of today Menagerie is White Fang territory. Please believe me when I say it is for the best."

"For the best of what? Your war of terror against the Humans?" Ghira stood up as well, noticeably raising his voice. He was much taller than the shorter Sienna Khan, leaving the woman to stare up at him. Still, she remained calm.

"This goes far beyond that, Ghira..." She said quietly.

"Is that so? Then why is Adam Taurus staging-"

"Adam Taurus is a fool." She cut him off. "His splinter faction has done nothing but throw the world into chaos and got countless Faunus lives killed to achieve it. I never supported his actions and I even consider him a traitor for taking full control of the Vale branch."

Ghira looked surprised to learn of this information. His daughter and her friends left not too long ago with the goal of stopping an attack on Haven by him and the White Fang. When he told Sienna this, she responded with this. "Humph, that must have been a message he sent to Menagerie cell of the White Fang before he started his attack on Beacon Academy months ago. Idiot must've forgotten that destroying the CCT would take down long range communications across the world. It's likely that the Menagerie branch hasn't heard anything from him since then and assumed the plan was still in effect."

"Then... where is Adam Taurus?" Ghira asked with suspicion, unsure if he can trust her word.

"Well... he's currently recovering in our fortress back in Anima."

"Recovering?" He said more in surprise than as an actual question.

"He was nearly killed during the Battle of Beacon. Something cut his hand off and he had serious burns all over his body, far beyond what his aura can heal. It's a miracle his branch of the White Fang managed to get him from Vale to Mistral." She told Ghira, causing him to pause and think about what she told him. Before he can say anything, Sienna continued to speak. "But I suppose you still want to know why we are occupying Menagerie, and... well..." She trailed, looking down in both shame and uncertainty of how she's going to explain this.

"...well, what?"

"There are forces far beyond our understanding. Yesterday, the Vale branch of the White Fang arrived at our fortress with a Human. This Human... what he told us was... Well, you wouldn't believe it unless you were there, but he showed us that the Grimm have some kind of leader controlling them, and now she's beginning to make moves against the world. Beacon Academy was only the beginning..." She said ominously. "I had no choice but to join their side, or else they'll destroy the White Fang. The only thing I asked in return for joining them is that they let us rule Menagerie so we can keep the people here safe. Including you, former High Leader."

Ghira remained quiet, looking to his wife who also had trouble believing all this. Sienna knew he wouldn't believe it and she didn't have any proof, but it didn't matter. The White Fang was here for the good of Faunuskind in the days to come, and what Ghira thought of that was irrelevant.

Their talk ended soon after that. The Belladonnas were allowed to keep their home, but all control they had over Menagerie was begrudgingly handed over to the White Fang. The worst thing about it? The people of Menagerie were largely okay with this. While they were uneasy about the armed White Fang presence, as long as they were allowed to continue living peacefully and free then all was good.

Not for Blake's parents though. Ghira and Kali stood atop their balcony and viewed the White Fang occupation with much distate.

"I hope Blake is alright..." Kali said with a tone of concern, leaning on her husband's shoulder.

"I know..." He said somberly.

* * *

 **Anthos, Kingdom of Mistral. Remnant.**

In another part of the world high in the north from Menagerie, White Fang movements were far less peaceful. Settlements across the kingdom still came under attack, but at this point the White Fang themselves are easing up and taking time to recover from any losses they sustained, leaving various bandit tribes and the Grimm to keep on attacking. The bandits had no problem with continuing these raids since now that the Grimm were somewhat on their side, they didn't have to worry about any limitations when raiding. For the most part, the White Fang raids went by with great success. Only a couple of the many attacks they did today resulted in total failure.

One of them being on the town that our heroes arrived to save.

When the teens managed to bring down three of those White Fang Bullheads, whoever was in command of the raiding party decided to call off the attack and order everyone to retreat to the Bullheads while they still can. There was no point in continuing the push to the shield generator if they had no way to leave the town when the Grimm flooded in, and there was barely enough space on the remaining Bullheads to fit everyone.

And so the White Fang retreated, leaving the citizens of the town to cheer in victory at watching them retreat. However, not all of the Fang were able to escape. In the town sqaure, ten captured White Fang grunts were huddled together with their hands tied, having to suffer the humiliation of the townsfolk throwing trash and insults at them.

The teens stood at the foot of the townhall, but their feelings were... mixed. On one hand they succeeded in saving the town, but on the other they felt that the treatment of the White Fang prisoners was horribly wrong. Blake and Sun in particular felt it more so than the others due this town's overwhelmingly negative view of the Faunus.

"I gotta say I didn't expect much from you kids when I first saw you, but you certainly proved yourselves today. Who knows how many more people would've died if you didn't come?" The town mayor thanked the teens with a smile, shaking all of their hands except for Blake and Sun. This did not go unnoticed by the only two Faunus members of the group as he deliberately avoided touching them even when they held their hands out for him to shake.

"Hey catgirl..." A town guard said to Blake, the same one who insulted her earlier. Blake's first instinct was to to give him a nasty glare, her ears flattening against her skull. "Guess I owe you an apology for earlier. You're not as bad as these other animals here."

"They're not animals!" She shouted at him. "They're people like anyone else!"

"Whoa now, calm down. You don't want us to throw you in there with them now, do you?" The mayor threatened her. Blake nearly broke as she let out a legitimate hiss at him, but Sun held her back as he had his own things to say to him.

"Back off, buddy!" Said the monkey boy as he shoved the mayor back. "We just saved your town and you're gonna treat her like that!?"

"How dare you touch me, you dirty monkey bastard!?" The mayor yelled in a rage, acting almost as if Sun murdered his daughter or something. "Why don't you go back to throwing mud at your parents, huh? Isn't that what you monkeys do - GAH!"

Well, Sun had even less self control than Blake. Before anyone even knew it, the mayor was sent flying flat on his back when Sun decked him in the face. As you can imagine, this did not fly well with the town guard and civilians around them. In only a second, the teens were suddenly the bad guys here as the town guard surrounded them, pointing their weapons specifically at Sun and Blake while their friends protected them.

"UGH! Damn it..." Cursed the mayor as he felt his nose, his busted nose bleeding. With the look of hate that can only come from a lifetime of hatred, he growled at the Faunus in the group. "You see!? This is why the Faunus belong in cages! They can't control themselves even when they try to act like people!"

The teens attempted to shoot back a response, but they were quickly drowned out by the deafening approval of the townsfolk before they could even get a word out. Only a few people in the crowd weren't supportive of the racist mayor, but they kept quiet as they didn't want their neighbors to turn on them. They can only look on in sorrow.

It got so bad that the crowd damn near jumped on them, but that was shot down when Ruby fired a couple times into the air with Crescent Rose.

"What is wrong with you people!?" She shouted, clearly angry. "Why do you hate the Faunus so much!?"

"You just saw why! Dirty animals tried to kill us all!" The mayor responded. "And your damn friend there tried to kill me!"

"The White Fang doesn't represent all of Faunuskind, and what!? All he did was punch you because you're a jerk!"

"No young lady, those two animals with you? They want nothing more than to kill all us Humans. It's only a matter time before they turn on you too! They're no better than the Grimm outside that barrier!" He shouted, pointing toward the monsters still trying to claw through the energy shield protecting the village. "Whoever was the idiot who let that Faunus son of a bitch Lionheart be headmaster of Haven Academy ought to be hanged along with him and the rest of the Faunus in that school! Tell your damn headmaster that!"

"We're not even from that school!" Yang shouted in this time, backing her sister up.

"Does it matter, you brat? If you ask me, the huntsmen academies became nothing more than a waste of time ever since they let Faunus in."

Yang's eyes flared red and she growled, her arms shaking as she resisted the urge to punch his face in. This time, no one was going to hold her back should she choose to do so, as they all wanted to hit him so badly. Ruby in particular was very upset. She's always known that the Faunus were discriminated against, but never has she been exposed to people who showed such raw hatred to them. Let alone to ones who are her friends...

The Grimm outside became ever more violent and aggressive as the negativity inside the settlement builded up higher than even when the White Fang were attacking, and it only attracted more and more of the beasts. Recognizing what would happen if the animosity continued to build, Jaune's heart dropped after having a terrible flashback of how the Battle of Beacon began.

"Everyone, stop!" The boy shouted as he ran between the two sides. "Come on, do you want the Grimm to break through that shield? Arguing isn't going to help anything!"

"You know, I think the boy has a point..." The mayor trailed, surprising the teens. He signalled for a guard to give him his gun, and he approached the White Fang prisoners.

"...what are you doing?" Blake said in a whisper, her heart slowing down and her eyes widening.

"Those monsters are attracted to negative emotions, right? So why don't we have a celebration..." Then, he shot at the feet of one of the prisoners. He was a Sheeo Faunus and the shots missed, but he was terrified. "Dance you animal, DANCE!" The Fang prisoner whimpered and cried as he attempted to dodge the bullets, giving the whole town a show as they laughed at his misery.

Soon, the prisoner screamed in pain when a bullet pierced his foot and he fell to the floor, crying and begging for mercy while the crowd roared in cheers. The scene was so disgusting, so monstrous, so... so _inhuman_ that they were frozen in place in disbelief.

"See? We're all having fun here! I'd say some of the Grimm are already leaving!"

Then in a flash of red, the mayor found a petite little fist fly into his face at such a speed that he didn't even blink. Ruby Rose just knocked most of his teeth out in one punch, and all who can see her that day can tell you that the anger emanating off that girl rivaled even Yang's.

" _W-what...?_ " The mayor wheezed, covering his mouth as blood poured out of it.

Ruby went to the injured White Fang grunt and offered her hand out. The Faunus shied away from her due to his distrust, but Ruby wouldn't have it as she helped him regardless.

"I don't care what you are..." The girl began, taking his arm over her shoulder and helping him stand up. "Human, Faunus, it doesn't matter. I'm a huntress, and if there's anyone who needs my help, then I'll help them."

"You little bitch..." The mayor hissed in utter rage. Before he was able to order his men to restrain or maybe even attack them, the whole town was distracted when Mistrali airships arrived above the town, all of them from Haven Academy.

The teens sighed in relief as another crisis was avoided, but the majority of the townsfolk did not react so well to the sight of the craft bearing Haven emblems. Most shouted jeers and insults at them, while others even went as far as to throw stuff at the aircraft.

"Get these dirty fucking animals out of my town, and never come back..." The mayor told the teens coldly, a stare of such deep hatred that it felt like he was a Grimm himself.

He didn't need to tell them twice.

The town denied any assistance from the Haven transport craft, and the teens took the White Fang prisoners with them alongside anyone in the village who wanted to leave.

* * *

 **Salem's Palace**

Salem was confused and somewhat concered. Not with her campaign of terror as that was going marvelously well, but with what she just saw. The Grimm Queen was monitoring the situation in the Vale region when she suddenly became aware of a large rocket shooting straight up into the sky. It wasn't hard to miss as the clear smoke trail and bright light of the engines flaring could be seen across the whole kingdom.

As far as she can tell, the rocket came from the island of Patch just off the coast of the city of Vale. Where exactly from the island it was launched from was a mystery as she wasn't paying the place any attention back when the mercs constructed their fortress on it, but she knew that rocket couldn't possibly be good news for her. Nobody on Remnant had the capacity to go into space since dust loses its power the further away it gets from the planet's surface, and the only people in this world's entire history who made it into space are mercenaries from another world. With that in mind, Saxton Hale likely had something to do with that rocket...

Also concerning and confusing, an aircraft identical to the one that the mercenaries used flew out of Vale airspace and is heading towards Anima at speeds far faster than before, and faster than any other flying vehicle in Remnant for that matter. It was impossible to intercept using Grimm, but what confused Salem about it was unless there's two of these aircraft, she swore she eliminated it over Anima not too long ago. Or at least she's fairly certain she did. It actually kinda disappeared as if it teleported away, but Salem was confident that the heavy damage she done on it was enough to knock it out.

It was, but how was she supposed to know that it was actually teleported to friendly territory and repaired?

Then, she was surprised to find that the interdimensional teleporter between Earth and Remnant open. Coming out of it was none other than Olivia Mann, and Salem wondered why she came all the way here to see her. At first she figured it was because the child needed instructions on something, but she never could've expected it.

"Miss Salem!" The child cried. "Those mercenary guys showed up on Earth and I caught them!"

"Really?" Salem said in genuine surprise.

"Yeah! They were in Hawaii for some reason and my guys found them, but..." She trailed, twiddling her fingers and looking down.

"...and?" Salem said, her expectations waning.

"...they kinda sorta escaped by going to Hell."

"They went to Hell?" Salem said with a brow raised to which the girl nodded. She'd question how they even do that, but she'll leave it for another time. Who knows how things work in that other world? She instead had a much more important question to ask the girl.

"Tell me Olivia... do you have the means to go into space?"


	72. Sky Warriors

**Patch Island, Kingdom of Vale**

High above the skies of Remnant, a speeding rocket pierced the clouds like a fiery arrow as it climbed its way ever higher. Soon, the rocket disengaged its boosters, detaching the extra thrusters from the main rocket and leaving them to fall back to the planet, burning up in atmosphere where it will be rendered harmless to those below. The rocket carried its way forward until it finally broke the planet's atmosphere, and when it managed to achieve stable orbit, robots crammed into the thing dismounted and got to work detaching a satellite from the rocket.

This satellite was the first of many in a planned larger array of satellites. What is the purpose of the satellites you may ask? Simple, the reason why these were being launched into space was so Saxton Hale can have global surveillance of the planet, making it much easier to keep track of enemy movements and potentially finding Salem. The satellites themselves couldn't simply zoom in on the planet's surface and monitor things close up. No, their sensors weren't advanced enough for that. What they could do though was offer GPS service and radio communications, even able to listen in on frequencies from the planet's surface.

There may be only one up here now, but more were on their way as more rockets were being prepped for launch. But do you know what's even more epic than satellites? A space station may be built within the forseeable future if Saxton's being serious. Come now, knowing this fucking guy? It's definitely going to happen.

But uh...

Remember how the mercs' fort was supposed to be a secret? At least kind of a secret? Saxton Hale threw all that out the window when he took command of the place. Or you know, it's more correct to say that this dude put it into a rocket and launched it up to space as that's exactly how the mercs' formally secret base was now known by everyone on the island. As soon as all the inhabitants of Patch felt their very homes shake, stuff falling off the walls and shelves, and looking outside with their mouths agape to see large rockets of unknown purpose billowing out smoke as they flew up and beyond the sky, everyone went to look for where it was launched from.

Just by following the massive smoke trail left behind by the first rocket, the vast majority of the island's population found the site of the fortress and gathered to marvel at the launchings. A lot of people even treated it as a picnic as they brought food, blankets, ice coolers, and other stuff one would bring for a day out to watch the rockets launch with their friends and families.

The robots assigned to chase and lead people away from ever getting close to the fortress were powerless to stop them all from coming, but Saxton Hale really didn't care if people knew where the fortress was. As such, the only thing standing between the people having a picnic and the fortress (aside from its static defenses like walls) was a line of armed robots preventing them from coming in. Normally, one would find it intimidating to know several literal killing machines were standing motionlessly before you in a wall of metallic components and oil, but these people had utter trust in these robots since they helped retake Beacon Academy not too long ago.

Hell man, some of these people having a picnic went as far as to go up to these robots and take pictures with them, posing their children together with them like how people on Earth would for a mall Santa. Eh, but can you really blame these people though? Aside from main characters and villains, the people on Patch were the first people in all of Remnant to witness Humanity reach beyond their planet's atmosphere when all attempts to do so natively with dust powered vehicles have failed.

Technically speaking, the Humans who ran the fortress weren't from Remnant and could be considered **aliens** by that logic, but come on now, Humans are Humans.

Don't matter if you come from real life, some fucking anime, a video game, books/comics/movies, if you're Human then you're Human. Stop complaining. Like fuck man, you were made as a member of a sentient species of bipedal creatures. Just be glad you're not a creature of horrifying mindless hatred and darkness. They can't go to space, have any friends, or even have internet. That must suck.

...back to the story.

Three more silos were nearing completion as the quick working robots continued their task without tiring, because they're machines. Pretty impressive too when you consider that not even a day has passed since they started construction, but to be fair Saxton Hale ordered them to all concentrate on one launch pad (which were quicker to build than digging out and creating a missile silo) so he can get satellites up right away.

"Oy, what's that business over there?" Saxton Hale said in all his Australian goodness, finally noticing the crowds of people eagerly waiting for the launch of the next rocket.

"Civilians watching rocket launch. Beep." A Heavy Weapons Robot answered.

"Watching? What, is this like a bloody movie to them?" Hale wondered to himself, looking out at them. "Heh, well if it's like a movie, then you boys better go out there and sell some bloody popcorn! That's easy money waiting for us out there!"

Suddenly, the crowd of civilians looked as the line of robots broke and an army of the machines marched towards them. At first they were afraid at this shift in behavior, but then they saw it was all good as the robots were just selling popcorn, soda, candy, and nachos! As if public opinion in the robots wasn't high enough, now the people of Patch absolutely fell in love with the mechanical army of killing machines stationed on their humble island. Kinda strange in hindsight considering how peaceful Patch is compared to the rest of Vale, but eh.

As if to top off their trust and good feelings towards the robots and their masters, the second rocket launched without any warning and the crowds were treated to front row seats, cheering on the sight in a roar of happy faces. The rest of Vale of course weren't as fortunate, but the entire kingdom could see the rockets climb into the sky from where they were anyhow. Of course they didn't know exactly what the rockets were for, but it was still a marvel to see regardless.

Although not everyone was okay with it. Specifically, the high-ranking officials of Vale were concerned and even alarmed at seeing them. Why wouldn't they be? Large rockets of unknown purpose are being launched from a mysterious fortress that appears to be the base of operations for the mysterious robot army they approved to help them take Beacon Academy, and the masters of these robots themselves are quite mysterious to them.

If they knew what the rockets were doing though, then there would be no complaints.

They didn't though, and when they sent a representative to ask Hale what he was up to or even where he's from, the Australian simply responded with "Ain't none of your business, mate."

Well... it looks like the kingdom will have to suck it up. Last thing they wanted to do was anger the musclebound motherfucker who owns an army of metal automatons who can wipe out Vale all by themselves, and that's not even mentioning whatever's in those rockets he has. As long as Hale was on their side, they will allow him to do this. The people of Vale certainly weren't complaining as Hale and the robots were heroes to them, raising spirits all around as Grimm were being driven away from the kingdom's territory.

Meanwhile in space, the robotic crew of the satellite were finishing up their work on the thing.

"Initializing satellite activation crap." A Scout Bot said as it was operating a panel on the side of the satellite. The small crew of robots had jetpacks mounted onto them for maneuvering and stabilization and space, and of course they didn't need helmets since they were robots. "Satellite online in 3, 2, 1... activating."

Down planetside, the mercs' fortress received the signal from the transmitting satellite, putting a smile on Saxton Hale's face.

"Ah! Excellent! Bloody excellent! It's actually working!" The Australian manly man beamed. "Now time to test this little beaut... OY! Get me a radio!"

* * *

 **Salem's Palace**

The Queen of the Grimm sat in her palace, contemplating on what Olivia told her about Earth's space capabilities. The girl really didn't know much at all about what people did in space, but she was able to tell Salem that humanity on Earth has managed to reach their moon and have men walk on its surface. That was enough to get Salem to worry by itself. If humanity can go so far as to reach the moon using rockets, then there's no telling what other kind of things they can use those rockets for.

Saxton Hale's mere presence in this world was troubling enough, but the fact he can send rockets with unknown purposes up into space at a whim? That was even more troublesome, and that's just on top of the mercenaries already closing in on Mistral, far sooner than she thought they would.

She watched yet another rocket launch from the island of Patch, being the second one heading up to the stars by now.

Olivia said she could probably find some rockets of her own at one of the many Gray Gravel Co. sites she's in control of.

Understanding that Saxton Hale and whatever he's doing along with Team Fortress are her biggest threats at the moment, she focused on them for now. Her agent in Haven, Headmaster Lionheart himself, told her that so far Ozpin and that boy whose body he's sharing don't suspect a single thing and neither do the plucky teens with him. All they done of some interest is rush out to a settlement and save it from destruction, but that's it.

In a way, it was kinda humorous to Salem. Ozpin, he greatest enemy and main rival throughout the centuries has lost that position even for a little to a manly motherfucker from a world she's been to only once. Then she remembers how this man and his team of mercenaries can cut through hordes of Grimm and slaughter the average bunch of White Fang members like they were nothing. Then it's not so humorous.

"Olivia..." She began, the girl standing straight at attention when she heard her name get called. "Go back to your world and find your father's rockets. You still have three days to prepare your army, but it is crucial that you find those rockets. Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am!" Olivia responded with an eager nod.

"Good. You best be on your way now." Salem gave an assuring smile to the child, filling her with confidence and drive to obediently follow her orders. With a peppy cheer, Olivia skipped towards the interdimensional teleporter and returned to her growing army back in Hawaii, leaving Salem in her grand palace of darkness.

The sounds of someone groaning echoed from the chambers below, alerting Salem that her latest patient is awake. Might as well tend to him now while she waited...

* * *

 **Anima**

Do you remember last chapter when I said the gang was flying at full speed instead of cruising speed? That's not entirely true as they _technically_ can go faster, but that's reserved for heading out into space. This speed was the fastest they can go flying within the planet's atmosphere, and it was extremely uncomfortable. Imagine the fastest rollercoaster you been on and multiply the speed by 25, and they're still travelling far faster than that.

The boys within were more durable to like raw damage to their bodies and whatnot, not this sickening vomit inducing shit. It got so bad that Engineer had to significantly slow it down to crusing speed after reaching the western coast of Anima. They simply couldn't take it anymore, and it was so bad that some of the boys opened hatches to vomit out of.

If Jaune was on this ship with them, he would get absolutely fucked right to Hell. Vomit boy wouldn't last even a minute of full speed atmospheric flight.

" _O-oh... God... Oh God..._ " Engineer's face was green from sickness, struggling to hold his stomach in as he kept the ship kinda steady with his shaky hands. "Ugh, Christ fellas... hmm?" There was a red beeping light at the control panel, the one for the radio. "What in the..." He said softly, pressing the button. "Hello? Who is this?"

" _G'day, mate! It's me again, Saxton Hale! We've got our first bloody satellite up in orbit so I called you boys to test it out. Are you reading me loud and clear?_ "

"Uh, yeah. You're comin' through real clear Mr. Hale." Engie said in genuine surprise.

" _Bloody brilliant! Now, how far off are ya boys?"_

"Well... after an hour of travelling at full speed, we reached the western side of the other continent and are now flying at cruising speed. We'll be reachin' our destination in about five hours at this rate."

" _Alright, sounds good mate. I'll still be sending rockets up into space, so you boys take care now!_ "

Saxton Hale went off the air after that, leaving Team Fortress to themselves.

Three hours of uneventful flying later, and the gang began noticing columns of dark smoke rising from the ground, and there was so many of them that they went as far as the eye can see. The burning ruins of settlements across the land, and even some of the forests were ablaze when the flames spread. The black smoke of the many fires created a thick blanket of choking fumes that covered both the sky and the ground, forcing Engineer to avoid the smoke lest it interfere with their engines.

"What the Hell is goin' on down there?" Scout said, looking down along with the others. "I can't see a damn thing..."

Before anyone can respond to him, multiple automated turrets around the ship began firing at targets in all directions. Only a second later did the screams and cries of aerial Grimm fill their ears, the creatures flying out of the smoke only to get shredded into gibs by the turrets. It seems like the creatures had no idea that the mercs were here as they didn't fly out of the smoke to attack them, but it was something much more horrifying.

The Grimm were annihlating the settlements, some of the aerial Grimm they saw even carrying people into the sky. The few aircraft that the villages may have had attempted to flee, but the sheer amount of Grimm in the area ensured that their chances of survival were very slim.

"Men! It's a full on warzone down there!" Soldier called out. "Grrrr! Goddamn communist monsters! ENGIE! LET'S RAIN HOT FREEDOM ON THESE SONS OF BITCHES!" The patriot cried in a feral scream, hopping into the heavy turret to take control of it.

"Already on it, partner..." Engie said in a low growl, ready for aerial combat.

"Holy dooley... Lads, look!" Sniper shouted, his glasses lowered in disbelief. "It's the bloody White Fang! And they ain't getting attacked by the Grimm!" As they flew past some thick concentrations of smoke, they indeed saw several aircraft bearing the emblem of the White Fang on them. The Creatures of Grimm seemed utterly disinterested in them for whatever reason, flying around them as if the White Fang craft weren't even there.

Worse yet and perhaps the most surprising, the White Fang were using a captured civilian airship operating as a makeshift carrier for all these smaller transport craft. It was by no means whatsoever a true warship due to its civilian origin, but the White Fang did outfit it with a few weapons to defend itself from attack. Currently, the White Fang transports appeared to be all returning to the carrier as they were pulling out of the region, likely to return to their base of operations as they were done raiding for the day.

"Gentlemen, I don't know why the Grimm are ignoring the White Fang, but if one thing's certain, then it's that we have to destroy that airship!" Spy declared to the enthusiastic cheers of the team. They were all more than happy to slaughter some monsters and terrorists. A welcome change of pace after getting captured by enemy mercenaries from Earth.

The White Fang clearly didn't expect to get attacked by anything as they were caught completely off guard when machinegun fire and rockets scarred the starboard side of the makeshift carrier, causing some explosions as ammo racks were hit and fuel tanks for the transports were ruptured.

"That got their attention!" Engie laughed, watching how machine gun emplacements on the carrier opened fire on them only for the bullets to ping off the armor as it was too strong for them to pierce.

What weapons the carrier did have that can harm their ship were four autocannon turrets that fired shells powerful enough to punch holes in their armor with ease. As demonstrated when a few holes were made in the ship, luckily hitting no one inside or anything too important but breaking Engineer's confidence. By this time the White Fang and Grimm were already reacting by moving to intercept the mercs. The transports themselves were little threat as their weapons couldn't pierce the mercs' armor either, but the flying Grimm were far more dangerous with how they can swarm them.

Engineer was able to make one more strafing run on the enemy carrier, both the Sentry turrets, the fixed frontal guns, and the heavy turret on top manned by Soldier doing another round of damage to the ship.

"Come on, fellas! Let's take this thing down!" Scout cried to the others, hopping onto the enemy ship as Engie temporarily slowed to a stop.

Joining Scout's boarding party was Pyro, Demoman, and Gordon Freeman. The rest stayed with Engie to give him help since the last thing they needed was to lose their fucking ship again, and so Engie took off right away as the enemy closed in on them.

"Oy, Freeman! You're with me! Come on, we're gonna find the engine room on this bloody thing and blow it to Hell!' Demo yelled, Gordon nodding along as he got out an MP5 with the short version of the M203 Grenade Launcher under the barrel.

Pyro and Scout worked on clearing the upper decks of enemies and smashing anything that looked important while Demoman and Freeman went into the lower decks.

Freeman was surprisingly nimble through the tight quarters, able to dodge or soak up enemy fire as he and Demo fought their way through White Fang crewmembers scrambling for their weapons. Many of them were mowed down without ever touching a weapon, not like it mattered to Gordon and Demo though. Demoman was particularly lethal as he lobbed grenades all over the place with his Grenade Launcher, shooting them into any rooms and whatnot only for White Fang members to fly out of them when the rooms were engulfed in fiery explosions. Up close was no exceptions as he was a beast to deal with in melee as usual, easily dispatching anyone who tried to rush him with a melee weapon.

Gordon Freeman was more direct in his approach to combat as he had weapons that fired bullets unlike Demoman. A man who's supposed to be a theoretical physicist dashed about the corridors, spraying down any hostiles in his way with his MP5 while using the M203 on it to join in on throwing grenades with Demoman at some times.

When they finally found the engine room, they found it to be a spacious room where large but old dust reactors sent power throughout the whole ship. It was also heavily defended as White Fang crewmembers rushed to stop Gordon and Demo, setting up barricades and trying to get automated turrets to work. There was so many of them in there that neither Gordon or Demo could walk in there without getting shot straight to Hell, and they really didn't feel like going back there.

Both men were reduced to blind firing at the enemy, being actually kind of effective as the White Fang were bunched up in there.

When it seemed like the gunfire lessened within the room, Gordon peeked out and saw many bodies on the floor. Most of them were Demoman's work as his grenades were great for indirect fire, and most of Gordon's wildly fired shots hit nothing. It's a good thing Gordon packed a much more versatile arsenal of weaponry than just an MP5, and a quick and clever mind at that. The physicist exchanged his MP5 for a large and bulky handheld device known as the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator. Better known as the Gravity Gun to literally everyone else, this device was unique in its ability to allow Gordon to manipulate any object that the Gravity Gun is strong enough to affect.

Using this handy little thing, Gordon risked exposing himself for a moment and pointed the device into the room, using the secondary function to rip a table away from some White Fang using it as cover and taking it for himself as a large shield. Slowly advancing into the room with his mobile receiving hundreds of dents as bullets banged against the metal table, Gordon allowed them an opportunity to get inside the room and see what they're shooting at and who was shooting at them.

When the table became so weakened that bullets started to pierce through it, Gordon shot it forward with a burst of energy from the Gravity Gun and switched it out for his SPAS-12. The table flew into three White Fang members and knocked them down like bowling pins, even killing one who was already weakened and got his neck snapped when the table hit him.

Here is where Gordon truly shined. Aside from the more specialized weapons in his arsenal, Gordon Freeman worked best as a mobile powerhouse, fighting much like a slower but much better armored and armed Scout. Holes were blown into the bodies of anyone in Gordon's way as he pumped his gun after every shot. When the shells were spent, he switched back to his MP5 and quickly killed several more by strafing around them and shot them up with rapid fire 9mm bullets.

It was all over in a couple minutes, Demoman and Gordon finishing off the survivors. Demoman suffered more damage than Gordon did due to how he wasn't armored, but he wasn't so injured as to be severely weakened by it, his healing and resistance doing wonders. Gordon himself was fairly unharmed as his HEV suit had an electrically powered protection system that protected him against attacks (think like aura except it's a part of his suit and not his body), though it was heavily depleted after this fight and he's in need of a recharge.

"Alright... there it is, mate." Demo said, looking at the dust reactors. Neither men were from this world, but even they can see that these things are old, having to go through multiple repairs by the White Fang just to get this airship flying, and it looks like they barely got it to work on account of the visible streams of energy flowing out of cracks across it. "Good Lord, this bloody thing looks like it's gonna blow up by itself!" Chuckled the Scottish cyclops, pulling the charging handle on his Sticky Launcher repeatedly until it was fully reloaded.

Gordon stepped up to Demo's side and viewed the reactors with a doubtful look, watching as Demoman planted a variety of explosives including sticky bombs on it.

Topside, Scout and Pyro were fighting off additional White Fang troops as some Bullheads returned to the carrier. Flying around them was Engineer and the other members of Team Fortress dogfighting with Grimm and White Fang Bullheads. The two mercs on top were doing fine, but their ship was having difficulty dealing with the White Fang fighters as they were smaller and more maneuverable than them, making them an absolute bitch to shoot down.

The aerial Grimm turned out to be not so hard to deal with as Medic was able to pull off that defensive healing sphere again, having grabbed one of those devices when they were back at their fort. With identical results to the first time it was used, any Grimm who touched the shield for extended periods of time were vaporized into nothing, and knowing how the Grimm usually fight in swarm tactics with aerial Grimm being no exception, a lot of them were wiped out.

"Raaaargh! Come at me!" Soldier dared the enemy transports pretending like they're fighter craft, blowing the slow moving Bullheads out of the sky with one shot from the heavy turret. "Americans invented flying, and God invented me! I am designed by God to be the best flying killing machine inside a flying killing machine!"

" _Oy lads! We've got the ship set to blow!_ " Demo contacted them through the team radio.

"Alrighty then!" Engie responded, moving close to the burning enemy carrier and opening the back ramp.

At this point fighting was largely done on the White Fang airship. Most of the crew were dead, so many of them slaughtered and lying about the decks of the ship that their blood made the floors slick and slippery. Anyone still alive either jumped ship or tried in vain to put out the fires onboard, most of them ignoring the mercs and Freeman on board as they made their escape.

"Ha! Hope you can fly, bitch!" Scout laughed in the face of a female White Fang member he grappled with, then throwing her off the side of the ship. Obviously, he was expecting to see her meet her end by way of falling to death, but he was in for a surprise when she suddenly came back up and tackled him, her hands around his neck with a vengeance. " _GAH! S-SHE CAN FLY! SHE CAN FLY!_ " He choked, his bulging eyes finally realizing that she had a pair of bat wings on her back.

She was gonna toss Scout over the side herself, but she wasn't even able to take a step before Sniper put a round into her head that tore through her head and killed her instantly, the lifeless body falling off the side again and unlikely to fly back up here with that bullshit.

Everyone mounted back onto the ship with Demoman and Gordon being last as they had to travel up from the lower decks, and Engie wasted no time taking off from there. After reaching a safe enough distance, Demoman smiled evilly as he detonated the sticky bombs, causing a massive chain reaction in the reactor room that created an explosion powerful enough to temporarily destabilize their ship even from this far away.

 ***BOOOOOOOOOM!***

Went the explosion like that comic book style sound effect up there ^, effortlessly tearing the enemy airship in half and sending both halves crashing down to the gound below as flaming infernos. Anyone who didn't get off that ship in time was definitely dead now, and the team roared in cheers of victory.

"WOOOO! Hell yeah! That oughta show 'em who's king of the skies!" Engie hollered in delight.

"It makes no difference if in air or on land. We will crush all baby men." Heavy added, cracking his fists together and smiling as the burning airship hit the ground with a deafening thud, another series of explosions rocking the already ruined wreck.

They admired it for a few more minutes as Engie guided the ship out of the area, steering back on a course for Mistral. Their ship sustained minimal damage to the hull thanks in large part to the armor, and the engines remained surprisingly intact. Good thing too as Engie would go mental if he lost the ship again.

However, despite taking down this enemy carrier, the mercs soon saw that this victory wasn't quite as large as they thought it was. Over the hours on the flight toward Mistral, there was no end to the dark smoke and burning settlements across the land. There were no other White Fang units seen along the way, but there were plenty of Grimm and civilians trying to flee from their destroyed homes. The only good news was that friendly airships with the emblems of Haven Academy or the Kingdom of Mistral were encountered as they got ever closer to the city, flying out to provide help and support not only to the still standing settlements under attack, but to the raging hordes of stampeding refugees heading to the safety of the larger cities.

"Mon Deiu... what the Hell happened while we were gone?" Spy asked no one in particular, staring down at the violence and chaos with angry eyes.

"Bloody Hell, don't tell me that damned witch did this!" Sniper cursed, remembering how badly he wants to rip Cinder's face off after she decapitated him.

"I don't know fellas, but we got to get back to the kids first. Maybe they can tell us what's going on..." Engie said quietly, stoically staring ahead as the city of Mistral was finally in sight.

* * *

 **Olivia's Mansion. Hawaii, United States of America. TF2 Earth.**

Meanwhile on Earth, someone else was readying up their own space program for Remnant. Saxton Hale's self-proclaimed rival and also self-proclaimed mortal enemy, Olivia Mann, was already hard at work gathering rockets across Gray Mann Co. sites around the world. That is after she figured out how to directly communicate and order the robots stationed at these sites of course.

These days, there's only three things Olivia wanted: Avenge her father, beat up Saxton Hale, and make her only friend happy. That friend of course being none other than the Queen of Grimm herself, Salem. As soon as she returned to Earth, the girl wasted no time in carrying out her best friend Salem's wishes.

And let me tell you, Gray Mann's stockpile of ICBMs is no joke. That shouldn't be much of a surprise considering he took most of them from Mann Co. when he was alive and the company was just never able to regain them due to financial losses on Olivia's part among other reasons, but I'm talking this motherfucker made off with over half of Mann Co.'s stockpile of rockets. Fuck man, the rockets Saxton Hale currently has in his possession on Remnant were only the rockets that were at Mann Co. HQ itself, not from any other still operational Mann Co. facility, and just know that there isn't a lot of those left.

Rockets from as far as Cairo in Egypt and Tokyo in Japan to as close as in Hawaii itself were being shipped in bulk to Olivia's place. It may be far more than what was required, but it was all for making Salem happy.

All the while, her mercenary army continued to grow ever larger...

* * *

 **I'm still here but I'm just about hitting something now. It'll take me sometime to find what it is, but let me tell you that I miss you all, and gimme another chapter. I'll be back very soon, I promise. See you within the next couple of weeks.**


	73. Return Home

**Haven Academy, Mistral**

Well, the teens ended up feeling not nearly as good as they thought they would today. The one town they go to save and it turned out to be filled with racist assholes who kicked them out instead of thanked them, not doing their spirits any favors. Neither was the news they were watching as every damn channel on the air was reporting on the huge influx of refugess and the chaos at the kingdom's frontier. So many people were coming into the city that the authorities couldn't take care of them all, at least not all at once. Topping off how terrible things were, anti-Faunus protests from angry refugees were happening all across the city, the White Fang being the blame for that.

Everyone was too bummed out after returning from their adventure, the slight grilling from their superiors being ignored because of it. Team JNPR went out on a walk together to calm their nerves while Team SSSN actually stayed up at Headmaster Lionheart's office, being further reprimanded not because they saved a town full of assholes, but because they're the ones who hijacked the airship that damn near crashed it into his office earlier.

As for Team RWBY, they stayed at the staff house while Qrow and Oscar stayed with Lionheart, being there at Lionheart's insistence due to the headmaster needing much guidance in this situation. Of course they agreed to it, and they promised to brief the teens later. Ruby, Yang, and Weiss were down in the living room, grimly watching the awful news as nothing else was on. Blake was alone in their shared room, wanting to be by herself as she was understandably the most upset out of all of them at what they experienced today.

Lucky for them, something was finally going to be right today, and it was more than enough to boost their spirits.

The sun was falling from the sky around the time the girls inside the house could hear the low droning sound of something getting closer to the house, soon becoming really loud and clear where it sounded like an engine of some kind. "Hmm...?" Ruby hummed, snapping out of her little depressed state when she heard it. The others quickly noticed it too, looking around as the house began to shake a little. Yang was the first of them to go up to a window and check it out, her jaw dropping so low that she might as well hit the floor with it.

"THEY'RE BACK!" Yang cheered, running to the door without hesitation.

Weiss and Ruby got up and followed her out, though they wondered why Yang seemed so overexcited about this. As soon as they stepped out the door, they understood right away. Both girls were greeted by the sight of an unfamiliar aircraft bigger than a Bullhead landing in the lawn, and Yang eagerly meeting Team Fortress!

"WHERE HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN AND WHERE DID YOU GET THAT!?" Ruby cried as she rushed to meet them in a flurry of rose petals, glad that _something_ went right today. Not able to hold her more childish side in, she threw herself onto them to give joyous hugs. Each mercenary only experienced the petite girl's hugs for a second as she dashed between the nine of them, the girl only realizing something was off when she found herself hugging a tenth person. Her silver eyes looked up at whoever she was hugging, and she leaped off of the mystery man in surprise.

"WHOA! Uh... who's this?" Ruby asked a little meekly, discovering that she hugged a man she's never seen before. That man of course being Gordon Freeman, a man of science who has two PhDs: a PhD in theoretical physics, and another honorary PhD for kicking major ass. Blake came down right around this point, looking on in surprise at the airship as well since Yang was the only one among them who have seen it before.

The girls stood together with their attention mostly fixed on the new character here, wondering who he was and what his relation to the mercenaries were.

"Girls, this is Gordon Freeman. He is here to help us." Spy introduced them to Gordon, the man nodding towards them, but sizing them up just the same as they did to him. Like the mercenaries at first, he too questioned how these young teenage girls were supposed to be slayers of monsters.

"Oh, well hello Mr. Freeman!" Ruby happily greeted him properly. Each girl took their turn introducing their names to the man, and Gordon kindly gave his hand for them to shake, saying greetings in return.

"So are you a mercenary like these guys?" Yang asked, wondering such because his suit gives off a sort of combat vibe in its design.

"No. I'm a theoretical physicist." He answered, much to their surprise as that was about as far off from a mercenary you can possibly get.

"Uh... that doesn't sound very... cool." Ruby admitted shyly.

"Maybe so, but believe me when I tell you girls that this man is one of the toughest people we know outside of our world." Said the Frenchman, a firm hand on Freeman's shoulder. That last part did not go unnoticed, and they all tilted their heads in confusion.

"Wait wait wait, ' _outside of our world_ '? As in he's not from Earth? What, so he's from Remnant then?" Weiss asked this time.

"No, I am from Earth. Well, not _their_ Earth. Our worlds are quite similar, but there are some major differences."

That answer served to only confuse them more, the girls not understanding too much about the wider multiverse and whatnot. It actually wasn't a super complicated concept to grasp (you know, since the explanation can simply be boiled down to an infinite amount of different universes), but it was the girls' lack of experience with other worlds that really got them confused about this. Plus, the fact that there were clear signs of damage on their airship was worth some concern.

Eager to know more about where they went and so forth, they coaxed Spy and Engineer into telling them their full adventure while the others unloaded stuff from the airship.

Gaben taking their shit and chasing him into the BattlePC, him leaving them pretty much nothing in comparison to the amount of new goodies they got, getting stuck on the BattePC and hanging out with people from too many different worlds to count, entering the portal to their world only to get sent to the tropical island paradise of Hawaii by random chance, getting their asses attacked by a faction of enemy mercenaries led by Olivia Mann, escaping her by going to Hell, the Devil kicking them out of Hell and conveniently leaving them at Mann Co. HQ, and from there you should remember the rest.

Oh yeah, and they also gave them some of the fun little merchandise they bought from the BattlePC. Ruby got a cute little chibi bobblehead of herself for one.

A summary of like the last five chapters right there if you forgot, but that's skipping over what the teens were up to in that time. Weird dimensional time differences aside, all the teens ended up doing is going out for a hopefully fun day only for the White Fang to ruin everything when the attacks began, kicking off the bad experience with the racist Greek-like town.

"Who's Olivia Mann?" Ruby asked.

"Apparently, she's the daughter of Gray Mann if you remember who that is." Spy answered. hoping they remember who he was from all that time ago when they first appeared in this world, explaining to them everything.

"Uh... he's the dude who sent a bunch of robots to fight you guys, right?" Said Yang.

"Yes, that is him. Considering how she's still a little girl and he was 150 years old by the time of his death, she's clearly adopted into the family." Said the Frenchman of the crew.

"Heh, I guess you can say that she's the last _Mann_ standing? Eh?" Chuckled Yang, her pun being punny. The gang honestly wasn't even mad at it as it was a part of Yang that they missed from the old days, good to see Yang being herself in the face of these dark times.

"But why is she trying to kill you guys now and not back then?" Asked Blake.

"I don't know why, but she was kind enough to let us know that she's allied with Salem..." The Frenchman said grimly, observing the widening eyes of the teens.

"WHAT!? HOW DOES SHE KNOW SALEM!?" Weiss cried, her usual proper nature being cast aside due to the sheer shock of this revelation. The same can be said for the rest of her team as the thought of someone else on Remnant having interdimensional travel was a worrying thought, and that's not even mentioning that it was their greatest enemy.

"That's unbelievable... Does that mean the enemy has a portal connection between our worlds?" Blake asked, being far more quiet in tone but still highly concerned.

"And maybe even to the whole damn multiverse as well..." Engie began, his intelligent mind thinking overtime. "Assumin' they got the same kind of portal travelling capabilities like us, then the enemy can go anywhere they damn like. Even the BattlePC!"

"Oh no... does that mean she can get help from any world she wants?" Ruby asked with serious worry, the literally endless possibilities of what kind of enemies they may have to fight filling her mind.

"You're damn right she can if she got some little girl from our world to help her..." Engie sighed.

The girls fell silent as things just escalated far more than they could ever imagine. Not only is Salem a super powerful Queen of the Grimm, but now she's making allies in other worlds now? This fight was now beyond Remnant... _far_ beyond Remnant...

"If that army of enemy mercenaries comes to Remnant... Mistral won't stand a chance." Blake said grimly, cursing their luck. The poor Faunus girl was already stressed out of her mind after facing the wave of White Fang attacks today as well as some of the worst anti-Faunus hate she's ever seen in her life.

"Do not get your hopes down, Ms. Belladonna. The enemy may have acquired new allies, but that does not mean we are helpless. Saxton Hale is launching rockets into space as we speak." The Frenchman said, gaining their attention about what he could possibly hope to gain from shooting rockets up there. "He plans on creating a satellite array in orbit around the planet, meaning that we can monitor enemy movements as well as have communications no matter where we are. Think of it as like the CCT, but in space and far less vulnerable to enemy attacks. Especially in this world where space travel is not possible with your technology."

"Really? People on Earth can send signals around the world using stuff in space? Huh, that's actually really cool!" Said Ruby.

"Indeed, and do not forget Ruby, the enemy may have access to the multiverse but we do as well." Spy told her with a grin, looking toward Gordon Freeman who was standing against a wall and listening to the conversation. When he said that, each of the girls' eyes lit up with the endless possibilities of allies from other worlds.

"Mr. Moreau... you're... you're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?" Weiss said in a near whisper.

"Indeed I am, Weiss. Just as they can get allies, so can we. However ladies, I must warn you that my only fear about this is that we may get involved in the affairs of other worlds if we are not careful. Our main goal is to kill Cinder and likely her associates if they get in our way, not to fight battles across worlds we have no business in. Understand?"

They nodded in understanding, but the endless possibilities still filled their minds and honestly kind of excited them.

"Hmm... oh! I just remembered I got somethin' that'll cheer y'all spirits up real fine-like..." Engie said, getting out the typical kind of toolbox he stores his buildings in and setting it down on an open space of the floor.

"Engie... i-is that...?" Ruby's eyes widened, glowing in anticipation.

Same description for her friends as they too slowly closed around him, all their eyes shining with wonder as they had a pretty good guess of what was in the hopes were answered when the Texan laid out the toolbox, the thing bursting open to reveal a folded Teleporter which then unfolded itself rather quickly, activating to give off the familiar spinning glow.

"A TELEPORTER!" Ruby and Yang, all signs of gloomy depression disappearing from all of them completely.

"You're damn right it's a Teleporter! Went through Hawaii and Hell to get this thing..." Chuckled Engie, what he said going unnoticed by the excited girls. "This here leads right back to our base in Patch, so that means y'all can go to Vale as much as you'd like."

"Huh?" Ruby froze, looking at her friend. "Patch? You mean like... my home?"

"You got ears, ain't ya? You heard me right, lil miss. You can say hi to your old man now."

Ruby remained still, her eyes locked on the Teleporter. She hasn't seen her home on Patch for over half a year now. She missed her home, her dog Zwei, and her father so much. Her mind came back to her when she felt her sister's robotic hand on her shoulder, turning her head to see Yang's warm smile.

"Want to say hi to dad?" Said her sister.

The answer was obvious, Ruby nodding to Yang with a smile.

"Why don't y'all head back to Vale and relax a while? From what I heard, you're gonna have a Hell of an easier time trying to relax there than here in Mistral."

"But Mr. Conagher, what about the enemy?" Blake asked warily.

"Yeah... and all those people out there?" Ruby added.

"Well, sometimes you just got to face reality, kids. You can't be there to help 'em all, but you don't got to worry about a thing now that me and the boys are back. Now go on and take some time off. We'll take care of things here." What Engie's said shook their hearts. Deep down, they knew he was right. They didn't want to believe it, but the fact of the matter was that there was little they can truly do to help the situation

"But Engie... we can help." Ruby went.

"I'm not saying y'all can't help, but you better take care of yourselves first before you can even think of taking care of the enemy. Too much stressin' can't possibly be good for any person's soul."

Though still wary about leaving, they knew that the soft spoken Texan was right. Maybe being away from all the darkness and violence they've been exposed to nonstop for the last six months will do them wonders. God knows it'll do them some real nice morale boosts, especially for the likes of Ruby and Blake.

So without much further talk, the teens agreed to go back to Vale for the time being with the comforting knowledge that they can easily travel between there to Mistral wiith little effort.

Understanding his reasoning, they left for Vale. It was now only the mercenaries in the house, prmosing to relay the information to Team JNPR and Qrow and Ozpin whenever they come back.

And since now Team Fortress has returned to Mistral, it's time to get some real work done.

* * *

 **Onboard the "Dauntless", Menagerie**

The _Dauntless_ is an Atlesian _Tundra_ -class cruiser that now served as the flagship of the relatively small White Fang air fleet. This class of warship was once the standard of the Atlesian Military a decade ago, but they were since replaced by the current model _Glacier_ -class cruiser seen most prominently during the Battle of Beacon. Despite being retrofitted and upgraded by the White Fang to the best of their ability, the ship cannot hold its own against a single _Glacier_ -class in combat. Its only advantages against the modern ship being that it has a smaller profile and faster movement speed, meaning it can more easily evade attacks.

Regardless of its inferiority, the White Fang still went through the trouble of capturing it before it reached the scrapyards and putting it to their own use.

Sienna Khan was aboard the airship, looking down at the Faunus populated city below. Particularly, her focus was on the Belladonna mansion where she left her predecessor Ghira hours earlier. The White Fang always wanted the people of Menagerie to be with them, but not like this. She may be the one who lead the organization's radical shift into terrorism, but all the actions they done today were not of her own will.

When that Human known as Hazel rolled up to the White Fang's hidden Fortress in Southern Anima with a horribly injured Adam Taurus and his contingent of the White Fang, she never would have guessed that the White Fang would be forced into an alliance with the faction he works for.

She recalled how she didn't take him seriously at first whatsoever, believing him to be a suicidal fool for daring to enter the fortress of the White Fang. However, when he revealed his master to her, Sienna and the other top leaders of the White Fang had no choice but to either cooperate or face total annihlation.

What else could they do when an unimaginably huge horde of Grimm surrounded their fortress? The dark creatures of rage ready to wipe out the White Fang's main command center and irreversibly cripple the organization to the point of total collapse.

There's no telling how many Faunus lives will be thrown away in the upcoming battles. All because the mysterious figure known as Salem has total control of the untamable Creatures of Grimm, the greatest and by far most powerful force in the world. Sienna hated it not only because of that, but now the only way the White Fang could possibly achieve their core goals now is another war against Humanity.

She disliked Humanity greatly, that much is undeniable, but she never wanted to actually go to war with them. Sienna was a young child during the time of the Faunus Rights Revolution, and she knew firsthand how terrible a war between Humans and Faunus will be. She knew that the White Fang's terrorist actions was pushing it to the extreme, but her hope in doing so was that the Humans would be just as afraid of fighting another war and accept the demands of equality that the White Fang had.

Now, the only thing she could hope to gain from this unwilling relationship is the defeat of Humankind in this war with the Grimm aiding them. At least that was somewhat of a positive.

Sighing, the tiger Faunus stepped away from the windows of the command bridge and sat on a throne-like seat.

"Tell the captain of the _Sphinx_ to remain here and that he's in charge of the garrison." Sienna ordered a radioman. He nodded to her and began relaying the message to the captain of the _Sphinx_ , the converted Schnee Dust Company freighter turned makeshift warship. "Set course for home." She gave as her next order.

"Yes, High Leader." The captain of this ship nodded, taking the helm as the _Dauntless_ and the rest of the fleet left Menagerie, the ships becoming dark silhouettes in the sky as the sun set over this side of Remnant.

* * *

 **Mercs' Fortress, Patch Island.**

Meanwhile, on the complete opposite side of the world where the sun was rising, all of Team RWBY arrived in Patch by way of Teleporter. Once they were all through, the girls were greeted by the unfamiliar sight of hundreds of mercenary robots around a heavily defended fort they haven't seen before. Unfamiliar to all except for Yang of course, but there have been some serious changes to this place that she didn't remember being here last time.

Namely, big ass rockets blasting off into space.

As soon as they stepped out that Teleporter, it coincided with the launching of another rocket heading to orbit. The timing couldn't be any more perfect because look at it this way, these four girls just arriving here wondering what's going on, and then BOOM! Surprise space rocket launch, bitch.

"WHAT IS THAT!?" Shrieked Blake as her especially sensitive cat ears were unprepared for the deafening loud thunder of a rocket taking off. Spy and Engineer came through with them as there was stuff they needed to do back here, but they weren't going to walk these girls home. Nope, they're big girls. They can handle themselves.

"It's some kind of huge rocket!" Ruby shouted, her eyes glassing over in sheer wonder of the large object climbing so high so quickly that it was faster than any vehicle she's ever seen or heard of before.

"That must be what Spy told us about." Softly said the ex-heiress in awe as it soared above.

"Heh, doesn't beat actually being in space though." Shrugged Yang, wanting to rub that fact in just a little bit more.

The girls stood there like tourists looking at an exotic attraction, not unlike a certain group of tourists from a certain Asian nation that the mercenaries encountered hours earlier, minus the cameras of course. They continued to watch the rocket ascend higher and higher into the heavens until it became little more than a twinkling light with a column of gray smoke flowing from it.

"So... this is their fortress?" Weiss said, breaking the others out of their trance. "Hmm... fitting how a group called 'Team Fortress' has a fortress now."

"I know, right? Pretty impressive, huh?" Smiled Yang, even though she had no part in its construction whatsoever.

"Ugh... can we go somewhere else please?" Blaked begged them, wishing to be far away from whenever the next rocket launches.

"Hehehe, sure Blakey." Went Yang, giving Blake a good spirited rough pat on the head as they decided to leave for Ruby's house as their first stop.

Weiss and Blake agreed to go with the sisters as they thought this would be an excellent chance to formally meet their father, who they've been told was a pretty cool guy. Weiss was particularly eager to go since she knew that her good doggo friend Zwei was there.

So far they saw no other living beings in the fortress except for Spy and Engie for obvious reasons. The place was entirely staffed by the same robots modeled after the mercenaries they saw at the Battle of Beacon, and there were even some new models of machines they have not seen previously. By just looking at their design, they could tell that these new machines are built for combat considering the obvious armor and weaponry on them. Some were crewed by regular bots while others are fully automated and can operate themselves.

They did eventually spot Saxton Hale though as he was busy directing robots moving the next space rocket into position for launch. He looked pretty busy and they were honestly kind of afraid of him due to the sheer size of his Grimm slaying Australian balls and massive muscles, so they decided to leave him be.

"Hmm? Ruby?" Went Weiss when she noticed the girl stop in her tracks, looking at the interdimensional portal as Spy and Engie were about to enter it. The ex-heiress knew what Ruby was thinking right away. " _Ruuuuby..._ " She said in a similar tone like how a mother would catch a child thinking of doing something bad.

"What? I'm just looking at the portal!" She whined.

"Come on Ruby, I'm not falling for that excuse." Sighed Weiss, grabbing Ruby by the wrist. "Your father hasn't seen you in over half a year and you're thinking of going to another world?"

"I know... but I can't help but think there's something important we can be helping them with."

"I don't doubt that you're wrong about that Ruby, but Engineer did say that we can only do that if we take care of ourselves first." Said Weiss, recalling Engie's words. Ruby nodded in understanding, but it soon became clear that she had some other interest in the portal.

"Ooooooh... you wanna visit the BattlePC, don't you?" Her sister Yang called her out.

"Of course I do! I mean, don't you guys? That place sounds _soooooo_ cool!"

"Heh, well tell you what baby sis, how about we stop by that place after seeing dad?" Yang smiled, lovingly roughing up Ruby's hair which she whined a little about. Weiss seemed to be okay with that idea as well, and Blake... wait a minute. Where'd she go?

"Huh? Blake!?" The ex-heiress shouted the catgirl's name when she spotted her sprinting towards the front entrance of the fortress as if her life was in danger. "Why are you running!?"

"ALL PERSONNEL, CLEAR LAUNCH AREA. ROCKET LAUNCHING SEQUENCE WILL BEGIN SHORTLY." A robotic voice announced over the fortress' intercom system, prompting the girls to look at currently the only operational launch pad to see another rocket ready to head to the stars.

"Oh... so that's why she ran..." Yang said blankly. The three of them chuckling a little at Blake's expense, they soon sprinted after her out of the fortress. Fifteen minutes after they left the fortress, the fourth rocket began its journey to orbit around the planet.

* * *

 **Later, Ruby and Yang's House. Patch Island.**

"Huh?" Went Taiyang Xiao Long as he was making breakfast for himself.

Someone just rang the doorbell to his house, and he's wondering who possibly wanted to see him at this hour. The possibilities were pretty straightforward as Professors Port and Oobleck have been visited his place often, or it could have been Professor Goodwitch needing to talk to him about something.

"Hmm... I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!" He shouted to the door, finishing as he was nearly done anyway. It was a recipe that his wife and Ruby's mother, Summer Rose, taught him to make back when she was still kicking. Taiyang's cooking ability was decent, especially since he ended up raising two girls by himself, but he could never truly match the skills of Summer.

The thought saddened him a bit. Summer was long dead and he missed her dearly, but that wasn't what made him sad. No, but it was that thinking of Summer reminded him of how he hasn't seen his youngest daughter in months. She and Ruby are practically clones of one another, and he hoped for the best that wherever Ruby was, she was okay and that his other daughter with those mercenary guys can bring her home.

"Yes?" Tai said as he answered the door. His heart stopped soon after, and his whole body froze stiffer than stone.

"Uh... hi, dad..."

* * *

 **Alright, so hey everybody. It's been a while since I last talked to you. Things have been real difficult for me in terms of writing and doing stuff, but I'm feeling a lot better in all departments these days. In two months it will be the second anniversary of this story that started it all and so much has changed. Not only for me, but in this story as well.**

 **Interest in writing in general has been on and off for me. It's hard to get back to it cuz of writer's block and shit, but after some time considering things like why I used to be so popular and TF2 comics, I feel like the easy answer to all this is to just let looose. Not loose like go fucking insane and turn this into nonsensical bullshit like smexuals (though those are still entertaining, just in a different way), but be like how I used to in the glory days.**

 **I still dislike current RWBY though, but even knowing this I can't look at the older volumes of RWBY the same way again.  
**

 **Do you remember the reasons I gave for why I liked RWBY but disliked Volume 5 in chapter 65? Well, I keep looking at the first couple of volumes of RWBY again and again and I just feel disappointed. Fact of the matter was that the show wasn't really that great from the start. I'd have to talk about why it's not good some other time as we'll be here a while if I did, but RWBY is just one of those guilty pleasure things where you watch it for fun. I knew it wasn't great from the start but I watched it anyway, and after looking at the volumes I did enjoy, I can't help but feel horrible disappointed. The show was supposed to get better over time, not become whatever the fuck Volume 5 was. Watching the older volumes made me sick because I knew it was all for nothing in the end.**

 **At least we got amazing fans who can make better things with the world the show gave us than the actual people handling the show can.**

 **Yes... well at any rate I hope to see everyone again soon.**

 **I'll start replying to reviews next chapter comes around.**


	74. Visitors

**Xiao Long-Rose Household, Patch Island**

Words couldn't express how overjoyed Taiyang Xiao was to get both of his girls back. When he opened that door, he needed a moment to blink his eyes a bunch and mentally slap himself to confirm that he wasn't seeing things, but reality set in quickly. There was no denying it, standing before him were none other than Ruby, Yang, and two other girls he didn't recognize standing further behind them.

"Uh... hi, dad..." Ruby shyly said, her eyes already tearing up at seeing her father again. Tai stepped back as if he seen a ghost when she spoke, struggling to find words to even say. It was just too sudden. No warning or anything and they're just home, and in such short notice too since Yang left like less than a week ago!

"Well dad, I did it." Began Yang with a proud smile. "I brought Ruby home."

Their father exploded to life when he threw himself forward onto them, giving both of his daughters a hug that was a long time coming. His girls were more than happy to return it, lovingly holding their dear father as tight as he was to them. Ruby's tears flowed in earnest now, having missed her father so much when she was off on this dark adventure.

"I missed you so much, dad..." She cried softly. "I-I'm sorry f-for leaving without t-telling you... I hope you're not mad at me."

"Shhhh... it's okay..." Tai assured his youngest daughter, a tear going down his face as well. "I'm not mad... I'm just happy you're home."

"Dad..." Ruby cried, tears coming down faster now as they stained Taiyang's clothes. "I went through so much... the things I saw... the things I-"

"I know, I know Ruby... it's alright now. You don't have to worry about any of that anymore."

Blake and Weiss stoody by as the family reunited, sympathetic for them. It made both the ex-heiress and the catgirl wonder how their own families were doing now. Blake saw her parents not too long ago and she knew they were fine unless something happened between then and now, and Weiss... well, she doesn't have the best of relationships with some people in her family, but she still cared deeply for Winter and her mother. She knew Winter was fine in the Atlesian embassy, and her mother was still in Atlas. Weiss was far more concerned for her than Winter as she knew for a fact that her father will discover her gone and find out how and where to she escaped, and when he does find out he will do everything in his power to bring her back.

"Hey, are you hungry?" Taiyang said to his daughters. "You came just in time for breakfast, but uh... I'm gonna have to make more for all of you."

"Oh, don't worry dad! Ruby and I will help you out, right Rubes?" Smiled Yang, both dragons looking at the little Rose.

"I would love to..." Ruby said in a trembling but happy tone, wiping her face clear of tears using her sleeves.

"Ha! Just don't try to burn the ingredients like you usually do, okay?" Joked Tai, dragon dad lovingly messing up Ruby's hair. "Come on! Let's get inside, and bring uh... ummm..." He trailed, snapping his fingers as he recognized their faces from pictures but not able to place any names.

"Oh right! Dad, this is Weiss and that's Blake. They're the teammates from Beacon we were telling you about." Ruby gladly introduced them to her father, happy that after so long they could finally meet in person.

"It's nice to meet you." Said the catgirl, nodding.

"It's an honor, Mr. Xiao Long." Weiss said, complete with polite curtsy.

"Ah, you can just me call Tai." He assured them, giving his hand out for them to shake. "Now come on! I can't wait to hear what crazy adventures you have to tell me this time..."

A family has been united this day. A family made up of two tough dragons and a relatively delicate Rose. Together once more, much happiness came from the overjoyed family with enough warmth to heat up the heart of anyone who looks on them now. Joining them in their humble home was an ice princess and a cat, and though they weren't related to the family by blood, both were treated with such hospitality that they might as well be part of it.

It certainly caught Weiss and Blake off guard as Taiyang Xiao Long really ended up being a much cooler dad than how Ruby and Yang described him, and that's saying a lot since these girls loved their father to death. Much like his daughters, the other two girls were both glad they decided to leave the grim and gloom of Mistral behind to see him.

"Get out of here... you can't be serious!" Tai said, wide-eyed.

"Yep. _I_ am the first person from Remnant to go into space." Yang said proudly, still utterly smug as all Hell about that life achievement. "The guys took the ship straight up into the sky when we got attacked by a bunch of Grimm, and next thing I know, I was in space! I could see everything from up there. You wouldn't believe it!"

"Heh, you're right. I don't believe it..." Tai chuckled. "What, does it look exactly like the world maps or what?"

"Yeah it kinda does actually. Except that the world is so beautiful from up there. It definitely beats out any detailed maps I seen before." She answered truthfully, her father continuing to poke around since he, like the vast majority of Remnant, doesn't believe that space travel is possible.

"Ugh, she won't shut up about it..." Weiss groaned, tired of Yang's space gloating long ago. As soon as she finished saying that, the house began to shake and the distant but loud roar of somsthing can be heard.

Looking out a window, all could see that the source of the disturbance was another one of Hale's rockets taking off for the stars. The damn things are being launched at a faster rate now that the tireless robots finished construction of a few more launch pads and silos. It was only a matter of moving them into position into launch, checking all systems and pre-launch precautions to make sure the rocket doesn't blow up in their faces, and then up to space it goes.

"Speaking of space... those idiots in that fort have been launching rockets up into the sky since yesterday. They've been shaking the whole island up." Sighed dragon dad, looking back to all the family pictures and other items he had to lay on the floor lest they fall off the shelves and walls. "What's the point of sending those rockets up there anyways? They're just gonna fall back to the planet before making it to space..."

"Well maybe for a rocket using dust, but don't forget that they're from another world." Ruby pointed out to him. "They told us that those rockets are carrying things called 'sattelites' up there, and they use them just like how we use the CTT! Except in space!"

"Meh, sounds like people in that other world can do anything, huh?"

"Pretty much, I guess." Ruby shrugged. "They do have teleportation technology and stuff, so who knows?"

Taiyang remained silent as the girls started talking amongst each other about all the unique tech they've seen from the mercs. On one hand he was more than happy that his daughters were home, and finally meeting their two teammates was also quite pleasant. On the other, he knew in his heart that Ruby nor any of her friends were here to stay for long. Since those mercenary guys apparently have a Teleporter in Patch that goes straight to Mistral, it was a no-brainer that they wanted to go back into the danger zone to finish their quest.

He already knew about Salem, having learned of her long ago back when he was a part of Ozpin's inner circle. Summer Rose and Raven Branwen were both around in those days, and he can't help but see traits of both of his wives in their daughters. Yang inherited her mother's stubborn nature and not much else in terms of personality, but Ruby was a near carbon copy of Summer Rose as if she was a clone.

That's the hard reason why he knew Ruby wasn't going to stay safe at home with him. Where Raven was stubborn, Summer was determined and brave. Ruby already left the house once and went on a long journey to Mistral with just her friends accompanying her, and Tai could sense the changes in her.

Ruby is still very much a child at heart, that much was obvious, but at the same time she had matured so much that Tai could only see even more of Summer within her. It hurt him in the inside to know that his baby girl went through so much on her journey and had seen so much of the darkness in the world that he regrets not being there with her.

Well, it's all part of growing up he guessed. Ruby may only be 16, but he can already see the transformation from his adorable baby girl to a beautiful woman the likes of her mother.

They do grow up so fast...

"Dad? Uh... dad?" Said Ruby, waving her hand in front of his face. "Dad? Come on, snap out of it! You've been staring at me for five minutes!" She giggled, giving him a playful tap on the forehead.

"Huh, what? Oh... uh, sorry Ruby..." Dragon dad laughed sheepishly. "I uh... I was just thinking about something. What were we talking about?"

"Well... we were just about to leave."

"What? You're going back to Mistral already? But you just came home!"

"Oh no, we're not going back yet! We just want to visit Vale and see if any of our old friends are still around."

Taiyang internally sighed in relief. "I understand. Just... just let me know whenever you girls go back to Mistral."

"You know you can come with us to Mistral, right Mr. Xiao Long? It's also not like we can't come back anytime we want." Said Weiss.

He blinked at her and remained silent for a moment, getting slight giggles from the girls. Dragon dad was so caught up with worrying and thinking about how much his daughters' changed that he forgot that teleportation goes both ways. Now he just gelt silly for worrying so much, but the danger is still very real. Salem is no joke, and Summer found that out the hard way...

At least this means that he actually _can_ be there this time. He refuses to let a repeat of what happened to Summer happen again for his daughters.

* * *

 **Later, Outside the BattlePC.**

Yeah, they lied.

Team RWBY went straight to the mercs' fortress after saying goodbye to Taiyang. They really do want to walk around Vale and see how the place has changed since they left it, but Ruby put that off as she so badly wanted to see what the BattlePC was like. The rest of her team would be lying if they said they weren't interested in visiting the place as well.

Skipping ahead of the long walk to get to the fortress, they entered the interdimensional portal and found themselves out in the Void. They had the option of travelling straight down the slipstream that took them directly to Mann Co. HQ in TF2 Earth, or they can exit out of it and freely travel the Void. The BattlePC was parked like right next to the Remnant gateway anyway, so they really didn't need to go looking for it.

You'd have to be either blind or a super dumbass to not see this big ass computer out in the vast space of this Void, and it's right in front of you no less.

"What, so we just go through this thing?" Weiss asked nobody in particular, putting a hand on the wall of the slipstream. The swirling energy felt like warm jello to the touch, being jiggly and stuff. "Is it even safe to go out there?"

Her question was answered when randomly, a drunken man babbling something floated past them. He was wearing clothes that had a kind of military feel to them, and he wasn't wearing anything over his head as he continued pouring vodka down his mouth. Team RWBY didn't know it, but this was a stalker from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

" _T_ _his is one crazy anomaly..._ " The drunken stalker slurred in a heavy Eastern European accent as he floated past them, giving them a weak wave.

"...uh, I guess that answers that." Yang said, pushing her mechanical hand through the energy wall. Soon, she effortlessly forced her whole body through it and was free floating out in the open Void. "Whoa! This is just like being in space! Come on guys, join me!"

With some hesitation, the other members of Team RWBY slowly forced their bodies out of the slipstream and found themselves feeling wobbly and confused as there was nothing to stand on out in the Void. This was the first time the girls have been out in the actual space of the Void before as previously they've only been through here when teleporting between worlds.

"Where's the floor in this place!?" Ruby shrieked as she flailed about like a chicken, much like the other two girls who have not experienced space like Yang has.

Yang was fine as being out here was quite actually similar to being in space, but the big difference being that there's no need for a mask or anything to breathe out here. There's no planets and stuff either, but one would not be wrong if they thought the Void closely resembled space with how distant lights of gateways to other worlds shined similarly to stars. It wasn't totally pitch black either as there were splotches of color similar in appearance to nebulae, only making the resemblance to space more uncanny.

"Hahaha! You guys look so dumb!" Yang laughed at their expense, tears in her eyes. Who can blame her though? Three girls were flopping around everywhere trying to figure out how to stabilize themselves. They looked like people who had no idea how to swim with all the kicking and flailing they were doing.

"Whoooa... okay, easy now..." Blake said to herself as she managed to stop spinning. She thought she got it, but Weiss rudely budged in when the still struggling Ice Queen bumped against Blake's back. Not like super hard or anything, but just enough to throw away all of Blake's progress.

"Ugh, I've had enough!" Growled the ex-heiress, bringing out Myretenaster where she smartly decided to end this foolishness and create a glyph for her to stand on. One of said snowflake glyphs appeared at her feet, and just like that she was fine. "Humph. That settles that..." Weiss said to herself, looking over to the other two to see how they were doing. Immediately, she resisted the urge to chuckle, especially since Blake was giving her a mean look as she drifted away.

"Waaaaah! Help me!" Ruby cried, but seeing Weiss use her glyphs gave her the smart idea to use her own weapon to help. With an evil little snicker, she brought up Crescent Rose, moved it around to the right angle, and fired.

It wasn't such a smart idea after all.

"AHHHHHHHH!" The girl screamed as the full force of her own weapon flung her back at high speed, no air resistance to slow her down like there would be on a planet. Was there even air out here? I mean, they can breathe in the Void, but time and space is so confusing to grasp here that the laws of physics as they know it probably don't apply.

Anyways, Ruby was only able to stop her momentum when she bumped backfirst into the stalker from earlier, giving a loud OOF from the impact with the man.

" _Ow!_ _Cyka..._ " Groaned the man as he took the brunt of Ruby's small mass, pushing him away slightly. He didn't really care though. Vodka's all he needs to be happy out here.

"Oh, sorry!" Ruby apologized to him as he drifted away, but at least bumping into him meant that she was finally able to correct herself. "You can do it Blake! I know you can!"

"I'm trying!" The cat shouted in frustration as now she was beginning to feel sick. "Ugh, help! Please!"

"Mhpm hmphm hmm?" They heard a familiar person muffle, looking towards the slipstream to see Pyro emerge from it.

"Mr. Pyro? What are you doing out here?" Yang asked the freak.

"Phmm hmphma." It nodded. The girls remained silent for a moment as they tried to figure out what he said, eventually giving it up as it was too difficult to make sense of anything that comes through that mask. "Fhmpa mph ahpmm." Pyro said, just floating by itself toward Blake where he set her straight.

"Hey, how are we supposed to move out here? We don't have jetpacks or anything." Yang asked him, to which Pyro just muffled another thing out and simply started to move around effortlessly in the Void, even going so far as to literally walk on nothing.

"Huh?" All four girls said at once, their minds collectively failing to comprehend the utter lack of simple physics in this place.

"So we just kinda... _do it_ , then?" Ruby asked in utter confusion. Her confusion only worsened when Pyro nodded and gave a thumbs up, indicating that she was right. Having nothing to lose, she simply uh... thought about walking, and the next thing she knew her feet felt like they were on solid ground! "Ohhhh... this feels weird..." She said softly, her head feeling kind of nauseous since her eyes told her that she was standing on nothing, yet her feet were telling her that she can walk just fine.

"Where's the physics in this place?" The ex-heiress said aloud, discovering like everyone else that she can just walk if she thought about it. Pyro just shrugged as there was simply no answer to it. Again, the Void's a confusing place. "This doesn't make any sense!"

"Weiss, we're in a dimension that has portals to like a billion worlds in it, and there's a giant computer right next to us owned by a god or something. I think walking on nothing might be the most normal thing we've seen here." The blond of the group pointed out. Weiss was gonna say something back, but nothing came out of her mouth once she realized that there really was nothing she could say.

"Hmphm dhmphma!" Pyro said, motioning for them to join it as she walked towards the front entrance of the BattlePC.

It was easy to understand what he intended this time, so the girls followed her - Wait, I meant him. Or... it? I dunno. Pyro's gender was always a mystery, and pretty much everything else about it is a mystery as well. It's face, it's skin color, it's eye color, and even if it's really Human or not is a mystery.

So...

Now is the moment of truth. Team RWBY's about to get their first look inside the BattlePC with Pyro as their guide, and it looked nothing like they expected it to look like at all. Mostly because the front entrance was kind of a reception area like one would find at a hotel, and they were expecting the whole place to be that awesome sounding portal hub place the mercs told them about. In fact, if some dude somehow woke up in here and had no context on where this place was, he would immediately assume this was some kind of hotel and not inside a humongous computer.

"Hello, Pyro. Welcome back to the BattlePC." The receptionist greeted the gas masked individual. Pyro muffled out a greeting in return, and began mphming out a sentence while it motioned toward the girls behind him. Apparently, the receptionist could somehow understand Pyro as she appeared to be able to make out every garbled word that comes out of that mask. "Hmm, more people from Remnant... can you four please tell me your names?"

Not sure why they really needed to but seeing it as harmless, they each gave of their names to the receptionist who was typing away on her computer..

" _Why does this place feel like a hotel?_ " Ruby whispered to her older sister since Yang was the only one who's been here before, Yang merely shrugging as she had no idea.

"Alright... here you go, girls." Said the receptionist, retrieving four holographic ID cards and handing it to each of them. "Welcome to the BattlePC, Team RWBY. Keep these cards on you so the staff here know not to kick you out, and please enjoy your time here on Valve Corporation's state of the art voidfaring BattlePC!"

"Uh... thanks..." Yang went as she took her card along with the rest. Pyro, happy to see the deal done, clapped its hands in delight and eagerly pushed them to see the fun wonderland that was the portal hub place.

"Thank you!" Ruby chirped back to the woman, excited once again that she finally got to see it for real this time.

All they had to do now is go up to this terminal thing that had this big glowing orange orb in it, Pyro selecting where in the BattlePC they wanted to go, and that's it! Team RWBY soon found out that this is the BattlePC's version of a Teleporter that despite visually looking nothing like how the mercenaries used teleportation, it worked just as well as the mercenary model. It actually worked even better than the mercenary model as the teleportation was not only instant, but had a super fast recharge time compared to Engie's teleporters.

What else could one expect though? For something as big as the BattlePC, you definitely need teleporters to get people around quickly.

Anyways, the _actual_ moment of truth was here. The portal hub place that the mercs told them about. The place that they've been stuck in for hours and met several people from different worlds. They came in here with high expectations, and they were totally blown out of the water.

The portal hub between worlds within the BattlePC was like a mix between a shopping mall, an airport, and a hotel. All of it built with the money out of the pockets of the countless billions of dollars thrown into Steam sales over the years by hapless gamers, and everyone knows that Gabe's favorite prey are the wallets of gamers. Many a gamer has spent money on games they didn't need/will never play because of it, but that's something the interdimensional visitors of the BattlePC didn't need to know...

"Whoa... this place sure has changed a lot. It wasn't like this last time I was here..." Yang said, at a loss for words just by looking at the sheer number of portal gateways that lead to different worlds. That's not even mentioning the kind of people and... things, for lack of a better word, that were walking around here. No doubt that they were all from different worlds as they didn't look anything like the BattlePC staff that they've seen around the place.

Speaking of which, the staff at the BattlePC were also different than from the last time Yang was here. Whereas last time they looked like Counter-Strike CTs except wearing the colors of Valve Corporation and Steam, now they looked like regular office workers wearing suits and ties with armbands that marked them out as employees here. However, the heavily armed and armored guards seen before hadn't totally disappeared. Almost as a reminder of this station's original intended role, they could be seen manning security checkpoints and keeping a watch over the portal hub, usually away from the eyes of the visitors but one could still spot them if they look closely.

It was somewhat unsettling that there were still armed guards in a place that gave off such an energetic and relaxing feel, but come now, it's completely necessary. Not even sarcasm at that since think about it, would you really let people from hundreds of different worlds interact with each other without security making sure they didn't fuck each other or the BattlePC up?

Kinda makes one wonder how strong the guards must be despite looking like normal people, but whatever.

"THIS PLACE IS AWESOME!" Ruby cheered like an excited child, though she no longer felt shy in the presence of large crowds anymore. She still wasn't too good at social interactions with people, but she has came a long way since the cute and awkward little girl who first walked into Beacon all that time ago.

There were so many people here, so many intereting things to look at, so many random shops to go to, so many weapons to see that she didn't even know where to start! This whole experience just overwhelmed the minds and senses of the girls as much like excited tourists visiting a foreign city or an exotic location. Their perception of the world they lived in already changed drastically when the mercs revealed and proved that they were from a different world, but being exposed to the wider multiverse? There's just no way to describe it other than total sensory overload.

Here, Pyro simply let them loose while it went off somewhere in the portal hub to do Pyro things.

Initially, the team stuck close together since this was an unfamiliar place. They didn't know what to expect from this place or any of the other people here, but Ruby wasn't like the rest of her teammates. For once, she was Nora levels of excited to be in a place with so many _people_ in it. Do you realize how much heresy is contained in that sentence? As said above, Ruby Rose, typically a shy socially awkward girl, was actually _EXCITED_ to meet new people from other worlds.

She was so hyper that her semblance went out of control as she zoomed around saying hi to characters she has never seen before. Or uh... she would've been zooming around with her semblance in a normal area. Apparently, the BattlePC had some kind of suppression field or whatever that must have disabled the powers and abilities of the characters as Ruby wasn't able to use her speed semblance at all.

Now she was just zooming around by her normal non-semblance speed, which was still pretty fast as the short girl was light on her feet regardless of her semblance.

"Whoa! Slow down, Ruby! You're going to get lost!" Weiss shouted after her in concern, but it was too late. Ruby was long gone, and her team collectively sighed at the girl's antics.

"There she goes..." Blake said, watching her disappear as she went further towards the other side of the portal hub. "Do you think spending so much time with Nora changed her personality?"

"I don't know, but it certainly looks like it. I know I would go crazy if I had to travel with that girl for six months..." Joked Weiss.

"HELLO! :D" Someone shouted with a cheery voice from behind them, scaring the Hell out of them and making them jump up like startled cats. Not intended to be offensive to Blake of course... "The great Nora, traveler of dimensions, slayer of evil across worlds, adventurer of the universes is here!"

"NORA!?" The three girls cried in total disbelief.

"W-what!? Oh no, don't tell me that some kind of distortion in time and space happened in Remnant and brought you here!" Went Weiss.

"Or she developed supernatural powers and can teleport at will!" Added Yang... for some reason.

"Haha, I wish that was true! But nah... I just came here with my team." Nora explained, pointing over to where Team JNPR was. Interestingly, a couple members of Team Fortress were also there talking with some people the girls had never seen before, no doubt people they met the last time they were here. "The professors told us everything when we got back to the house, and they were nice enough to take us here!"

"Huh... I was wondering what that person meant when she said more people from Remnant came here..." Blake said, pleasantly surprised and relieved to see that the other Remnant natives were friends and not random folks, or worse, enemies.

"Yep! Just your friends in Team JNPR here!" Chirped the cheery redhead. "And - OH! Come on! There's some cool people you should meet!" Said Nora, happily leading them along as she skipped back to where the team was.

* * *

 **Right fellas, the gang's taking a much needed break from the violence and darkness happening at Mistral for now. God knows they're in desperate need of a vacation or something, as constant stress like that is TERRIBLE for both your physical health and mental health.**

 **Trust me, I know.**

 **It's also because I come to the realization that with so much darkness and serious things going on nonstop, it leads to a similar situation that plagued Volume 4. Nobody wants to see the heroes just constantly depressed as it gets tiring quickly, and surprising as it is to say, non-stop action also isn't good and this is coming from a guy like me who likes action scenes.**

 **So yeah. Here's a break not only for the characters, but the readers so we can watch the characters (namely main RWBY cast) having fun for now. A reminder of better days, not only for in-universe like back when Beacon was up and running, but for the readers as well as the period when Team Fortress were professors was pretty fun.**

 **And as promised, I'll be responding to reviews again. Not all of them, but I'll be doing again like how I used to. Only for the last chapter though as at this point there is just too goddamn many of them over the last chapters I didn't answer to do now.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **CapitalClassShip: Oh Hell yeah. I know that feel bro. Volume 5 feels like they made it just to continue making money, yet there is barely any soul in it. It's up to us fans to do amazing stuff with the world we're given that RoosterTeeth fails to do.**

 **VivaL'Aquila: I'd say RWBY was a guilty pleasure for me as well. I knew it wasn't good from a writing perspective but it still provided a fun world and characters despite the genericness of them. Course I don't even like it now as a guilty pleasure, but hey guy, that's what fan content is for when the actual content fails.**

 **Obsidian Prime: Yeah it's sad as it demonstrates the failure of the people at Roosterteeth. Of course it's not fair to just write off all the blame on the people behind RWBY's production, but there was so much wrong with Volume 5 that it was totally unacceptable and unexcusable. It's not really a bad truth though as it's actually a good thing. If there's fans out there who are talented enough to do amazing things with the worlds they love, then that means that RWBY was good enough to inspire creativity and capture the imaginations of people, even if it's not as good as it used to be.**

 **Guest #1: Yeah... that's actually another reason why I'm still even watching despite me not listing that in my reasons. I already knew less than halfway into Volume 5 that it wasn't going to be good, but I kept on watching to... you know. See how it ends. Volume 5 did not end satisfyingly at all, but there is still other volumes in production.**

 **Guest #2: Man, I'm too young to have played the Rogue Squadron games when they were out, but I read so much about Rogue Squadron that I know that they were like the premium badass squadron of daring ace starfighter pilots for the New Republic. I even mentioned that they came out to help out Luke in the second part of the alternate battle in chapter 68 if you seen it. It's only a mention, but they were still there.**

 **MimicLegend: Thanks for the words my man. I said a bunch of what I wanted to say about Volume 5 and how I feel about writing these days already, so I won't repeat it here. Just want you to know that your positive words are much appreciated from a guy coming out of writer's block and depression like me.**


	75. Fun Times at the BattlePC

**Okay hold your fucking horses, there's things I got to clear up. You know a couple days ago? When this story was "updated" and all you got was the message of me taking a break? Well let me say right now that first of all:**

 **1) That message is not new. That message of me taking a break and my total loss was a few months ago. It only appeared as the most recent entry because I removed the previous entries of the story since they were special chapters and whatever. Said special chapters have been moved to the extras if you still want to see them.**

 **2) The reason why nothing else was done in the supposed update is because Fanfiction is dumb dumb and counted my removing of those chapters as an update.**

 **3) There was supposed to be an actual chapter posted in that update, but I got sidetracked and wasn't able to post this chapter.**

 **4) I'm posting this chapter now.**

 **Be aware though that posting new chapters for anything I do will be inconsistent, but I'm feeling more in the mood of things again so maybe things will be smoother now. Note how it changed from [ON HOLD] to [ALMOST BACK] because I really feel like I am. Also I'm putting the chapters of the old V2 back and changing the name of it since it was never truly a rewrite of Mercs in Remnant to begin with. That'll make someone happy.**

 **Okay, that said and done, enjoy it if you will.**

* * *

 **Mistral's Seedy Underbelly**

Cinder's steps were uneasy as she knew that somewhere in this city, the boys of Team Fortress were out and about. Breathing as fine as the day they were born instead of being the lifeless corpses they should have been back at Beacon when she last met them. At her flanks were Emerald and Mercury, and they were fully aware of why her usual air of confidence and intimidation was missing. In truth, the two lackeys were afraid as well. Cinder _killed_ them, and yet they were among the living again. That's not just something anybody can do, and that's not even mentioning their ability to go into space.

Of course, their fear was nothing compared to what Cinder felt. The Fall Maiden was beyond afraid. She was downright paranoid, on the verge of insanity at worst and a nervous wreck at best. The only thing preventing her from succumbing to her own fears was the loyalty she pledged to Salem. She held the highest of hopes that Salem will deal with them, and that the shadow of terror they casted on her heart would finally be lifted.

"Cinder? Cinder!" Emerald spoke up.

"H-hmm? Yes?" The Fall Maiden responded after a bit of hesitation.

"We're here." The green haired girl told her, nodding towards the building they were next to.

Cinder turned to face it, shaking her head subtly in an attempt to focus on the mission at hand, and finally taking the time to examine their destination. The building in question was a tavern with a rundown exterior and a general shady look to it, but it was far from your average tavern that served drinks and whatnot. From what Watts has told her, this place was one of many hubs for Mistral's underworld. If they were going to enlist the help of the various mercenaries and assassins that operated in Mistral, then this was the place. She shuddered at the thought of the word 'mercenaries', and nearly had the idea to tell Emerald and Mercury to go in without her had it not been for Emerald taking her hand.

"Hey... I know you're afraid, but it's not like those... those _guys_ are in there."

"Em's right, Cinder. They could still be up at Haven for all we know." Mercury added, subconsciously turning his gaze to the huntsmen academy built high atop a mountain. Cinder refused to look, as if she believed that somehow her eyes would cross the members of Team Fortress if she did so. The fear that they might very well be watching growing on her, Cinder wordlessly led her escort into the tavern to escape the vulnerability of being out in the streets.

Inside was nothing unexpected. It was exactly how they imagined it to be. Tough and hardened men and women who didn't exactly fit one's idea of a huntsmen, the guardians of civilization. Obviously so as they were far from it, and that's just what Cinder was here for.

Their entrance into the underworld tavern didn't go unnoticed. All activities within ceased as every patron looked to the new arrivals with looks of suspicion and scorn. Cinder's party said nothing as they merely stared back, only moving when the tavern goers went back to doing whatever they were doing. Emerald felt uncomfortable as she's never seen nor been in such a place before. Aside from being in Salem's own palace, the underworld of Mistral was leagues dirtier than anything she's encountered growing up in Vale. Mercury totally kept his cool as he was unafraid of the rabble here. His upbringing as an assassin saw to that.

"Evening." The bartender muttered out as they approached him, an older gentleman with a weathered face and a nasty scar running across it. "What would you like?"

Cinder opened her mouth as if to speak, but found that she couldn't. The fear of getting discovered by her mortal enemy still persisted in her mind. She mentally cursed it away as she tried to summon the strength to speak with confidence once again.

"I... I would like something..." She managed to awkwardly churn out.

"Of course you do. Why else would you be here?" The bartender mumbled out, looking thoroughly unamused. Cinder quietly cursed herself for being weak as she was about to try again when Emerald suddenly stepped in for her.

"We're looking for... help." The ex-thief said.

"What kind of help?"

"The kind of help that had a lot of dirty work involved..." Mercury added. The bartender knew the look on the boy's face all too well. Folks coming into his bar looking for people to do their dirty work no matter what it may be.

"Humph... I see. Well, why don't you ask around? I'm sure you'll find someone who's willing to-"

"No..." Cinder finally spoke up. "We're not looking for just one, or two, or three... but _all_ of them." Her words caused the bartender to raise a brow, scoffing in disbelief as she couldn't be serious. The woman's expression remained utterly serious. Wasting no further time on the pointless cryptic wording, Cinder's eyes bursted into flame and caused the bartender to recoil back in slight surprise.

"Now... there's no need for that, ma'am. You wouldn't want to get yourself in trouble now, do you?" He spoke with a tone underlined in venom.

At once did all commotion in the tavern stop once again, and just as it was when they entered the tavern goers focused their attentions on the trio. Each of them could feel the stares of them attempting to bore into their souls, but they all held strong.

"Of course I don't." She said, turning to address everyone else. "Which is why I want all of you to work for me."

"The chances of that happening was gone the moment you dared to threaten me. In Mistral, we have some simple rules. One of them... is that you do _NOT_ fool around with the Red Dragons." The bartender told her, putting a finger to a triangular dragon symbol tatooed to his right bicep.

"I know exactly what you are, and that is precisely why I am here. But... you're right." The flames in her eyes dispersed as they returned to their normal amber color. "Would you be so kind as to take me to your leaders? I have a... proposal, to make to them."

The bartender gave her a questioning gaze. A moment of consideration was needed before he relented and agreed to make arrangements. Cinder's signature sly smile remained as she watched him enter a back room. Maybe she'll find the strength in her to carry through this after all. Still, it could not be ignored that there was a chance, no matter how small it may be, that her enemies could find her. She dared not think of it lest she lose the confidence she's built up.

* * *

 **Atlesian Embassy**

Winter Schnee observed the scene from her office overlooking the embassy grounds. Atlesian troops dressed in full battle kit stood on high alert alongside Atlesian Knight combat androids marching in flawless order. Outside the walls of the embassy, it was chaos out there. Even from in her office could Winter hear the angered cries and chants of rioters protesting at the gates with nothing but a line of soldiers and a whole paladin keeping them from storming the place. She clenched her teeth as things had deteriorated far sooner than she would have liked.

"Damn it all..." The elder Schnee cursed, looking to an armored van entering the compound as protestors pelted the vehicle with rocks and bottles. When the vehicle came to a stop, the back opened to reveal a few soldiers escorting civilians out of it. Atlesian civilians.

That's the reason why Winter hasn't left this worsening hellhole yet. She already knew that dark events were about to transpire, but she refused to leave behind any Atlesian citizens in Mistral who are in need of evacuation. However, Winter knew the task of evacuating every single one of them was near impossible. Her eyes trailed upwards and set itself on the single Atlesian cruiser that she was given to command. The warship wasn't designed to hold much more people than its crew capacity allowed, and there were upwards of two hundred Atlesian citizens in the city. The population of Mistral don't exactly look at Atlesians too kindly in the aftermath of Atlas being framed for attacking citizens of Vale all those months ago...

Her thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked on her door, Winter composing herself and putting on her standard air of military professionalism.

"You may come in." She said, the door opening to reveal an Atlesian marine as his markings were red.

"Specialist Schnee." The marine saluted.

"Report."

"Our evacuation efforts have been slowed down by the recent riots, but we have successfully relocated fifty citizens here and they are now awaiting transport to the airship."

Winter remained quiet for a moment as that was something she could easily have guessed was true, but another thought crossed her mind. "What about our agents in the field? Have they anything to report on enemy movements?"

"Nothing that anyone in Mistral doesn't already know, ma'am..." The marine trailed. "That, and the rioting has made it harder for our agents to track enemy movements within the city."

Winter's face tightened in frustration, but she soon let it go. Following the enemy was no her mission anymore. General Ironwood's last order to her in light of her report to him on the situation in Mistral was to begin evacuation. There was simply nothing she could now without any support. Especially since Atlas is closing its borders to the rest of the world. The elder Schnee wanted to protest against it as she wished to bring their enemies to justice, but there was simply little reason to complain to the general if her messages can take up to a week to reach him if she's lucky.

"Ma'am?" The marine spoke up, snapping Winter out of her thoughs. "Our agents have also reported... something unusual."

"What is it?" Winter asked, noting the unusual tone in his voice.

"Well... it appears as if the mercenaries from Vale are in Haven Academy. The ones who stayed behind and fought against the Grimm at Beacon months ago." That definitely piqued Winter's interest. Last time she's seen those men was back in Atlas where she left them to General Ironwood's care. She didn't bother to even question how or when they got there as that wasn't something she cared about, but what she did care about was what the marine said next. Something she cared very much about. "And... even though it might seem impossible... your sister has been spotted with them-"

"What did you say?" Winter interrupted him, her eyes shooting open.

"Uh, well... your sister, heiress to your father's company, Weiss Schnee was spotted with them alongside other young huntsmen that our records have confirmed are former students of theirs' from Beacon."

"Then... it was no dream then..." Winter gasped, feeling weak in her knees as she stumbled back and hit her desk, bracing an arm against it as her mind raced at the thought of Weiss being in Mistral now of all times. Those... those... _fiends_. They must have had something to do with it! They likely kidnapped Weiss from Atlas and brought her here! The thought of those filthy savages being in the company of her dear sister enraged her to no end.

"Ma'am? Your orders?"

"Inform squads Alpha through Delta to mobilize, and alert Specialist Team 2. We march for Haven within the hour..."

"Understood, Specialist Schnee." Saluted the marine once more, promptly leaving the room to do as ordered.

Winter remained where she was for a good minute after he left, the frothing rage within her towards the mercenaries driving her mad. The nerve of those barbarians to drag Weiss back into all of this... She didn't even care if they had a common enemy. Weiss was the only thing that mattered to her, and she intended on getting her sister back. However, considering how stubborn those men were and the chaos in the streets, this was going to be far from an easy task. All the aircraft she had under her command were focusing on evacuation, and she didn't want to interrupt their work as that would leave civilian lives at risk.

She looked once more to the chaotic streets, and then towards the academy of Haven placed atop a mountain nearby as if it was its own acropolis. It seemed as if there was no other choice, but marching through the streets it was then and may the gods help whatever fool dumb enough to stand in her way.

Especially... with the next decision she was about to make, the specialist looking to an activation code she had on her scroll. Ironwood entrusted her to use it only if the situation was extremely dire, and as far as Winter was concerned, this was the time to use it.

* * *

 **Portal Hub Level, BattlePC**

Meanwhile, in a separate dimension where literally anything can happen and is beyond true comprehension of most minds, there was a big ass fuckin' computer floating around in the empty space as if it was a cruise ship.

"This place is awesome!" Our beloved little Rose said for the millionth time, still as awestruck as she was when she first entered the BattlePC less than thirty minutes ago.

Never mind that she was hopelessly lost in a crowd full of strange people and creatures, coming here was one of the coolest experiences of her life. Though still somewhat awkward in places with a lot of people, she appeared to completely forget about that as she ooed and awed at everything that walked past her. Of course weapons were on top of her list of things to stare at. The vast variety of people here ensured that there was an endless list of objects that cause bodily harm for her to look at (and hopefully try out herself).

Her tunnel vision on the weapons was so bad that her mind blanked out every person she saw and located the weapons instead as if she was a living weapon detector.

"OH MY GOSH LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT CHAINSAW!" She gasped at seeing a particularly savage and powerful looking chainsaw wielded by someone who wasn't as important as the weapon in her eyes. Ruby couldn't resist the need to throw herself at the chainsaw and try to rip it away from the owner so she could give it a tender hug.

However, the weapon refused to move. Blinking, she tried to take it again but it still wouldn't budge even after she mustered her entire body strength.

"HEY! What gives!?" She pouted, finally bothering to look at the owner before her skin got even paler. I'm talking paler than even Salem finding Saxton Hale dropping down into her throne room with the intent to rip her a new asshole.

He might have done the same to Ruby if she was a fucking stupid demon of Hell, but the imposing DOOM Slayer merely gave her a cold stare from behind his helmet, his face barely visible as the two locked eyes.

"U-um…" She whimpered like a frightened puppy, her shaking hands letting go of the chainsaw as she stepped back on wobbly legs. "So-sor-s-sorry! I-I'll be on my w-way now!" Ruby apologized before sprinting in the opposite direction, leaving DOOM Guy alone with his chainsaw as he stared after her.

" _OhmygoshthathadtobethescariestguyIeverseeninmylife…_ " The poor girl wheezed as her trembling heart struggled to get the blood flowing again, hesitantly looking back towards DOOM Guy to see him still staring at her. This got her to squeak like a mouse as she turned to run, but she ended up accidentally bumping into someone.

"Oh my, are you alright?" A calm male voice asked her, Ruby looking up to see a well dressed green haired man. "Here, allow me." He said as he gave her a hand.

"Thanks!" Ruby smiled, though she immediately felt that this guy gave off an ominous vibe.

"You're welcome, Miss…?"

"Ruby. Ruby Rose!" She answered, though that ominous feeling persisted.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Hazama." The man introduced himself, tipping his hat and opening one eye to reveal that they were yellow.

"Uh… nice to meet you…" She trailed, growing increasingly uncomfortable despite his surface level nice attitude. "Well… please excuse me, but I'm gonna go do… something else now!"

With that, she ran before he was able to say anything else to her, just feeling his creepy gaze on her back. It wasn't nearly as bad as the DOOM Guy's, but this guy was a different kind of creepy altogether.

"Geez, what's with this place and creepy people?" She asked herself as she idly walked into a random store. Ruby came in here only because she wanted to get out of that guy's sight, but now that she was in here she couldn't help but notice what they were selling. "Oh my… no… you can't be serious…" Ruby whispered as her eyes widened, gazing at a little figurine of herself! It looked just like her except wearing her old outfit and it was made of plastic, and it even came with a matching mini Crescent Rose!

"Oh hey, look at that!" She heard someone say, turning to see it was the cashier watching over the place. "I was wondering when you were gonna show up."

"Huh?" Ruby was totally confused.

She remembered that the mercs told her about how the BattlePC had stuff like this for sale, but not even they really knew why it was for sale though. Considering the nature of the BattlePC, it probably had something to do with the multiverse, but that did not make it any less confusing.

"Hey… what did you mean by that?" She asked, walking up to the cashier.

"Well, you see all this merchandise here? It's all about characters from different worlds. Your world is one of them…" He explained, pulling up little boxes that had figurines of not just Ruby, but her friends as well.

"Okay I figured that much out, but why is… you know, why is this even a thing? Selling little plastic me's or anyone without their permission?"

"Eh, Gaben must be trying to earn back some cash he lost when building this place. Food courts and stuff I can understand, but merchandise based on the worlds that can come here? You'd figure this stuff sells better in the real wo-"

Before he finished that sentence, a BattlePC guard teleported next to him without warning and stuck his MP5 against the cashier's left ear, shocking Ruby.

"REAL NICE CORNER OVER THERE." Uttered out the cashier, sweating bullets and smiling nervously as the guard lowered his weapon.

"Always watching…" Growled the guard, magically teleporting away afterwards.

For a moment neither Ruby or the cashier could speak as they were speechless. The cashier because his heart was bursting out of his chest, and Ruby because what just happened was so… so bizzare. Weirder even higher than the level the mercenaries are at times, and that's saying a lot.

"Jesus Christ, you have no idea how close I came to losing my job… We're not supposed to tell you guys about the real-"

He shut his mouth up as soon as he realized that he was about to make a mistake, but it was far too late. Two guards teleported in this time and tackled him. As he begged for them to let him keep his job, the guard holding him down teleported away with him in tow while the other guard stayed behind and removed all of the cashier's personal belongings from the counter.

"About the real nice sales that we're having soon." Smiled the guard as if he was finishing the cashier's sentence for him. He promptly teleported away afterwards, leaving Ruby utterly dumbfounded. The confusion grew even worse when another BattlePC employee teleported in, a woman this time, and she smiled and waved as if nothing happened.

"Hello! Would you like to buy this figurine of yourself?" She asked in a cheery tone to the blank faced Ruby. "Just don't question it." Went the new cashier, acknowledging Ruby's sheer confusion.

"I… I…" Stuttered Ruby before giving off a sigh. "Sure… do you guys accept lien?"

"We sure do!" Beamed the woman.

So after buying the little figurine of herself doing a badass pose with Crescent Rose, she sat at a bench in an open area of this place. God knows she needed a seat after witnessing what she saw, which is why Gabe Newell's patented ultra comfortable benches provide the best conditions to give your butt the comfortable experience it will ever feel (applies to only Humans and humanoids)! As an added bonus, this seating area in particular has a fountain statue of the glorious Gabe Newell that is such a work of art that it eases the eyes and puts one's mind to rest.

"Huh, this bench's pretty comfy and that statue is pretty nice." Ruby shrugged. Yeah see? Got another happy client!

Advertisement aside, Ruby fiddled with the little plastic version of herself, creepily amazed at the level of detail on it. It was around this time where she finally realized that her friends were nowhere to be found as well as the fact that she even abandoned them to begin with.

"I should probably get back to my friends. They're probably worried about me…"

* * *

Yeah they weren't worried about her much at all. Team Fortress wasn't at least, but they assured the rest of Ruby's friends that she was fine here. The BattlePC is as safe as it gets provided you don't fuck up and get on the bad side of the guards. Ruby was a smart girl. She wouldn't ever do something like that... willingly at least.

"So... let me get this straight. You guys are also from Earth, but not the same Earth as Team Fortress _or_ Dr. Freeman?" Asked a severely confused Weiss, suffering from a headache and rubbing her temples to try and alleviate it.

"That's right, young lady. Our world's gone straight to Hell thanks to a goddamn zombie apocalypse. Does that sound anything like their worlds?" William Overbeck, more popularly known as Bill from the _Left 4 Dead_ series, answered the ex-heiress' question.

"Oh okay... and you were about to be killed by big musclebound zombies called 'Tanks' before Team Fortress came and saved your life, right?"

"Yep. I owe my life to those boys, and so does the rest of my team. That German one even fixed that godforsaken limp that's been a pain in my ass since 'Nam, and I think he even cured all of us from the goddamn Green Flu.

As some you may or may not know, Bill was a soldier who served in the US Army 1st Special Forces Group over thirty years ago during the Vietnam War. He served two highly eventful tours of duty during the war and partook in the Battle of Hue, suffering a knee injury sometime in this period which caused permanent damage, meaning he's walked with a limp for the rest of his life. That is to say he would've if strangers from a different Earth arrived out of nowhere and saved his ass from incoming Tanks. Not getting into any further detail into that as that's a story in its own right, especially since Team Fortress' adventure across both _Half-Life_ and _Left 4 Dead_ was like six hours in Remnant time. Time and spatial differences between universes and that kind of thing, you know.

It was just so weird for the girls to hear this man tell them that not only is he from a version of Earth under attack by a zombie epidemic known as the Green Flu, but that he fought in a war that is actually currently ongoing in Team Fortress' version of Earth and that the Vietnam War in his world was over thirty years ago. That was easily explained when he told them the current year in his world was 2009 and not 1974 like in Team Fortress' version of Earth, but it was still mindblowing how similar yet unsimilar their respective Earths were.

Here in the BattlePC though, they would come to discover that all manners of worlds no matter how similar, wacky, horrifying, or just plain weird exist. Possibilites that far exceeded the range of their imaginations as it seemed like their truly was an infinite number of possibilities.

"Well... how do you feel about learning that this multiverse thing existing?"

"It sounded like a load of horsecrap when I first heard of it, but uh... well, I'm here now ain't I? I still can't believe all this shit exists, but you know what? I can't really complain. Being anywhere's better than my world now. This place is like paradise."

"I guess so... Do you think there's a younger version of you fighting in Team Fortress' version of Earth?" The ex-heiress asked the Vietnam veteran.

"Ha! If there is then I ought to meet the bastard and tell him to watch out for the goddamn mortar strikes at Hue. It'll save him a whole lotta trouble when he could walk without a limp for the rest of his life. Trust me, I would know!" Bill laughed, being surprisingly lax about the idea that there could possibly be a younger Bill inside Team Fortress' version of Earth.

"Right..." Weiss shyly laughed with him, thinking that he was a fairly nice man despite his gruff manners. His manners were really not too much different from most of the mercenaries, all things considered.

Bill's easily the oldest person here as the oldest of the mercs aren't even 60 yet while Bill's hitting his mid-seventies. The oldest of the mercs being Medic and Spy who were 57 and 56 respectively don't quite look their age as they seemed more like men in their forties at the least. The old Vietnam veteran had a grandfatherly feel to him, but a kind of rough and tough grandpa who's seen shit and knows how to deal shit back to those who cross him. He was a Green Beret after all, even if his iconic beret is currently in Ironwood's possession with his greyish white hair on full display.

"AHHHH, _HELL_ NO!" Louis suddenly shouted from the side. "Francis, how the Hell did you let 'em backcap us like that!?"

"Pfft, I dunno. I ain't good at this shit. I hate video games." Shrugged the biker.

While Weiss was talking to Bill, the other members of Team Fortress' little alliance were busy playing and/or watching a game of casual TF2 on laptops generously provided by the BattlePC. The players were Louis, Francis, Nora, Ren, Demoman, Heavy, Sniper, and Scout on the RED side. BLU team on the other hand was composed of Medic, Ellis, Zoey, Pyro, Soldier, Jaune, and Yang. The mercenaries played themselves because of course they fucking would, but just because they played as themselves didn't mean they were any good at it. After all, they were from an Earth where personal computer technology still wasn't a thing just yet. Half the time they spent in game was just trying to figure out how to walk and look around.

The non mercs however had a much easier time since gaming computers were a thing in their world. Talking mostly the Left 4 Dead crew here as Yang needed some time to get used to using a mouse and keyboard, but she ended up getting the hang of it quick enough.

"Alright, yeah! Nice work team!" Cheered Yang, high fiving everyone like a true bro. Despite the fact that she and the mercs on her side were carried hard by Ellis since he was a pro at this game.

"Yeah, yeah. Enjoy it while it lasts, ya chump. Once I figure out what these buttons do, you can kiss your ass goodbye!" Threatened Scout.

"Yeah, suuuuure... I totally believe the guy who can't read can figure this out." Teased Yang, annoying Scout to no end. It was around this time when Ruby Rose finally found them, carrying the bag of merchandise with her. At first she was relieved to see her friends once again, but then she was immediately put off by all the strangers among them.

"Whoa... uh... who are all these people?" Ruby asked Blake, awkwardly scooting towards the catgirl as the TF2 match raged on.

"They're friends of the mercenaries." Blake plainly explained. "They're also from different worlds."

"Really? Huh, wow. They had a lot more friends than I was expecting..."

"I know, right? I thought the exact same thing."

"Oh hey! Why if it isn't my dear little sister, Ruby Rose..." Yang spoke up, getting up from her seat where she dashed to Ruby and gave her a playful pinch on the cheek. "What were you thinking running off like that, huh?"

" _Owwww!_ Stop it, Yang!" Whined the younger girl. "I just got excited, you know? I couldn't help myself."

"Hmm? Whatchu got there?" Wondered Yang, snatching Ruby's bag. She didn't even wait for Ruby to explain herself before sticking her robot hand in and pulling out a random item, which just so happened to be the box containing a Yang figurine.

"What the..." Gasped Yang. It wasn't just that she was taken aback by seeing a figurine of herself, but the figurine was of her back in the good days. When she still had two arms of flesh instead of one metal arm and one fleshy arm. A slight stint of PTSD overtook her as the blonde's lavender eyes focused on the left arm of the figurine, and how... how carefree she looked.

"Yang? Hello? Snap out of it!" Ruby gave Yang a smack on the forehead, waking her sister up.

"H-huh? What? Oh... I... sorry." Yang said, passing it back to Ruby. "So... looks like you did a little shopping huh?"

"Yeah, I did. I also _might have sorta tried_ to touch some weapons of the other people here. It didn't work out..." She admitted in shame. "There's a lot of creepy people here..."

"Oh. Well, would you like to try out some Team Fortress 2?"

"Excuse me?" Ruby blinked, unsure of what that meant. "There's a second Team Fortress now?"

"Oh no no, that's not what I meant. I'm talking about the video game based on the mercenaries." Yang explained, but it didn't clear up anything as Ruby was still horribly confused.

"There's a video game based on them? _Whhhhhyyyy...?_ " She trailed in total disbelief.

"No idea, and they don't have any idea about it either. They're featured in a video game called 'Team Fortress 2', and it's really popular in other worlds for whatever reason." She continued her explanation, but there was no point really in trying to explain it further. Too much to account for when it comes to the multiverse and all that... "Now do you want to play or not? My team's short one person!"

"Uhhh... sure. Why not?" Smiled Ruby, thinking this was a good way to simply not think of her confusion.


End file.
